Old lead

[metricmonkeywrench]

Is a 25lb box of vintage lead rod worth $50?

247825

[Winger Ed.]

I'm such a tightwad scrounger, I'd say that's about a full retail price, unless it is some sort of useful alloy,
or those rods are some specific thing I could somehow resell for a profit.

For example:
I'd pay that for old school solder bars that were used as a car body filler before Bondo came along.
Not that anybody uses them, some old car guys just like hanging one or two on the wall in their shop and will pay
a lot more than their scrap value.

[dbosman]

Might it be of a diameter to be cut for cores for swaging? If so, that would justify a premium to a bullet swager.

[poppy42]

I'm such a tightwad scrounger, I'd say that's about a full retail price, unless it is some sort of useful alloy,
or those rods are some specific thing I could somehow resell for a profit.

For example:
I'd pay that for old school solder bars that were used as a car body filler before Bondo came along.
Not that anybody uses them, some old car guys just like hanging one or two on the wall in their shop and will pay
a lot more than their scrap value.
I’ve used them! Still have my Petals, I’ve got some tallow, flux, rasps, shrinking hammers , and the list goes on . You had to be able to sling lead and pick and file to be certified to work on rolls Royces. I also still have my tack hammer and yes I can spit tacks too. And Bondo was actually a brand-name. It was one of the first plastic auto body fillers and it was horrible work with . Somewhere along the line it’s been used to refer to all auto body filler . I know I know more useless trivia

[Winger Ed.]

And Bondo was actually a brand-name. It was one of the first plastic auto body fillers and it was horrible work with . Somewhere along the line it’s been used to refer to all auto body filler .


Not useless...… its part of our American heritage that needs to be passed on.


3M invented the stuff, the heavy one that the filler was more or less powdered dirt.
In the late 1950's my Dad worked as a sales rep for 3M and was tasked with introducing it to the body shops.
He got thrown out of several.

Dynatron Bondo Corp came along and a few others and undercut 3M's price.
In the late 70's or so Bondo started making a 'light weight ' filler with micro glass beads instead of talc.

They more or less captured the market from then on.
And it became the house hold name for the product, sort of like 'Scotch tape'.

From '81 till 2006, I worked in a auto body shop supply house/store.
We'd order a minimum of 200 four gallon cases of Bondo, and some of their other products 3-4 times a year.

[scotner]

Might it be of a diameter to be cut for cores for swaging? If so, that would justify a premium to a bullet swager.

The box is marked "Herter's Inc" so I would say that is a good possibility.

[DukeConnors]

2 bucks a pound is sort of high,but, if it was in front of me I would buy it.
I really can't say no.

[metricmonkeywrench]

Drat, too slow someone already snatched it up

[metricmonkeywrench]

Aha, the guy contacted me, the CL ad got spammed cuz it had “bullet” in it but my reply got thru first. Pure lead swaging cores as far as the owner knows. He doesn’t cast or swage.

He tried to sell it to a LGS but the owner wasn’t interested.

[metricmonkeywrench]

I grabbed the lead over the weekend along with a Ideal 311314 single cavity. Great guy who wanted to see this go to the "right" place. Its all New old stock Herters lead that I assume was for swaging or cores.

Each rod is about 1/4 in diameter and about a foot long. Each piece weighs about a half pound. I melted one rod down into an ingot and ran it across the Lee hardness tester and the indent went well beyond the max reading on the optical scale so easily in the 4.x bhn range.

Not too sure what ill do with all of it but if I can ever find or make a hollowpoint pin for my 358439 mould some FBI loads may be on the way....