Mystery metal bar

[ChuckS1]

So this afternoon a retired welder friend gave me what he said was an old window sash weight. Said it was lead. It’s 26 inches long, 2 inches wide and 2 inches tall, shaped like a Twinkie. Weighs almost 21 pounds. Magnet won’t stick to it. Scratches when I run a flat tip screwdriver on it, though I have to put some pressure on it. Definitely not as soft as fishing weights. Looks like it was poured in a mold, since it has layers, for lack of a better term, like you see when you pour lead into a cold mold.

Any guesses on what the alloy is or how I can find out? I was going to cut it into small chunks tomorrow and see if it’ll melt in my Lee pot, but a little hesitant since I really don’t know what I have.

[Retumbo]

Send a 1 pound sample to member BNE

[dondiego]

Melt a few pounds and see what it does! Cast some boolits.

[fc60]

Greetings,

Sounds similar to one of my LinoType ingots.

Cheers,

Dave

[Winger Ed.]

All of the sash weights I've ever seen from old houses were cast Iron.
That one might be home made and cast out of whatever scrap Lead was available to whoever did it.

If it was produced by a factory, there probably wouldn't be the cold lines in it you describe.
My first guess would be it was salvaged Pluming Lead from water pipes or sewer lines.
But without some form or fashion of testing, it'd sure be hard to tell just what alloy it is.

If you can easily scratch it, your pot should melt it, and if nothing else,
it'll probably make good handgun boolits.

[country gent]

figuring the volume of it in sq ft then then look up leads volume per sq ft would give an idea of what it might be.

[CastingFool]

Put a few drops of muriatic acid on the ingot, to test for zinc.

[Driver man]

Cut it up with an axe and melt a bit to test.

[imashooter2]

Commercial Linotype ingots could be mistaken for sash weights…

https://www.mccunecollection.org/images/Equipment/Linotype%20Model%208/%5B08%5D%20Lead%20Pig%20Ingots.jpg

[lightman]

Commercial Linotype ingots could be mistaken for sash weights…

https://www.mccunecollection.org/images/Equipment/Linotype%20Model%208/%5B08%5D%20Lead%20Pig%20Ingots.jpg

Thats exactly what I was thinking.

[rbuck351]

Yeah, and lino pigs are usually about 21/23 lbs.

[ChuckS1]

Here’s what it looks like.

296844

[Froogal]

All of the sash weights I've ever seen from old houses were cast Iron.
That one might be home made and cast out of whatever scrap Lead was available to whoever did it.

If it was produced by a factory, there probably wouldn't be the cold lines in it you describe.
My first guess would be it was salvaged Pluming Lead from water pipes or sewer lines.
But without some form or fashion of testing, it'd sure be hard to tell just what alloy it is.

If you can easily scratch it, your pot should melt it, and if nothing else,
it'll probably make good handgun boolits.

Same here. I've got several of those sash weights. Varying sizes. ALL are made of cast iron and a very poor casting job at that.

[Dusty Bannister]

Sash weights have the closed "eye".

[Minerat]

Your bar is 2*2*26=104 cubic inches

If pure lead then 104*0.41=42.62 pounds

At 21# your unit weight would be 0.202 #/cu-in or about half of what lead weights.

If it is circular then the volume is (pi×d^2÷4)×26= 81.68 cu-in * 0.41=33.49 #s

For a unit weight of 21/81.68=0.257 #/cu-in.

Still less then pure lead.

Someone else may know what conversion factor for metal fits those unit weights.

Someone check my math if in doubt.

[imashooter2]

Here’s what it looks like.

296844

That is a classic Linotype ingot. It might not actually be Lino, but it probably is.

[Minerat]

Roto metals liontype bar is 8.75*2*1=17.5 cu-in @5#= 0.2857#/cu-in

Looks like imashooter2 nailed it if you use the circular calculation.

[ChuckS1]

Thanks to everyone and Dusty Bannister for helping me out. Guess I’ll cut of a couple of pounds and see how it melts. Thanks again.

[colchester]

As mentioned it is certainly a linotype profile. I have seen lino bars that look exactly like that. If you dont care about it being in one pc drop it on something like a pipe or hammer head so it breaks If it has a crystaline sort of look to it I would say it is lino for sure

[mfraser264]

Drop it and listen for it to ring, hard lead has a ring to it and soft lead just a thud. This is not a true test for lead content but may indicate if it is Linotype.