Soft stick-ons don't want to melt

[Paramax55]

I melted a pot of wheel weights last night and I didn't have my thermometer handy (it's been a while since I melted anything). So I was watching the melt like a hawk and just took out anything that didn't melt right away. What surprised me is that the stick-ons that I was "sure" were lead (softest of all of them - but not the foam ones) did not seem to melt at all.

I've been doing some reading and it seems that the higher-content lead weights have fewer alloys and melt at a higher temperature. If that's true, I guess I should grab them back out of the scrap pile?

[Minerat]

Melt them separately if you can. Maybe with a soldering torch in a tin can just to be safe so it does not contaminate your other batches. I have a small lyman cast iron pot that I use for questionable weights or to break down solder for the pot sweetener nuggets I make.

Once you get them melted and cleaned then you can let the batch solidify and remelt checking the temperature when it goes liquid to find out if it is usable alloy.

[Cast10]

I melted same yesterday too! I hand sorted mine to ensure all were lead. I let my pot heat up with a small amount first then added as it was liquid. It seemed mine did well around 650-680, but 650 being where it held and kept it liquid. I use a fish fryer burner and a 4qt Dutch Oven. It melted all the paper and crud off, with some help from sawdust.

[hoodat]

Yeah, a guy might assume that harder alloys would melt at a higher temp, but alas, that is not the case. Pure lead has a higher melting temp than lead alloys.

If I recall, this is the case for most alloys. jd

[Paramax55]

I know solder is like that... it melts at a lower temperature than the tin or lead that it's made of. I have a casting ladle and I did cast a few rounds out of the pot so I could do a BHN test. They cast fine (under the non-ideal conditions) so I know I didn't have anything goofy in the melt. I'll be outside again today. I think I'll take all of the slag and clips and these stick-ons and remelt it all. I'll let it sit for a while, then flux it good and take the garbage off the top while it's extra hot. Maybe I'll squeese the last drops of goodness out of my slag pile. It seems I tried this before and determined it wasn't worth it, but sometimes I'm stupid like that.

[hoodat]

I've just been melting all of my stick ons, sheet lead, lead wire etc. and marking the ingots "pure lead" for future use in soft bullets.
A guy has to be careful any more because there are now stick-ons that are zinc. jd

[Paramax55]

Yeah, I've thrown away a lot of stick ons that I knew weren't lead. I use a pair of wire cutters to verify stuff is soft before I put it in the "to melt" bucket. I only melted about 30% of my last "score." I threw the rest away, but now I think I'm going to take it to the scrap yard. There's no way they can expect to be getting mostly lead any more. I won't feel guilty.

[Conditor22]

I melted same yesterday too! I hand sorted mine to ensure all were lead. I let my pot heat up with a small amount first then added as it was liquid. It seemed mine did well around 650-680, but 650 being where it held and kept it liquid. I use a fish fryer burner and a 4qt Dutch Oven. It melted all the paper and crud off, with some help from sawdust.

It's not safe adding unknown lead to molten lead. wheel weights are not too bad IF you.ve had them in a dry place for some time.
All you need is 1 moisture pocket in a piece of lead to empty your pot onto everything close by.

[Eddie Southgate]

Yeah, I've thrown away a lot of stick ons that I knew weren't lead. I use a pair of wire cutters to verify stuff is soft before I put it in the "to melt" bucket. I only melted about 30% of my last "score." I threw the rest away, but now I think I'm going to take it to the scrap yard. There's no way they can expect to be getting mostly lead any more. I won't feel guilty.

Buy one of the cheap Lee pots and melt the zinc . Try casting and shooting some zinc bullets . There are folks doing that now due to lead restrictions and some just because it works and allows the use of otherwise junk casting metal . The bullets are lighter but they can be made to shoot good . I'm as traditional as it gets with my shooting but I'm saving my zinc and am dedicating a pot to it to make plinking loads and save my lead for serious shooting.

[Tatume]

It's not safe adding unknown lead to molten lead. wheel weights are not too bad IF you.ve had them in a dry place for some time.
All you need is 1 moisture pocket in a piece of lead to empty your pot onto everything close by.

Actually, you should be careful with the stored, dry wheel weights too. Some have salt deposits, particularly in the clip, and can hold enough moisture associated with the salt to be dangerous. Wheel weights should be placed in a cold pot, and then the temperature should be raised. This allows the heat to drive off moisture before the weights melt.

[Cast10]

Yessir.
I had them laid out on the slab in the sun for a few hours before hand. I also allowed the humidity to drop prior to beginning the operation at hand. Being a newby, I did all I could to have them dry. I also wore proper PPEs including glasses, just in case.
That said, would you have had added all of it at one time? Thanks.

[Tatume]

Wheel weights should be placed in a cold pot, all of a pot full, and then the temperature should be raised. This allows the heat to drive off moisture before the weights melt.

[Cucumbermonkey]

Actually, you should be careful with the stored, dry wheel weights too. Some have salt deposits, particularly in the clip, and can hold enough moisture associated with the salt to be dangerous. Wheel weights should be placed in a cold pot, and then the temperature should be raised. This allows the heat to drive off moisture before the weights melt.

I put mine in an oven at 300F to get them warmed for the pot and also drive out any moisture.

[dverna]

Wheel weights should be placed in a cold pot, all of a pot full, and then the temperature should be raised. This allows the heat to drive off moisture before the weights melt.

Good advice. I do the same with range lead.

[Paramax55]

I re-melted my slag and I'm glad I did. I pulled the clips WAY too cold last night and pulled a bunch of lead with it. I used that stuff as a base to melt the soft lead. It didn't want to melt until it got REALLY hot, then it melted slow, and it froze to EVERYTHING - my mixing spoon, the ladle, the side of the pot, EVERYTHING! But it made some shiny bullets with a BHN of 7.2. I got about 18# of the stuff from this run. It will definitely need some tin.

[Land Owner]

I have buckets of WW's, retrieved dry and stored dry, now more than two years since I last smelted 100# batches into 3# alloy ingots, that'll never be a worry about water when adding to a bulk batch melt. I have to cast a LOT of (255 grain and smaller) boolits with the remaining 500#'s of 3# alloy ingots before I am ready to melt bulk batches again...but I'm ready...particularly to show new folks the process and get them interested and started on their own!

[Tatume]

I have buckets of WW's, retrieved dry and stored dry, now more than two years since I last smelted 100# batches into 3# alloy ingots, that'll never be a worry about water when adding to a bulk batch melt.

The air in Florida is hardly dry! Salt, which is hygroscopic, readily absorbs moisture from the air. The salt deposits on wheel weights can hold enough moisture to cause a steam explosion. Being in Florida doesn't eliminate salt either, as people from the cold, wintry north drive to Florida. While we may have gotten away with dropping wheel weights into hot, molten lead, it only takes one salty weight to ruin a day.

[Martin Luber]

Oxidation can retard melting too. I see that with lead pipe. Pipe can stay immersed in a pot for a long time and not melt.

[ioon44]

I find a lot of stick on weights that are zinc.

[Land Owner]

The air in Florida is hardly dry! Salt, which is hygroscopic, readily absorbs moisture from the air. The salt deposits on wheel weights can hold enough moisture to cause a steam explosion. Being in Florida doesn't eliminate salt either, as people from the cold, wintry north drive to Florida. While we may have gotten away with dropping wheel weights into hot, molten lead, it only takes one salty weight to ruin a day.

They have been stored in a water tight Connex for two years. I don't see an issue with hygroscopic salt. Bare metal in the Connex (e.g. equipment, shovels, post hole digger, military cartridge boxes, etc.), would give some indication over time if there was salt in the atmosphere inside. None is noted.

[Tatume]

They have been stored in a water tight Connex for two years. I don't see an issue with hygroscopic salt. Bare metal in the Connex (e.g. equipment, shovels, post hole digger, military cartridge boxes, etc.), would give some indication over time if there was salt in the atmosphere inside. None is noted.

You can't say you weren't warned.

[Cucumbermonkey]

I find a lot of stick on weights that are zinc.



I think Ive found 1 in maybe 500lbs of wheel weights that Ive smelted. My system now is sort all the SOWWs to the side, then sort out all the steel ones with a magnet. Then take clippers to whatever's left. Only found 1 that wasnt steel and wouldnt dent. I assumed it was zinc.

[John Boy]

Stick on WW’s are about 98% pure lead. And pure lead melts at 627 degrees. If what you thought we’re stick on’s ... weren’t.

[oley55]

I find a lot of stick on weights that are zinc.

Interesting. I recently sorted my first batch of WWs (158#) and did not encounter a single zinc stick-on, but rather a lot of Fe. Based on all the threads I've followed, I was quite surprised over the absence of zinc stick-ons. And for that matter the low number of Zn clip-ons. By far the majority of non-lead were Fe.

[DAVIDMAGNUM]

........., I was quite surprised over the absence of zinc stick-ons. And for that matter the low number of Zn clip-ons. By far the majority of non-lead were Fe.

I am not saying that they don't exist, but I have never seen a Zinc stick on wheel weight.

[BK7saum]

I find that maybe 25-50% of my stick on weights are/have been zinc. I am starting to see more iron or steel stick-on weights now also.

They usually have a Zn imprint somewhere on the surface of the weight.

[John Boy]

Pure lead melts at 625F. If the stick ones don’t melt at tha temperature they’re not Pb

[Paramax55]

I eventually melted those soft weights. They eventually melted fine and made shiny boolits. They're powder coated and waiting for me to put some of my home grown BP behind them. Hopefully in a day or two.

[RogerDat]

Since I test everything by giving it a nip with the dikes I know I'm getting lead, hundreds of pounds of WW's and only one zinc or steel I missed floated to the top. This 100% testing is also when I toss all the soft stick on WW's in their own bucket separate from Clip On WW's. I know they are different alloys one having 2.5 to 3.5% Sb and some traces of Sn and arsenic. The SOWW's being almost plain lead means I want them either as an ingredient for making alloys or for muzzle loader and C&B round ball casting.

Mixing the two types never made sense to me. Introduced even more variation to a batch of COWW's depending on amount of stick on that were in that batch and recipes calling for a certain amount of COWW's to a certain amount of something else will not yield the same results if varying amounts of SOWW's are in the batches when melted into ingots.

Plain lead melts at a higher temperature and requires more heat to stay melted and not form a skin on top in cooler weather. A hot plate might melt lead in summer in a garage but fail to work well in the winter as the lead gets slushy on top. Not zinc slushy but still annoying. Having a lid for the pot and as much heat as the ambient temperature requires is required for melting SOWW or soft lead.

Currently I'm sitting on a 2.5 gallon bucket full since I see some advantage to the original form. The form provides proof of what the contents is. Once in an ingot it could be anything, while still SOWW's easy to know what it is. Making it a little easier to sell if I wanted to or use with confidence of ingredient in recipes.

[Conditor22]

When in doubt, cut them with side-cutters. IF they cut, ---- they are lead (or you are an beast :) )

[Paramax55]

It's been melted and about half of it is bullets. They've been PC'd and will hopefully (some of them) get launched from home grown BP behind them tomorrow.