Lead score...help me identify this!!!

[tinhorn97062]

I guy at work just gave me a bunch of clean lead, in ingot form. The problem is that I have no idea what kind of an alloy it is. It supposedly came from a rubber stamp manufacturing facility, and was melted down, fluxed, and poured into ingots. It is bright silver in color, and when you tap the ingots together they made a bright "clink" sound. The end of one of the ingots has been melted and appears to have kind of a grainy texture to the melted part.

Any opinions on what I have here? When I scratch it with a finger nail, it leaves a scuff mark but not a definitive "scratch" in the surface. :lovebooli

[Beagle333]

You'll have to find a scrapyard with an Xray machine to scan it for you, or find a willing member who has one nearby and send them a sample to have tested. It could be anything, really.

[Budzilla 19]

Hey, tinhorn, go look for the nearest X-ray/NDE type company in your hometown, ask them to PMI it, usually if no report needs to be written, then maybe a box of fresh ,hot, doughnuts will get you a reading! Just my opinion

[bangerjim]

Sorry.......my crystal ball is totally clouded over tonight! And my psychic powers are short circuited as of late. We have absolutely NO idea what you have. Scratching, plinking, melting will tell you absolutely nothing useful, other than they are some kind of lead alloy.

Do what I and many other do........take an ingot to a scrap yard and get an x-ray shoot of it. You will know for sure then. Anything else is just a stab in the dark.

banger

[RogerDat]

Lead makes a black mark on wood or paper. Lead alloys do the same. After that it gets pretty variable when it comes to mystery lead.
Check with scrap yards they may have and xrf gun and can check it and tell you exactly what you have.

Barring that read the sticky on using art pencils to test hardness, melt a chunk, use a thermometer to see what temp it melts at and what temp it turns solid again. See how it casts as is for fill out. You can always re-melt those test castings.

You want to know what the alloy is so you can mix it to get hardness you require for your specific casting. With a little futzing around you can hit the hardness you need without knowing the alloy. If the ingots are harder than needed cut it with some plain, re-cast a few with mix to see fill out and test for hardness. Still too hard? Then mix in more plain, too soft then add more ingot. Working with a small amount to start with and writing down what you mix in will allow you to figure out the ratio that "works" then make a large batch with that ratio. Add a touch of tin if fill out is a problem.

Just use small amounts, in a small batch to find the right ratio for hardness then do the big batch with a lot more of the ingots.

[tinhorn97062]

I appreciate the advice folks. I like the scrap yard idea, as it sounds like the better way to go. I did compare it with some known pure and WW lead that I have and it is certainly harder than both of them. I'll call around later today and see if I can find a scrap place to look at it for me.

[John Boy]

Tinhorn - after you have the analyses done, download an alloy calculator into your computer that will determine specific Bhn hardness of an alloy for varied bullets that you want to cast ...
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?105952-Lead-alloy-calculators