Mystery ingots

[metricmonkeywrench]

Got a pair of these 35-40lb chunks given to me along with a pile of keel weights and have no clue what they are. My best guess given the proximity to the ocean they were either bouy weights or counter weights for some tool.

I finally gathered up the courage and dropped one into into the Dutch oven to melt down. It started to melt at around 475deg. Except for the epoxy paint and an odd steel pin it was a really clean melt and was fully melted around 575deg. I filled my available muffin tins and killed the burner. As it cooled I tried to catch when it started to solidify which was somewhere around 450deg if I picked the right time.

I grabbed one of the fresh mini-muffins and brought it in to the house and did a Lee bhn test and it came out to a perfect 14bhn, I’ll check again in a few days to see how much more it hardens.

Based on my initial research did I luck into 2 big hunks of #2 like alloy?

247013

[NyFirefighter357]

Do an acid test on your newly cast ingot just to be sure it doesn't have any zinc in it. After that who cares, use it! lol You coild also send a sample to BNE.

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

I'm guessing you got real lucky.

[2wheelDuke]

Just taking a wild guess, I'm thinking old clip on weights might've been the original source. All sorts of stuff is out there. Many years ago, probably before I was born, lots of workers at the local newspaper used to pour whatever they wanted on the weekends when the bosses weren't around. There's some great alloy out there from those guys in the form of dive weights, downrigger balls, race car weights, etc.

[Don1357]

I have a bucket of random ingots I have collected. The last time I tested them some were pure lead some where much much harder. Heck, the hardest ones could be either lino or water quenched CWW. I also cast fishing weighs so rather than waste time sorting them I will just cast cannonballs and cod sinkers with the lot. Who knows, in a number of years somebody may get one of my cannonballs and pop up here wondering why it is so darn hard.