Mark your ingots

[Mk42gunner]

I got a gentle reminder yesterday to mark you ingots as to just what they are. I recently received a new Lee 148 WC mold and wanted to get started with it. I needed some more lead since the pot I am currently using has pure lead in it.

I went to my stash of ingots, and found plenty, but they weren't marked. I was momentarily concerned, since most ingots of lead based material look very similar. Then I remembered that I had only cast triangular ingots of wheelweights until I acquired a sufficient quantity of pure lead to smelt a batch, which luckily I had marked.

This means that any unmarked ingots I have right now are wheelweights; but a few minutes taken to mark them when cast would have removed all doubt.

You don't even need special number or letter stamps, they work but are a bit small for my aging eyes. What I tend to use is a large flat screwdriver to make block letters with. It is a lot easier to see a P or WW that is roughly an inch tall than 1/8 or ¼" size.

I did discover that various alloys oxidize to different colors, more lead in the mix gives a darker color. If the samples are the same age, if not all bets are off.

Robert

[shell70634]

I had the same problem. Lead I smelted in 80's that weren't marked because I was sure I would remember that the muffin ingots were BHN 16 and the Lee ingots were 10 and so on. I only had the SAECO tester so I could only check after casting. Now I have a cabin tree tester and mark the batches of ingots with a marker. I test and mark every ingot I buy. Much easier to make a specific hardness now.

Shelly

[country gent]

Marking ingots can be done in many ways and what works for you is all that matters. A friend used a center punch and series of punch marks. A screw driver or flat cold chisel, Letter number stamps. a piece of pipe, One thing when using a code is to have it wrote down in several places so its known what is what if your no longer around.

I use stamps 3/8" size and tie them to get ww pl no2 or what I need. 1 hit and the ingot is IDd quick and easy.

[Mal Paso]

I eliminated the issue, only one alloy, 95.5/3.5/1. LOL

[quail4jake]

My compliments for only one alloy, K.I.S.S.! I complicated things beyond necessity but I'll be alright. Maybe.
I letter stamp alloys with my own secret squirrel code: A= Pb:Sn 40:1, B=20:1, C= cerrosafe, E= electrotype, H= hardball BHN 22 92/6/2 (Pb, Sb, Sn), J= junk, unknown zinc contaminated etc. L= linotype O= BHN 8 97.5/0.5/2, P= lead, Q= quenched, R= BHN 10 97/1/2, S= superhard, T= tin, U= BHN 12 96/2/2, V= BHN 14 95/3/2, W= wheelweights + 2% tin BHN 17-19, X= BHN 17 94/4/2 (very close to wheelweights + 2% tin), XX= BHN 17 94/4/2 made with Lawrence Magnum #8 shot enough to give about 0.25% As. Y= BHN 19 93/5/2, Z= zinc. I use numbers to catalog rendered alloys so my recent range scrap was "5" and the several hundred pounds of sheet lead was "6" since these were the numbers currently available. Once the standard boolits ( SAECO 015) are weighed and density calculated and BHNs from as cast to 3 weeks are finished I can characterize the rendered materials and either identify it as a similar known or do an admixture to produce a standard casting alloy then it can be stamped with a letter to represent a known.
If I cast boolits with Alloy W and quench from the mold I land at BHN 25-27 after age hardening, labeled Alloy WQ. Using Alloy XX and quenching exceeds BHN 29 at 3 weeks, labeled Alloy XXQ...
I had an organization issue at one time but letter stamping and stacking ingots neatly has made me a better man. Does anyone else do this or am I the only "rainman" here? So, after all that most of my casting is done with Alloy U BHN 12...just like Glenn Frixell said before I started all this mess!

[slim1836]

I eliminated the issue, only one alloy, 95.5/3.5/1. LOL

Not me, I'm poor.

Slim

[NyFirefighter357]

95/5
https://i.imgur.com/SAbkhJ3.jpg

COWW
https://i.imgur.com/5IPJHs7.jpg

SOWW
https://i.imgur.com/01LBwwg.jpg

RL Range lead
https://i.imgur.com/zZvkQBf.jpg

Lino
https://i.imgur.com/lucxOkM.jpg

PB
https://i.imgur.com/6xxzHL1.jpg

[dale2242]

I have used permanent black felt markers for years.
They are still easily readable after many years.
I store my ingots in 50 cal ammo cans.
I have many different alloys.
Wheel weights, Linotype, soft, solder, Lyman#2, 50/50-WW/Lino, etc.

[MrWolf]

I use the hand stamps and have also picked up the redneck gold, cast boolits, and I think the noe molds to also assist in identification. I assumed as others that I would remember the different shapes, etc (like tin was bottom of soda cans). Problem is when I am gone and not specifically marked it will cause issues. Good luck

[ubetcha]

One of my first ingot mold I got , I roughly engraved "WW" into the bottom of each cavity. These are easily identified now as strictly wheel weights. This is the only ingot mould I did this to. Now I use a magic marker. With the exception of lino. I have letter punches spelling LINO to use for that.

[USSR]

No need to mark each and every ingot, all you need to do is mark the container that they reside in.

Don

[PJEagle]

My method would drive everyone else crazy, but it works for me. Over the years the Microsoft Access database that tracks all of my firearm, casting and range report information goes through a continuous improvement process. The database generates a batch number which is stamped with 1/4" number stamps on each ingot from that batch. The database tracks all the information on each batch and ties it to the parent batches.

My very good friend swears that I only shoot pedigreed alloy because I can track the components back to the original purchase of the material.

[1Papalote]

Spray paint. Brown is COWW. Green is pure. White is 1%. Red is 2,%.
If lead is left in the pot, once cool, a shot of one of the above. 0

[Hossfly]

I use the letter stamps from Harbor Frt. they’re small but so far it works well. Every one is marked with (L), (WW)
As that is all I have right now, and I have a ton of it stored. I’ve added solder only to my pot when casting boolits for better fill out. KISS.

[RU shooter]

I only keep 4 different alloys already in ingots , hard , medium , soft , and pure . just drop them on the cement floor and each one rings or don't ring different simple and works for me

[Kraschenbirn]

Been marking mine with a plain ol' Sharpie for years then stacking the marked ingots in designated bins under my workbench. Has worked for near 30 years (I built on the workshop in 1992) so haven't seen any need for change.

Bill

[John Boy]

i do the same as Bill ... Magic Marker, quick and easy ... all 1700 lbs of 6lb ingots

[redhawk0]

I bought a cheap letter/number stamp set at Harbor Freight years ago.

PB, LIN, WW, RL, PEW stamped work for me. I then mix and match to make an Alloy of the desired BNH and those are only in corn mold ingots (shaped like corn on the cob). they fit in my pot easily and are marked as A#1, A#2...and so on. I keep computer records for what the A#1,A#2....etc composition are. These are mixed in 50-100 lbs lots.

redhawk

[quail4jake]

So, then do I get the rainman savant award?

[mdi]

I mark much of my ingots, but in a few ways; for specific BHN I use a black marker, it lasts a few years. For wheel weight alloy and pure I use a 1/2" cold chisel (screw drivers are not punches or chisels! ;)). But similar to Mal Paso's method I have my "Mystery Metal", a mix of various alloys, scrap and range lead running about 12 BHN which works quite well for 95% of my hand gun bullet casting...

[Mk42gunner]

Magic marker works if protected from weather. If left outside for a few years-- Oops, just what is this alloy?

I agree screwdrivers shouldn't be used for anything other than turning screws, but they are the most abused tool in the world. I don't beat on my good tools, the junk stuff that accumulates on the other hand...

Robert

[dondiego]

My problem is that I bought a bucket of what I was told is clip on wheel weight ingots. Half are marked WW and the half are marked MM.

[fredj338]

I use diff ingot molds for diff alloys. That way I know at a glance what i am reaching for on the shelf.

[kootne]

I've been with the chisel crowd for about 40 years. Used to shoot 6 shooters a lot with WW. Most shooting the last 35 years is old BP calibers with XX (20-1), XXV (25-1) and XXX (30-1).

[Hossfly]

My problem is that I bought a bucket of what I was told is clip on wheel weight ingots. Half are marked WW and the half are marked MM.

I have similar problem with mine, I didn’t mark my corn bread triangle ingots the same direction. Picking them out with WW, some read MM, very confusing. LOL

[pworley1]

I keep mine in 5 gallon buckets and just write the mix on the bucket.

[USSR]

I keep mine in 5 gallon buckets and just write the mix on the bucket.

Makes too much sense. It will never catch on.:razz:

Don

[Budzilla 19]

When I dump the ingots and they are cool enough to store, put them on the bench, hammer and letter punch each ingot, then into its own respective storage bin. Being a quality control supervisor and welding inspector for the last 20+ years, accountability is fore most in my way of thinking! I just need to know what I’m putting in that batch. Just me, though.

[Rcmaveric]

My wife thought she 2ould be nice and moved my lead for me.... she also wanted a work out.

Bless her heart but critical thinking and intelligence isn't always her strong suites. It didn't dawn o. Her why there was 3 piles of lead. She moved them all for me into giant pile.

So I get to sort it all when I get home. Thank God when I got the new redneck gold mold I turned all my ingots into that and marked them.

Used a hole punch to circle what it was. Cowws, PB or other.... other is RS lead.

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

[gwpercle]

My problem is that I bought a bucket of what I was told is clip on wheel weight ingots. Half are marked WW and the half are marked MM.

Oh Man ... you got ripped off !
WW = Wheel Weight .... but those marked MM are Mystery Metal !
What to do !
Gary

[higgins]

I too make simplified block letters with a screwdriver. In the past I have also scratched the letters with a center punch.

[Kylongrifle]

I have metal stamps in my shop including block letters. I either lay them out on one of my anvils or a heavy metal welding table and stamp them with either a WW for wheel weight or PL for pure lead..
Most of the bullets I cast need pure lead. I cast a lot of muzzleloader bullets and balls so I need to be careful with mixing my lead

[jimlj]

95/5
https://i.imgur.com/SAbkhJ3.jpg

COWW
https://i.imgur.com/5IPJHs7.jpg

SOWW
https://i.imgur.com/01LBwwg.jpg

RL Range lead
https://i.imgur.com/zZvkQBf.jpg

Lino
https://i.imgur.com/lucxOkM.jpg

PB
https://i.imgur.com/6xxzHL1.jpg

Someone has too much lead. I can help with that.

[FISH4BUGS]

I eliminated the issue, only one alloy, 95.5/3.5/1. LOL

Me too. 5lbs ww to 1 lb linotype.
Alloyed in the pot on the fly. 6 lbs at a time and used right away.
If I can't tell the difference between the two....well, sorry about that.

[imashooter2]

I find it much easier to mark 1 bucket as opposed to 300 ingots.

[NyFirefighter357]

Someone has too much lead. I can help with that.

That's not too much lead, but you might think this is! lol

https://i.imgur.com/jvsDQ6J.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/TIyecKh.jpg

[mdi]

My problem is that I bought a bucket of what I was told is clip on wheel weight ingots. Half are marked WW and the half are marked MM.

I had some MM alloy, but I could only use it to make revolver bullets. Used it all up for my 7.5mm Nagant...

[Old School Big Bore]

I stamp the ingots with letter/number stamps because with my luck all the buckets would shatter simultaneously. Plus I like to arrange several pots' worth on the bench if I'm trying a new mix, and stamping keeps me unconfused...PB for soft, L2 for #2, WW for COWW. I used to try to put different alloys in different ingot molds, but after three moves in as many years I can only find the Lee molds.
Ed <><

[bangerjim]

I have found spray painting the ends with different color codes is a FAST way of marking lots of ingots FAST. I also use steel letter stamps on smaller quantities, but that takes too much time! Last winter I had to code over 500# of COWW's so I used the same SAECO mold for all, stacked them in a few big piles, and sprayed the end black. Now they are ID's and weather will not mess them up like magic markers (the worst ID system of all) will do over time.

[Hanzy4200]

I only marked the very few pure ingots I have for BP casting. All others are range scrap or factory stamped alloy like Hardball. I use a permanent marker.

[pjames32]

I marked for years with a Sharpie or magic marker. Discovered after many years the writing faded and disappeared. Now I use letter stamps. The CAST BOOLITS/REDNECK GOLD ingots are EZ, just stamp your selection on each ingot. I'm old so someone other than me will be using most of my ingots!

[BattleRife]

I found it very much worth investing some time to make a custom stamp for those alloys I ingotize regularly. Line all the ingots up in a row after they drop out of the mould and whack each one just once with the stamp and hammer. You get a mark that will last forever and you can do a whole bunch in very little time.

These were made using common hex head bolts and a dremel.

https://i.postimg.cc/BvbKpdL9/Stamps.jpg

[Mk42gunner]

Very nice, BattleRife.

Those three stamps would take care of 99% of all my stuff right now.

Robert

[jimb16]

I use stamps that were made for marking steel. Last forever. WW, PB, LT, PWTR, SN, #2 Works for me.

[MrWolf]

I found it very much worth investing some time to make a custom stamp for those alloys I ingotize regularly. Line all the ingots up in a row after they drop out of the mould and whack each one just once with the stamp and hammer. You get a mark that will last forever and you can do a whole bunch in very little time.

These were made using common hex head bolts and a dremel.

https://i.postimg.cc/BvbKpdL9/Stamps.jpg

That is thinking outside the box. Nice

[Land Owner]

NYFirefighter357 - you WILL eventually overload that unsupported wooden ledger on which you are stacking your ingots and it WILL sheer or tear away - doing untold damage and creating misery. It is recommended that you add some floor to ledger "columns" (2x4's) slightly wedged in to prevent sag. Looks like a good haul though in the meantime.

I have been considering a way forward for my own ingots - hundreds of unmarked single composition 50-50 Pb-COWW alloy, and the remaining few pure Tin. I have spreadsheets that describe it all, but that isn't enough.

It occurs to me in what many have written above, is that memory and hard won experience of those that cast IS NOT to be expected of anyone that doesn't. Most folks have NO IDEA with regard to malleable metal composition, alloys, BHN, Pb, Sn, Zn, Ar, etc., that WE take for granted after YEARS of casting experience.

What you KNOW, and do not think twice about, may be a "Quantum Leap" for someone else - especially a spouse. You cannot suddenly give away your knowledge and expect the "uninitiated" to understand. The value of what we know is only worth the fragments of information we leave others. It will be up to them to "catch up".

[NyFirefighter357]

NYFirefighter357 - you WILL eventually overload that unsupported wooden ledger on which you are stacking your ingots and it WILL sheer or tear away - doing untold damage and creating misery. It is recommended that you add some floor to ledger "columns" (2x4's) slightly wedged in to prevent sag.".

That's a block wall with a footing that's 42" bellow grade with a 2"x8" sill plate on a gable wall with very little structural weight on it.

https://i.imgur.com/jvsDQ6J.jpg

[Chainsaw.]

And absolute must do! I have 900#s of one alloy and about 100#s of pure. Pretty easy to distinguish by the trained eye, but I may not be the only/last person to see it in ingot form.
A sharpie works just fine for me. Each ingot marked to save any confusion.

[Land Owner]

That's a block wall with a footing that's 42" bellow grade with a 2"x8" sill plate on a gable wall with very little structural weight on it.

Dooph! Homer Simpson moment here. These eyes saw something else in the photo, a misidentified "cantilever" holding a lot of weight. My bad.

[lightman]

I got a gentle reminder yesterday to mark you ingots as to just what they are. I recently received a new Lee 148 WC mold and wanted to get started with it. I needed some more lead since the pot I am currently using has pure lead in it.

I went to my stash of ingots, and found plenty, but they weren't marked. I was momentarily concerned, since most ingots of lead based material look very similar. Then I remembered that I had only cast triangular ingots of wheelweights until I acquired a sufficient quantity of pure lead to smelt a batch, which luckily I had marked.

This means that any unmarked ingots I have right now are wheelweights; but a few minutes taken to mark them when cast would have removed all doubt.

You don't even need special number or letter stamps, they work but are a bit small for my aging eyes. What I tend to use is a large flat screwdriver to make block letters with. It is a lot easier to see a P or WW that is roughly an inch tall than 1/8 or ¼" size.

I did discover that various alloys oxidize to different colors, more lead in the mix gives a darker color. If the samples are the same age, if not all bets are off.

Robert

I agree, permanently mark your ingots and leave a ledger with what the markings are. I wish all of mine were marked.

Unfortantly most of mine are not marked and there are enough of them that the task would take forever. I save up my scrounged lead all year and have a big smelt once a year, at the end of the winter when hunting season closes. I've added the extra step of stamping them then.

You guys that store your ingots in plastic buckets, be aware that if your ingots are stacked in there with weight on the sides of the bucket that the bucket can or will split in time. Learned that the hard way!!!

Most of mine are neatly stacked in milk crates with a tag attached to the crate.

My plan for the next smelt is to buy a couple sets of Harbor Freight steel stamps and tack weld a few together to form initials like PB, WW, ect. I've tried various methods of holding 2 or 3 stamps together and they eventually get loose.

[Mk42gunner]

I wish we could still find the steel milk crates. Dad had one when I was a kid, many uses for a near indestructible steel crate that size.

Robert

[lightman]

I agree. I have one that I used as a seat when I was working on the control panels on electric wells. It and a boat cushion was just about the right height to be comfortable.

[Mr_Sheesh]

My concern on stacked casting fodder is, what happens if & when an earthquake hits? I am in WA tho, some parts of the country get far fewer quakes. Safe is good, buried under 600# of lead could immobilize you...

[Ural Driver]

Just ordered more of the Redneck Gold/Cast Boolits ingot molds. Can't beat em.

[Walks]

I have over 20 1x4 ingot molds, collected them when they was Cheap.

OHAUS - Linotype
LYMAN - #2
SAECO - 20/1
RCBS - COWW's
LEE 1lb - Pure Lead
LEE 1/2LB - FoundryType
Blank - could be anything, Molds are Old Lachmiller or early RCBS I paint the ends; black is SOWW, red is unknown.
Lodge scone pan triangles are range scrap.

BOY HOWDY !!!!
Do I have a system! It's so well organized that I have a key inside of every reloading manual I own. And a BIG Laminated one on the garage wall.
Else I'd forget. Why My Wife puts a nametag on all my shirts.

[barnabus]

I have used permanent black felt markers for years.
They are still easily readable after many years.
I store my ingots in 50 cal ammo cans.
I have many different alloys.
Wheel weights, Linotype, soft, solder, Lyman#2, 50/50-WW/Lino, etc.

same here..i store my different ingots in metal garbage cans.when i need ingots for the shop i use metal feed pail that are marked,ww,rs, lino and set these the floor next to my bench. i have three different pots so i just add acoordingly and use a marker on ingots if i empty a pot.

[fredj338]

I have over 20 1x4 ingot molds, collected them when they was Cheap.

OHAUS - Linotype
LYMAN - #2
SAECO - 20/1
RCBS - COWW's
LEE 1lb - Pure Lead
LEE 1/2LB - FoundryType
Blank - could be anything, Molds are Old Lachmiller or early RCBS I paint the ends; black is SOWW, red is unknown.
Lodge scone pan triangles are range scrap.

BOY HOWDY !!!!
Do I have a system! It's so well organized that I have a key inside of every reloading manual I own. And a BIG Laminated one on the garage wall.
Else I'd forget. Why My Wife puts a nametag on all my shirts.
I do a sim thing, diff alloy in diff ingot molds. Works for me & is dead bang simple.

[P Flados]

FYI,

I have found that a medium ball point pen with firm pressure makes a very good writing tool that looks "round bottom engraved". The rolling action of the ball makes writing easier than dragging some other object (screwdriver etc.) across the surface. Might not work as well on really hard stuff, but it has worked good enough for all of my stuff.