A little workout this afternoon...

[TexasGrunt]

189579

Right at 300 lbs of soft lead. Almost all roof jacks/vents. About four hours of hard work for this broken old man and I still need to go out and clean up. Best part is while I was picking up the soft lead I was talking to the guy at the scrap yard and scored almost 600 lbs of wheel weights for $0.20 a lb. Didn't have the cash on me so I'll pick them up Monday. They are in a 55 gallon drum and it's about half full.

That should keep me busy all next week.

[adam_mac84]

What did you pay for the soft lead? I had a call into my local scrap yard for WW and lead prices. WW were just under 0.50/lb. And 'regular' lead was 0.90? Range scrap ~0.75

[TexasGrunt]

$0.70 a pound for scrap lead.

[merlin101]

Good thing it's soft lead instead of hard lead, the soft lead weighs less per pound and is easier on your "old" back.:groner:

[lightman]

Thats a good days work. The ole back just don't like that kind of work anymore.

[308Jeff]

Nice work and nice score! Are the WWs mixed?

[maxreloader]

Thats a good days work. The ole back just don't like that kind of work anymore.

Got another package for you almost ready to go... not quite full yet though... :bigsmyl2:

[scotner]

Nice work and nice score! Are the WWs mixed?

I was wondering the same thing. I took a bucket of steel and zinc to the scrap yard this week. The guy I usually deal with was not there, lunch maybe. The guys that were covering his job weighed the bucket and gave me a receipt to go up front and get paid. As I walked off I looked around and they were dumping my bucket into what I am fairly sure was the lead barrel. At any rate, if I ever end up buying lead WW from there I will be very careful about what I get.

[TexasGrunt]

Nice work and nice score! Are the WWs mixed?

They are mixed. He will no longer buy them as there's too much junk in them. He wanted to get rid of what he has since the people he sells to no longer want them. I'm also still waiting to hear back about 12 or so buckets full. If that one comes through I'll be selling enough to get my first NOE mold.

[CastingFool]

Great score! Last time I took scrap metal to the scrap yard, I had a bunch of zink clip ons. When I told the guy about them, he just threw them in with all the steel wheel weights. They won't sell lead to the public, so no chance of ever having to re-sort them.

[leebuilder]

Nice score and nice work. Nothing like a pile of fresh ingots. I scored a bucket of ww the other day and had a few others saved up. I woke and the sun was shining, a balmy -1C and i had propane, so i got to smelting, had a great day got a pile of ingots i still have to stow away.
The next day i was sore, used a lot of muscles i have not used in 8 months. Need to stretch before i smelt and the cold didnt help. Rum and a hot bath helped.
Be well

[308Jeff]

I've got my fingers crossed for you on those 12 buckets.

[lightman]

Got another package for you almost ready to go... not quite full yet though... :bigsmyl2:

Thats great! You have been very generous and I owe you big time.

[lightman]

Sorry for the thread hi-jack! Wishing you Luck on those possible scores! Are you planning on sorting them or just watching the pot temp and skimming them off the top?

[TexasGrunt]

Sorry for the thread hi-jack! Wishing you Luck on those possible scores! Are you planning on sorting them or just watching the pot temp and skimming them off the top?

I'll probably sort them. I can control my melt temp so it doesn't get over 625-650 but I have nothing but time on my hands. I also like to remove the SOWW from the COWW.

[lightman]

I think thats a good choice. I can't control my temps close enough to trust so I sort all of mine. Its boring, but once you get the hang of it, it goes pretty fast.

[OS OK]

189579



Looks like your trying to get into the 'hockey puck' business . . . :bigsmyl2: . . . Nice day's work for an old fart!

[kmrra]

189579

Right at 300 lbs of soft lead. Almost all roof jacks/vents. About four hours of hard work for this broken old man and I still need to go out and clean up. Best part is while I was picking up the soft lead I was talking to the guy at the scrap yard and scored almost 600 lbs of wheel weights for $0.20 a lb. Didn't have the cash on me so I'll pick them up Monday. They are in a 55 gallon drum and it's about half full.

That should keep me busy all next week.We had a work day at the range today and I picked up 30# of scrap while I was there 189639

[TexasGrunt]

Thanks. I need to put longer legs on that table. I built it too short. Then I'll need to build a stand for the cooker to get the pot up to table top level. I will be doing that before I sort the wheel weights I'll be picking up on Monday.

I had to get my wife to move the lead for me today because the table is just too short.

Pure/soft lead I always cast in the muffin cups. Wheel weights go in anything else. If I can ever find the single corn cob pan I have that's what I'll pour my linotype in. Pewter goes in a sinker mold.

[lightman]

When I'm smelting I hold my 4# ladle in both hands with my arms hanging down near my waist. The weight is near my center of gravity and the ole back sees the least amount of strain that way. My smelting pot is at that height and so is my landing zone.

I built a wooden box from 2X10's that measures 2ft X 4ft that I dump my weights into for sorting. I place this box low enough that I sit beside it. I'll scratch through it, cherry picking. I usually grab the visible trash, then the stick-on weights, then the steel and then the fun begins, sorting the lead from the zinc. I do it in that order because the steel and the stick-ons are easier to spot. I use a pair of electricians dykes to test cut the suspicious weights.

[TexasGrunt]

I pretty much have to sit if I'm doing anything. Doing so keeps me from attempting to bend my back, for the most part, which keeps me going. I have to watch when I wash my hands at the bathroom sinks that I don't bend to do it.

My back is in pretty bad shape. I do pretty good as long as I'm careful. But if I screw up I'm in for a couple of days of pain at a minimum.

[308Jeff]

I've been doing my sorting sitting Indian style on the ground on a cushioned dog bed. It hurts to get up after I've been sitting for a while. The good thing is I don't have to lift anything to table height, but I'm probably going to need to set up a table for this soon.

[TexasGrunt]

I've been doing my sorting sitting Indian style on the ground on a cushioned dog bed. It hurts to get up after I've been sitting for a while. The good thing is I don't have to lift anything to table height, but I'm probably going to need to set up a table for this soon.

No way I could get down and sit that way anymore. 20 years as a walking city letter carrier did some hip damage. If I were able to get down like that my wife would need a engine lift to get me up. When I build the table higher I'll just move stuff out of the back of the Tahoe or my truck to the table. That's my plan with the barrel of wheel weights. Get the barrel on it's side and just scrape them out of the barrel and on to the table.

BTW, my sorting/smelting table is just a hair larger than the Walmart oil change pans. I also put down newspaper when I sort wheel weights. Clean up consists of rolling up the paper and junk and throwing it away.