American Lead Co. bars ??

[BigboreShooter]

In my lead stash I came across several bars from American Lead Co. On the back is stamped 60 T. Would this be pure lead or lead/tin solder???

BigboreShooter

[RogerDat]

Good question. Any guess is good as any other. Do you have enough to be worth shipping a pound of lead to a member here who will test a sample?

Hitting with a propane torch can tell you if you have a tin/lead alloy. Tin lowers the melting temperature of lead a lot. Of the top of my head I think 400 and something for solder and 750 for lead. If a propane torch has the stuff melting quickly after you hit an edge with that propane torch It probably means tin. And tin tends to make lead flow different. If it seems like it melts like it has tin I would highly suspect the 60 is a tin percentage. If I had a few ingots of suspected high tin solder it would be worth getting a pea sized piece tested. You can either melt a bit off or drill and melt the shavings.

[NyFirefighter357]

I would bet you have 60/40 solder 60% tin/40% lead

[Winger Ed.]

If its more than a couple years old and pure Lead, it should look pretty dark gray by now.

It has much Tin in it, it should still be about the color of old Steel that hasn't rusted.

[BigboreShooter]

If its more than a couple years old and pure Lead, it should look pretty dark gray by now.

It has much Tin in it, it should still be about the color of old Steel that hasn't rusted.

It's several years old and still quite shiny.Its also stiffer than I Would think pure lead would be.
BigboreShooter

[Winger Ed.]

It's several years old and still quite shiny.Its also stiffer than I Would think pure lead would be.
BigboreShooter

Its easy enough to get it tested, but it sure sounds like 60/40 solder.

Hang onto it for alloying, you want it for the Tin content.
Not too many years ago, a one pound roll of 95% Tin solder was $6. Lowe's sells it now for $35.

In the old days,
it was sold in bars (usually 50/50) about the size of your thumb for doing bodywork on cars before 'Bondo' came along.
Hench the name 'Lead sled' for fixed up/wrecked cars.

Some auto makers still use it for hiding roof line seams.

[Dusty Bannister]

The melting temp for lead is 621 degrees. For tin it is 450 degrees. If you have a hardness tester, take a measurement on 50/50 and then a measurement on your sample marked 60 T. A bar of solder containing more than 50% of tin will be harder, less than 50% will be softer. I hope this helps you determine what you have.

[John Boy]

* Drop a bar on a concrete floor. If you hear a ringing sound -it contains tin
* Burn off a strip and bend it If tin you will hear a crunching sound

[kevin c]

I though that the "tin cry" was mainly heard with pure tin or very close to it. At least I can say this: I've got a lot of modern, touch marked food service pewter (commonly made of 92.5% tin with the balance being antimony and copper) and of the shapes that can be bent, I'd guess only about one or two out of ten crackle and pop.

I get ringing from isotope containers made of hard lead. Analysis showed lead and antimony; surprisingly no tin.

To the OP, if you have the weight and can determine volume by measurement of the dimensions or displacement, you can get the density of the alloy, and can compare that to pure lead, pure tin, and to a 60/40 mix of the two. Or if you have a really good oven (not used for food) and a k type temp probe, you could check the melting point of those bars. This sticky shows the melting temp of 60/40 solder as being 374 degrees F.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?66241-Melting-points-of-Lead-and-Alloys

[ABJ]

Send a sample to member "BNE". Get the alloy calculator from this site and under custom alloys punch in the xrf readings and you can make anything you wish very accurately. I could not even think of not using the alloy calculator.
Tony