Lead used to seal cast pipe?

[Reddirt62]

Would you guys know what the possible alloy of such described lead would be. Found a bunch in ingot form for sale.
Thanks a million!

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[AggieEE]

If you're talking about the old cast iron sewer pipe with packed oakum and poured lead as a top filler you should be looking at almost pure lead. Last time I saw a cast sewer pipe installed I was really little so I don't remember a lot of the process. However, seeing pieces of the joints later in life they are really soft.

[Grmps]

It is cheap and easy to test it http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?355056-Easier-pencil-lead-hardness-testing

I agree, if not pure then close to pure

[Wheelguns 1961]

I have installed plenty of it at an early age. It is pure soft lead. I saw my father pouring a joint in cast iron, and he spilled a hot ladle of lead down his forearm. Healed surprisingly well after about a year.

[too many things]

its as pure as it gets

[georgerkahn]

Working for a plumber in college years (doing more "sewer" than "plumber".. but that's not germane to this) -- we repaired many old lines with Oakum and lead. The Oakum was a fantastic black fly repellent, and the lead he used was alllmost pure. I exaggerated spelling of almost, as Dick (the boss) would throw in chipped out pieces of alloy from joint at end of broken pipe... and ???? he thought would melt in. Bion, I still have a couple of the torches we used... BUT, to your question, I was a newbee to bullet casting then, knowing less about alloys than I do after fifty years or so -- so I'll let you know what we did. We melted our alloy, fluxing with stub's of church candles, and poured them into ingot moulds. IF -- perhaps 90% of the time -- the INGOT made looked beautiful, we reckoned the ingot was great to use for bullet casting. (Those which did not pass muster were delegated to fishing and decoy sinkers) Sometimes ignorance is bliss -- AND, at least in the early 1960s, this was the proof of the pudding.
That you found a bunch in ingot form already perhaps solved the first question -- but, I'd still melt them in the smelting pot and flux there first. 'Specially nowadays, imho it's too costly a risk if, say, some zinc or other not-friendly metal is in the mix. Just my two pennies on it. Good luck!
geo

[BNE]

I have tested a fair amount from cast pipes. All pure.

[Reddirt62]

Thanks....in negotiations now...

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[RogerDat]

If they are in foundry cast ingots such as round domed, octagon, little squares connected in strips etc. then they are an excellent purchase. I would leave them in "store bought" form since that provided assurances as to what they are. Ones home made by melting out the old joints are a whole different story I would consider re-melting and fluxing to clean ingots so you know what you have. Be a pita if you started trying to cast and found debris in them. Heavy white oxidation create an easy way to ingest and absorb lead so mask and gloves are highly advised as well as re-melting to get rid of the oxides.

[Drm50]

I have a couple hundred pounds of assorted ingots of what we call plumbers lead. It's about as close
to pure lead as you will get and in that form you know what you have. That's the trouble with a lot
of scrap lead, you don't know exactly what you have, unless it's in a product like pipe or sheeting. I
have a couple drywall buckets of knock outs from large ladle that came out of a mill that was being
torn down. I have no idea what the make up is. It's harder than wheel weights. I'm thinking it is
metal that they poured bearings with. I got the ladle too, it's got a 3' handle on it and is about 5"
dia.

[lightman]

I have a couple hundred pounds of assorted ingots of what we call plumbers lead. It's about as close
to pure lead as you will get and in that form you know what you have. That's the trouble with a lot
of scrap lead, you don't know exactly what you have, unless it's in a product like pipe or sheeting. I
have a couple drywall buckets of knock outs from large ladle that came out of a mill that was being
torn down. I have no idea what the make up is. It's harder than wheel weights. I'm thinking it is
metal that they poured bearings with. I got the ladle too, it's got a 3' handle on it and is about 5"
dia.

If you have very much of this it may be worthwhile to have it tested. It sounds like it could be babbit. That ladle will be good for smelting for sure!

Most any lead associated with plumbing will usually be soft. Usually is the key word here. An old-time local plumber here used wheel weights. Not having a wholesale plumbing supply near, Bill used what was available. This is very rare, but it can happen.

[Drm50]

That's the trouble with this area, there is no one with tester. I have several hundred pounds of metal
in factory ingots that are marked with trade names and are various bearing alloys. These scrap ladle
slugs are not as hard or brittle as babbit. I was heavy into making fishing lures and selling to bait
shops and sporting goods stores. Local guys were always bringing me "lead" from the places they
worked. A lot of this was lead alloys for different purposes. For fishing tackle it makes no difference
of alloy, for muzzel loaders pure is needed. I've been casting bullets since I was a kid. I don't get
as technical as a lot of guys on forum but since my bullets are for handguns and low velocity rifles
my hardest bullets would be pure WWs. I have tons of known soft lead, so I go for uniformity in
my alloy. I go 20:1 lead tin on my handgun bullets which are WCs that are running 700-800 fps.
Due to the tin plating mills shutting down in this area I have managed to amass several hundred
pounds of tin. It's in ingots too. I know it's tin but I don't know if it is a alloy either. It seems to do
the job of tin. The addition of it makes a big difference in filling out cavities with nice square edges
on grease grooves and such. Added bonus bullets don't oxidize and turn grey. The question that has
always puzzled me and nobody seems to answer, " any lead alloy that can be melted at temps near
lead, shouldn't be hard enough to damage a bore?" Is my thinking right on this. Other than weight
difference on a given bullet what would be the down side. As long as there wasn't enough zinc to
change characteristics of sizing what would be the down side. I've got enough pure lead & tin to last
four life times so that's what I use, along with WWs. The questionable metal I try to use up on fishing tackle.

[kevin c]

I'm not sure how melting temp correlates with hardness.

You could get a sample tested by BNE, who posted above. PM the man, and he'll' give you the details, but basically it will cost you a pound of lead as payment, the sample you want tested, and shipping to his location to get a PM back with the analysis.

If it's hardness that mainly concerns you rather than content, look at the stickied thread in this forumon pencil testing of hardness for a cheap, quick and dirty assessment, with Grmps' additional suggestions in his linked thread. Or, for an initial cash outlay, you could get an actual lead hardness tester.

[tinsnips]

It is about pure lead as it gets.We had a good week recovered about a 100 pounds changed out the soil pipe in two houses. Best part of being a plumber at my age.

[Hardcast416taylor]

When I pulled the `union` pin on being an industrial pipefitter/plumber I had 35 1/2 years on trade. I both repaired lines and installed new lines using the oakum with poured lead sealant. We used only pure lead plumbers ingots that we melted on site then poured and chinked in place. When I pulled the pin in `03 I was one of about 5 plumber/pipefitters in my local of +/- 125 that still knew how to do a lead joint correctly, and I was retiring.Robert