Now that I've got it, what is it - alloy??

[Papa Foxtrot]

Got a nice freebie today - approx. 50 lb. of lead bus bar from a wet cell UPS battery bank. I got all excited over the offer and didn't even consider what the alloy is until I had it in my hands. I was expecting pure lead, but it seems a bit harder than that - at least harder than plumber's lead. I can scratch it with a fingernail, but just barely and it shaves easily with my pocketknife. If I hold a piece up with a wire and tap it with a mallet, it makes a nice "tink" sound.

I'd post a picture, but not much to see - just a rectangular piece of metal about 2" x 6" x 1/4" with two holes in either end.

Any thoughts as to what the alloy might be?

Papa

[docone31]

I am going to guess, whatever they had on hand. Since it was only a connection, I would bet they used scrap to make the bar.
I bet it is close to wheel weight. Once you melt it into ingots, you will be able to have some closer idea.
I would heat it, slowly, watch the melt. Bring up the temp to lead melting, then upwards in increments. Any zinc will float like cottage cheese below its melting point. Once any zinc is removed, then antimony will make plate scale on top of the melt.
I would just cast some and see how it performs.
From there you can adjust the hardness for what you seek.
Great find for sure.

[Papa Foxtrot]

Thanks for the reply. Sorry to take so long getting back to this. It does seem like it's about the hardness of WW.

Too wet outside to work with lead right now. Hopefully the weather will dry out and I can try making some ingots out of this stuff...