solder alloy

[cuemaker]

Anyone have a guesstimate of the tin/lead ratio of solder used in
old cast iron pipes?

[Dusty Bannister]

Packed joints are more than likely pure lead and packing material.

[MaryB]

Soft lead, might have a tiny bit of tin but not usually. I only found tin in it once at the scrap yard.

[cuemaker]

Soft lead, might have a tiny bit of tin but not usually. I only found tin in it once at the scrap yard.

I got a bunch of it at a scrap yard, how did you know you had tin in it?

[cuemaker]

I got a bunch of it at a scrap yard, how did you know you had tin in it?

Thanks for the answers, was hoping there might be a lot of tin in it LOL

[lightman]

I agree with the others. It more likely to be soft lead than solder. Still a nice score!

[bangerjim]

Most olde plumbers use pure Pb for joinery. Don't count on a windfall of 50/50 solder!!!!!! They used "flux" to get Pb to stick to Fe pipe. Sn was not really needed, even though it was dirt cheap back in the day.

I bought PURE Sn ingots for casting tin soldiers for 50 cents for a 4# ingot at the local small towne hobby store! Those castings had amazing detail!!!!!!!! Still have the molds.

What happened to the "goode olde daze"????????????? I guess I am just old.

Banger

[JRLesan]

Lead sticking to the cast iron pipes while caulking a joint was NEVER an issue. The inside of soil pipe hubs has/had a groove for the lead to 'flow' into while caulking. Still have occasion to pour a joint every so often but it's been a couple of years now..

[MaryB]

Scrapyard XRF's everything going out so they can charge for it. 1% tin cost me more than pure lead.


I got a bunch of it at a scrap yard, how did you know you had tin in it?

[cuemaker]

OK, thanks

[Hanzy4200]

You need to shop a better yard! My guys don't XRF anything. Recently Scored 40 lbs of 50/50 drippings for $.60 a lb.

[cuemaker]

You did better than me, I paid $.65 a lb ( over 500 lbs ) for mostly pure lead. Now need to find some tin and antimony.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

quit whining...lol I pay 1.00 a pound for any lead I find at the scrapyard.... but occasionally it should work out, if lino comes through ( almost never) the one time I saw it, I had just bought 50 lbs online and couldn't buy anymore!!!

[6bg6ga]

The plumbing lead I got measured a straight 5 on my tester. No tin just lead.

[cuemaker]

I melted it up and it does feel soft, also got some wiping solder and other solder bars so probably
have some tin in there somewhere

[Oklahoma Rebel]

I like using plumbing to soften alloys when I need to, although I have readf that some lead pipe has up to 5%SB in it, all the stuff I have gotten is super soft, and also has a very dull thud, so the 5%sb thing must only be used in limited fields, maybe chemical factories?