Dentist office lead

[ProblemChild]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210201/d8eed3b5111473ab6a4c517c695baee5.jpg
Hello I’ve been lurking for years but I think this is my 1st post. I used to cast a lot of muzzleloading round balls but I’m new to casting center fire bullets. I heard a local dentist was retiring and selling his building so I ran by there at lunch. I scored about 25 lbs of paper thin lead pieces. I’m just curious if this is acceptable for casting ??


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ProblemChild]

I also scored a vest https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210201/07607bb01b3f2fac5c5fdc20aeaa5c4b.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Winger Ed.]

The foil is good stuff.

Not sure about the vest.
It may be powdered lead impregnated into plastic.

I don't know if, or how you could get the Lead out of it without burning it.

[frkelly74]

I need a plaque like that one by the vest.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

I'd might try to sell the vest on ebay if they go for anything...

[bangerjim]

I have melted down many dozens of pounds of x-ray lead like that. Usually ends up around 8 or 9 hardness. Just treat it as pure and throw it into the pot as you need a refill.

Most modern dentist offices have gone to totally digital x-rays, so that stuff has gone the way of COWW's and dodo birds.

I have no idea about the vest. Unless the Pb is easy to get at, not worth the time and effort. You might consider trying to sell it on EBAY as anyone messing with x-rays still uses those, even the digital ones! Heck...........people will buy anything these days!

[garandsrus]

I have some dental lead. The dentist saved it for me for several years. I also got a vest but ended up pitching it. Not worth the hassle.

[Winger Ed.]

I need a plaque like that one by the vest.

Not sure where he got it, but my neighbor gave me one a couple years ago
and I screwed it to a large tool cabinet in plain view.

Other neighbors look at it like Dracula seeing a cross.

[William Yanda]

Foil seemed to take a lot of heat for me, but msde soft muffin tin ingots. I was advised that trying to reclaim lead from vests would be a smokey sticky mess so I patched them and sold them online.

[Targa]

Nice find on the dental on the X-ray lead. I tried that around here and came up with the big goose egg.

[LenH]

I bought a bunch of that dental foil lead and found it was surprisingly hard lead. I still have a pile in my stash. I was told it was soft lead but measured 14 BHN on a Cabine tree tester.
I was told by some on this site it was somewhere in the area of 96 lead 2.5 tin and 1.5 antimony. Not sure if that is true or not but the guy I got it from cast 9MM bullets from it and had
great success. Take what you can get. My dentist said they used to throw the stuff away.

[Bo1]

I worked at a hospital for almost 30 years. I obtained about 30 or 40 vests when they were upgrading all of their x-ray PPE. I ended up giving the vests away because they were a REAL pain trying to get any usable lead out of.

[ProblemChild]

Nice find on the dental on the X-ray lead. I tried that around here and came up with the big goose egg.

I got lucky. I work at the local Hardware store and someone came by and I overheard him telling someone that he was cleaning out the dentist office. It was just down the street so I stopped by at lunch. I scored 25 lbs and hopefully he finds more. The dentist retired about 3 years ago and everything has been sitting there since then. The sad thing is he is having to scrap about $200,000 worth of dental equipment because it’s obsolete [emoji15]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[turtlezx]

think how much money dentist made on the 25lbs of lead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

there only 7 or 11grs each dont remember

[dimaprok]

I've bought some dental lead from local scrap yard, it stunk so much when melting.

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk

[John Boy]

My daughter retired as a dental hygentist. Before digital x-rays, she sent me boxes of the foils. Good stuff in the Bhn 8 range....

[lightman]

Welcome Aboard!

The Dental foil should make good bullets. You will need to separate the lead from the backing. (or covering) The vest will probably not provide anything useful. The only problem with the foil is the amount of time it takes for the small amount of lead you recover. But nowadays any lead is a good score.

[jsizemore]

One member operated the machine that made them. His were 97-1 1/2-1 1/2. Another had his tested at 96-2-2. And another was 96-2 1/2-1 1/2. As thin as the foil is a little Sb and Sn helps with making it that thin and stay together.

[Conditor22]

A reloading buddy got a bunch of dental lead/x-ray foil and it contaminated his pot badly and didn't cast at all.

[ProblemChild]

Thanks guys. I’m going to try turning it into ingots about Saturday


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jschance]

I had a running agreement with my dentist; I pay his kid's way through college via my dental bills, and he would give me all the dental foils. I ended up with bags and bags of the stuff, and have case a lot of ingots and a variety of bullets over the years. Once it's in ingot form, it worked pretty good, but was pretty soft.

[Soundguy]

what was the foil? mouth pieces? all the xray lead I ever had was in sheets rolls or thin panels rolled up that came from inside the walls.

[jsizemore]

It protected the film till it was exposed in the mouth to x-rays.

[Soundguy]

Ahh, ok..so that's why it is the same shape as those mouth films..because it was exposure protection..neat.

[PBaholic]

Might be a little soft, unless you are Powder Coating.

I just got 35 pounds from my dentist. Came in at BHN 9, which is hard enough for my 38, 357, 45's and Powder Coating.

[rockshooter]

getting to be less common to find, now that digital x-ray equipment is out there. I've used a bunch of it in the past but would pass on it now- very low yield for the work involved.
Loren

[jsizemore]

It's about like 50/50 + 1% tin in hardness.

[GregLaROCHE]

Do dentists still use the technology that produces the tin foil? My dentist now always uses a digital system when checking my teeth.

[jsizemore]

The last bunch I got from the scrapyard came from the county health department. When the private sector dentist upgraded to digital, they took the tax write off by donating their old equipment to the county. At that time there was a surplus amount of foil containing film and the county scooped them up. Now the county has gone digital too. I haven't seen a foil since my local dentist cleaned out one of his store rooms years ago.

[Soundguy]

Same here.

[jsizemore]

I personally have a phobia of dentists and I still can't get over it.

They're good guys if they have lead foil. Is that more better?

[tankgunner59]

I've used a lot of the dental lead foil for cast. I treat it like pure lead and alloy it. I've also found a local tire guy who was trying to find a buyer for his WW's. He's one of us and doesn't want to sell to the scrap yard. I get a 5 gallon bucket full for 20 bucks, sort out 60+ pounds of lead and sell the rest for more than I paid. I get payed to sort WW's for my cast, can't beat it.

[Soundguy]

Nice deal!

[green mountain boy]

what would be illegal about it ? please explain....

[Soundguy]

Maybe he is talking about the lead disposal. Around here tire places won't sell or give you weights..claim they have to have a receipt from a state registered recycler...hazmat..etc..

[skeettx]

According to RCRA is is not waste until it it declared as waste,
So lead can be sold to a user.
The Tire Shop receipt may be a way to show the lead (not waste)
went down the line as a resource.

[Soundguy]

Could be I didn't argue with the guys but I can tell you that none of the stores in my area will sell or give away wheel weights I know the company I work for its waste oil has to be picked up by certified people that leave a bill of lading and we have to turn that in when we have insurance and osha inspections