Has anyone ever seen this before?

[chthomas212]

Hello all I am a longtime follower first time poster. So anyway a acquired a 116 lb block of what the previous owner and I had both thought was lead the roughly 24 x 16 block had already been sectioned into smaller rectangles so I broke it at those points. And now have no idea what it is. 162674

[RogerDat]

Go to local scrap yard ask if they have an XRF gun to test it. Or send 1# of lead and a small sample to the fellows listed in swapping and selling that will test the sample in exchange for 1# of lead.

How does it melt? And at what temperature might give some clue but only an XRF gun will tell you exactly what you have.

[chthomas212]

So I have drilled a hole in it and the shaving are like paper that immediately shrink when hit with heat as for melt I do not know what temperature be cause I have yet to be able to melt it. After I drilled the whole I am thinking some kind of alluminum alloy.

Heavy like lead

Soft like hard lead

Holds heat for a very long time

[chthomas212]

162687162688

[chthomas212]

So next development when I applied fire to the shavings for a short extended period of time they glow red and have a green flame leaves white crust behind

[Krieger82]

Tungsten, copper, antimony, all burn green. Zinc can on rare occasions burn slightly green. Some other highly unlikely (impossible) green candidates are barium, boron, manganese, molybdenum, niobium, phosphorus, tellurium, thallium, and vanadium. Most of those are rare of the toxic persuasion.

[Hick]

Understand this is a total WAG-- but for some time the military has used depleted uranium as armor plate-- it is very heavy like lead. However, I don't know how to test it

[bangerjim]

Quit trying SWAG methods and take a hunk to a scrap yard for x-ray analysis. If you have that much of it, it will be worth the fee you may have to pay.

We are just guesssing. Not what you want!!!!!

You may have a good alloy there and you may have contaminated lead. Only an x-ray gun shoot will tell you. And then you will know!

Sorry..........we are not psychics!

I never blindy buy Pb alloys without an x-ray shoot first.

Once you know what it is, download the free alloy calculator spreadsheet on here. Do a search in the little white box at the top right of this page. Very useful tool!!!!!!

bangerjim

[Scooby]

I have a chunk that is the same color and grain of that piece. It is foundry marked St. Joe, it was a local zinc foundry here in Pa. It is about 80# has a ring to it when hit with a hammer. I use it for holding stuff like plywood when cutting it or whatever I might need a hand with. We just call it Joe. It is like my helper that doesn't ask questions or need food. I am pretty sure it is zinc seeing that it is from a foundry that made zinc. I have never tested it, I thought it was a good helper and never really thought about melting it down. I am guessing it is some type of zinc babbit, I have melted zinc ww and they are way lighter than this ingot. I will try to take a pic and post it.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Yes, zinc would break with that granular fracture, but so would some of the babbit metals for bearings, and type metals. If you suspend it on a thread and weigh it first dry and then suspended in water, the dry weight divided by the difference between them is the specific gravity. That would be 11.35 for pure lead, 7.365 for tin, 7.14 for zinc, and 6.697 for antimony. Some of these are inconclusive, but you should at least be able to determine if you have something with a lot of lead in it.

[RogerDat]

+ 1 on do the acid test. Muratic acid is common and cheap in building supply, and there are drain cleaners with an acid that can be used to test for zinc.

Acid will fizz on zinc, no fizz on lead. That can settle that question pretty darn quick.
I too recall zinc galvanized having a green tinged burn and leaving a white ash when welded but I would just trust to the acid test. If it passes then worry about getting it tested with an XRF gun. At least you will avoid the expense of sending a pound if it is found to be zinc up front.

BTW - Zinc ingots have some scrap value, not super high but I think near lead in scrap value as I recall.