Making a decision is getting weird...

[RogerDat]

I have to decide if I want to put my money into some lead pipe one guy has, or some sheet lead. Now to the weird part. I bought some of the pipe, melted it into ingots planning to get one xrf gunned to see what the exact composition is. I found the roofing lead sheets and have not had a chance to get the pipe ingots tested. Have to let the guy with the sheet lead know tomorrow.

I was standing in the garage, sort of scratching at one of the pipe source ingots with a thumbnail debating doing a hardness test with a pencil and then I gave it a sniff. That is right I guess I have scrounged enough scrap that my brain thought I could "smell" the alloy content... :veryconfu

Just for the record I think there is a whiff of antimony in there. :bigsmyl2:

[Bzcraig]

I don't need no stinking draft gun!

[deepwater]

Did it smell like peaches or plumbums?


deepwater

[RogerDat]

Did it smell like peaches or plumbums?
deepwater

Well it smelled strongly of plumbum but there was this whiff of something else, I'm thinking Sb but it could have been because I just scratched the dogs chin and had dog breath on my hand. Not many know but the two are pretty close actually.

Dang deepwater - plumbum? You're making me think too hard.

[Retumbo]

Dude...stay off the pipe!

[jsizemore]

Was it septic or fresh water pipe?

I have a feeling some adult beverages may have been involved.

[RogerDat]

Was it septic or fresh water pipe?

I have a feeling some adult beverages may have been involved.

I think the pipe may have actually been cable sheath. But septic pipe is probably never going to get smelted at my house, some things one should just not (not!) heat up until they smoke. That would be one....... but if I can get a bunch of it cheap. Then I guess all bets are off. Outside at the fire pit, sure why not? Grandkids can roast marshmallows at the grill for the next few years so the smores don't taste like burning septic pipe.

[bdicki]

I really like sheet lead.

[RogerDat]

I really like sheet lead. Well I heard some sheet lead say nice things about you too, so I guess it is mutual. Now there was some pewter talking some smack about you but who listens to what tin says? All it does is cry.

[leadman]

The next step in the progression of identifying the metal after sniffing is tasting! Not really. LOL. I have noticed different odors from different lead alloys but have not tried to identify them this way.
I can see a long winter for you RogerDat. Glad I left Michigan 34 years ago.

[RogerDat]

Just for the record I ended up getting some of both. When I have someone willing to be a source of lead saying "no thanks" is not going to happen. I may not be able to purchase all of it but buying some makes me a customer which makes contacting me again worth their time.

More sheathing than sheet but both sellers consider me a customer that appreciates their consideration.

[Nose Dive]

Gezzz guys.... are we are 'smelling fumes' from our smelt pots? OK...OK...just reread the post... this is a 'scratch and sniff' exercise....much better..... Never put your nose over a smelt pot...never....ever...

I have found sheet lead...old roofing stuff, is fairly good fodder for my smelt pot.... Now....lead pipe.... let me explain.....

I've hauled alot of lead pipe out of pits, ditches..plumbing houses...chemical plants, and oil refineries..... A LOT...and a lot of lead seals to the old bell and spigot 'cast pipe'......

My opinion on lead pipe is.... 'don't scratch and sniff'....cold cut and smelt safely away. I have smelted pounds and pounds of old 'sewer' lines we dug up and replaced with plastic. Yup...pee...poop...50 or so years of it in the pipe. I grabbed all I could get...but I KNEW it was sewer line. And certainly,....used simple, common sense safety in hanlding this nasty stuff. Once I had it in ingots.... I was a popular guy at our range.... But...sorry...I did the work...I alloyed and cast....I loaded....I shot....and dug range slag to do it all over again!

So...'generally'...if you water wash the lead pipe...you are good...smelt away.... And...IMHO... put the test shot money in your pocket....add a bit of pewter some some WW's and get on after casting..... I have never had any issue with lead roof flashing......but...there is always a first time.

Nose Dive

Cheap, Fast, Good. Kindly pick two.

[RogerDat]

Yep it was an ingot, I just thought it was pretty darn funny that while I was thinking about what alloy it was and poking it with a fingernail I gave it a big sniff test.

I have avoided lead plumbing pipe for all the reasons Nose Dive mentions. Plus having seen what the inside of plumbing pipe looks like before it dries I figure I'll avoid the dried version of that glop if I am at all able to. I'm sure they make elbow length rubber gloves heavy enough I just don't have any.

I'll toss in a couple more reasons. That dried glop in the pipe can trap moisture, you should generally avoid adding lead stock to molten lead until heated enough to assure you of adding dry lead but water or drain pipe can be especially problematic since even setting it across pot may not bake all the water out from the stuff coating the inside. The other reason mostly applies to commercial plumbing but lead was sometimes used for caustic or harsh chemical plumbing lines, not as reactive as some other metals. Can have been some fairly nasty stuff run through that pipe. So good ventilation and washing if done safely to avoid the tinsel fairy does work but it is work.

Glue and roof tar both can make sheet lead a PITA and hazard to breath fumes from smelting. Clean or mostly clean sheet is wonderful. I keep some around for shim, vise jaw padding, flexible drain trough or funnel for oil. All sorts of uses. Makes good bullets too. This stuff was all pretty clean, sheath was from wire not plumbing. Which I think is cool. I ever come across a piece with the wires in it I may keep a chunk just because it is interesting.

Making happy soft ingots to go with the hard printers lead in the lower left under the sheet lead :-P
152473

152474

I don't know if you can tell but there is a large blower pulling the flame and smoke to the right.
Glue is nasty! Best I could do was keep this old batch of sheet lead burning rather than smoking.
152475

[Nose Dive]

One cannot...should not...argue with success. I will not.. frivolous effort...and surely a waste of time and ...well.....

I will say...I do smelt the nastiest stuff around. Flashing... road kill... scrap yard rejects.... pipe..poop...you get the idea....

I do 'wash' it... water and soap as needed....and smelt away.... I do...roll out the flashing...flatten it..clean it..but
it is never 'clean' and always has trash on it...in it...on top and bottom...tar...rust...you name it... so...I don't put
mine in my smelt pot as ole ROGERDAT shows.... I do have time and he may not... he does have VERY NICE SUCCESS...
I can say...I do... I have to resmelt alot...rework alot... and looking at his products....he easily surpasses me...

I wish I had ingots that nice on my first pass smelts!!! And it looks like to me...he is INSIDE...GEEESS!

So...roof stuff...it is good....road kill stuff...bit nasty... range scrap...it is '****'...but...all goes into the smelt pot...cleaned...
chopped up...sawdust and sulfur.....out side...OUTSIDE...and away we go.... and ..seriously...my first past ingots do not...
have not...probably ever will not look as clean and neat as ROGERDAT's. ingots!! Just look how neat and clean his are....!!

Think I am jealous??!!

Nose Dive

Cheap, Fast, Good. Kindly pick two.

[RogerDat]

For what it is worth those ingots that look nice started out as nice clean printers lead. The stuff in the pot-o-fire was sheet lead with lines of construction adhesive (looked like liquid nails) The box behind the pot, sitting on the shelf is sawdust got two more of them from a friends planer over there so eventually...... the results is clean lead.

Large blower = squirrel cage with 1/2 hp motor from a furnace. Does move enough air to keep me from being divorced over the stink.... so far.

What I'm dying to know is have you ever had the road kill checked with an xrf gun to determine its alloy content? Wondering if Texas road kill has the same alloy content as say Michigan or Ohio road kill? Mostly deer, possum, and raccoon up here and I'm sure the skunk road kill has a lot of zinc in that stink, you can just tell anything smells that bad has zinc in it. I was thinking maybe armadillo was some high antimony alloy with that hard shell and all.