Does anyone know the propertird of dental lead

[LenH]

I just bout some lead from a local guy that said it was dental lead shielding and said it should be pure lead.

I tested several ingots and it tested 14.0 BNH on a Cabine tree tester. Kinda surprised me.

It is from dental x-ray foil.

[zomby woof]

The lead they use is Lead >96%, Tin 1.5% +/- 0.1%, Antimony 1.5% +/- 0.1%.

[sqlbullet]

Before my BIL the dentist went digital I got a bucket of lead foil from him. What I got was near pure, but I have see lots of reports that others tested out with tin and antimony as zombywoof says.

Sounds like you got the good stuff. Unless you cast for black powder, in which case someone will trade you.

[LenH]

Thanks guys, I thought it would be pure.

The guy I got it from used some of it to cast some 9mm and said it worked great.

[RogerDat]

The foils that I had were tested and did have some tin and antimony. They were good casting material. I did find that they had a coating of some sort that tended to smoke and stink as the lead melted. So good ventilation is a must.

[Harry O]

I have been collecting lead foil from my dentist for several years. It is REALLY good stuff. Mine tests out at about Bhn 13, air-cooled. It has enough tin to cast well. It is not "pure", but it is worth getting all you can. It works great for a LOT of mid-range pistol loads that I use. Unfortunately, my dentist has just changed over to digital x-rays. No more in the future.

[LenH]

The guy told me that he has had it for a couple of years, it was nearly 160 pounds. He got it from a dentist that was going digital.

He had to get rid of it to make room for a new baby. Been there and done that.

[RogerDat]

I'm re-reading this and wonder is the OP talking about the shielding around the room or equipment? That is pure lead. There are federal standards for what is acceptable thickness of sheeting for a given amount of radiation and distance. All based on pure lead.

Or are we talking the little foil pulls that cover a dental x-ray film? Those are about the size of a pull tab only square. They would cover that plastic thing they stick in your mouth when getting an x-ray at the dentist so the film won't get exposed in storage. The foil run as someone suggested a surprisingly rich Pb 96 / Sb 2.5 / Sn 1.5 with maybe touch less Sb. In short they cast beautiful bullets as-is.

[LenH]

Sorry for the confusion RogerDat, the lead came from dental X-Ray foils.

WOW, I didn't realize those were that hard. I got a pile of it but the guy thought it was pure. I needed something to mix with some Monotype and got his whole stash.
That stuff should make some great bullets.

[RogerDat]

Sorry for the confusion RogerDat, the lead came from dental X-Ray foils.

WOW, I didn't realize those were that hard. I got a pile of it but the guy thought it was pure. I needed something to mix with some Monotype and got his whole stash.
That stuff should make some great bullets.

Yes it does make nice bullets, and I do confusion well and easily so being confused is just going with my strengths. :-) However a pile melted gets a whole lot smaller, lot of "fluff" to those foils. Still one of the better things one can come across for casting.

Don't know if you want to do any trading for that plain lead but type (especially if still in letter form) would probably trade for somewhere around 1# of type for 2# of plain both sides paying their own shipping. If you wanted to go that route you could list it in swapping and selling and get some plain that way. Or just post a WTB (Wanted to Buy) in swapping and selling for the plain lead. Should be able to get some at around $1 a pound delivered in around 60# box of it. See it there fairly often. And a couple of vendors sell WW lead in that price range, I think there is a vendor with handle of The Captain separates the stick on weights so has nearly plain lead for sale.

[Lloyd Smale]

my brother in law is retired dentist. He used to give me all those strips until he went with more modern ways. He said when he checked that he was told 99 percent lead, 1 percent tin.

[RogerDat]

Yes I know I am resurrecting a zombie thread.

Found 25 lbs. of these dental xray foil pulls again. And despite swearing I would never melt them down again due to the plastic coating and pieces of plastic coated paper mixed in that stink and burn when smelting I bought them. What can I tell you? The price was good and the weather is suitable for outdoor smelting over a fire.

I have seen them a few times and always passed but at the same price as COWW's in a compact easy to take home form and almost all lead by weight... No clips, can't really have been worse than paint or plastic coating on some COWW's despite what I think I might remember. Just have to make sure none of the neighbors are hanging laundry to dry or have the windows open when these get the heat.

[Rich/WIS]

Used some in the past for RB in my ML, didn't seem any harder to load than pure lead. Just picked up about 5# from my dentist here, they save them for me.

[Traffer]

A while ago orisolo was selling some alloy from x-ray shielding (not dentist but don't think it matters) It had 7.5% antimony. Very nice hard lead indeed.
My guess is that they sometimes use harder alloy in shielding because it is less likely to sag. So newer stuff would be harder....just a guess though.

[RogerDat]

A while ago orisolo was selling some alloy from x-ray shielding (not dentist but don't think it matters) It had 7.5% antimony. Very nice hard lead indeed.
My guess is that they sometimes use harder alloy in shielding because it is less likely to sag. So newer stuff would be harder....just a guess though. A lot of the lead shielding used in x-ray rooms is pure or nearly pure lead. The specifications for how thick the lead has to be to block a given strength of radiation is based on pure lead. I believe I was told a while back that the thickness specification is based on pure virgin lead. Alloys can be used but that makes it more complicated to figure out how thick the lead shielding needs to be.

I have noted antimony is used in some lead items I think it is to make lead form better but that 7.5% is unusually high to find in shielding. I have found sheet lead with Sb but the stuff from known x-ray rooms has always been plain lead. Just goes to show scrap scrounging is a treasure hunt. 7.5% would easily mix 2:1 with soft lead, 3:1 would not be out of order for many uses making it a great score.

This shielding lead is distinctly different lead than the lead foil that is stuck on dental x-ray film to shield them from exposure. Thus the references to "going digital" that dental x-ray lead is the packaging for those x-ray film cards the dentist would stick in your mouth to take x-rays. That I think varies a bit by x-ray film manufacturer. Some being found to be basically lead & tin, other being closer to COWW's with tin and a great cast bullet alloy.