mystery alloy

[RED BEAR]

hi
melted some scrap lead from the scrap yard along with reclaimed shot ended up with a pot of material that would not melt took the temp over 1000 deg and it just looked like creamy mashed potatos . emptied what i could get out of the pot it looked like some in the bottom of the pot had started to melt but as soon as you skimmed the surface it formed a film like mashed potatos . as i said poured what i could out of the pot but some of it stuck to the sides and bottom of the pot and the ladle . tried to use wire brush in drill press with some success but still have quite a bit in the bottom of the pot. tried to melt it out with propane torch but the pot turns cherry red but it will not melt. any thoughts other than i should have stopped before i got the temp that high

[Dusty Bannister]

What did the scrap look like before you melted it? That is probably a better way to determine if you even wanted to buy it. Home cast ingots can be about anything that melted.

[RED BEAR]

it looked like square blocks about 5x10 inches and about 1/2 inch thick some was old lead pipe some was sheathing and some was shot . its hard to say which ended up in the pot as i was at the end of melting over 1000 pounds and was melting the small scraps were i hag to cut up the other lead and some reclamed shot but there must have been something different because i had no problem with the rest of the melt

[PBaholic]

Might have been zinc and lead. Zinc will sour an entire batch of lead, so keep it seperate.

[RED BEAR]

thought of that but doesnt zinc melt a little over the temp of lead this never really melted and whats left in the bottom of the pot and on my ladle will not melt even with a torch

[Yodogsandman]

Try the acid test with muriatic acid. Check for the fizz to indicate zinc.

[rancher1913]

your reclaimed shot is probably the culprit, maybe full of bismuth.

[RED BEAR]

boy i sure hope not i had a lot of shot that i melted at this point i will trash the last of this stuff as it was only about 40 to 50 pounds . the rest seemed to do just fine nice ingots even cast some with no problem my main concern now is getting the rest out of my melter . at the point of sanding it out now

[Drm50]

I agree that it is some function of Zinc, with some other alloy in it. I had similar troubles with
a batch of metal that were plugs for pots in a chemical plant. Melted into a heavy silver paste.
There was a lot of lead present, but seemed like I couldn't get it hot enough to flow and separate.
Specialty alloys can be mysterious to work with. I have some Alumilum that is Velvet Flow. This
alloy was formed under a gas shield which interrupts molecular structure. The first time it is
melted it only takes approx 400*, after that it takes normal melting temp.

[PBaholic]

If it is Zinc, it can be removed with powdered Sulfur. You can get Sulfur at the hardware store in the garden dept.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?63082-Zinc-Removal-with-Sulfur-Report

[RED BEAR]

drm50
that sounds exactly like what it is. i tried to melt it several times thinking i could use it for weights or something( to cheap to throw much away) it just never would melt. i know the definition of crazy is doing the same thing over and expecting different results. pbaholic i have considered trying sulfur but read in someones post that when added to melted lead you can expect a fire shooting from the pot like a giant road flare. not sure where i read it or if it is true . anyway i would like to thank all who took the time to respond i really do appreciate it .