Magnolia Anti Friction Metal Question

[largeolive]

I inherited 50lbs or so of lead that is Stamped with Magnolia Anti Friction Metal and their website says it has an BHN of 23 which is pretty high and has graphite in it i normally get my lead from Roto Metals as they are local and its ready 2-6-92% which is 16BHN can any one enlighten me on what i can mix in to bring this down and or will the graphite not work for bullet making? i would be much obliged
Thanks in advance

[Dusty Bannister]

I would suggest you contact the source and get the information on what the alloy is made from. It is Babbitt, but that does not explain what it is made from. You might find that the presence of graphite may require repeated cleaning to remove it from the melt. I looked at the site, and it is not part of the site information.

https://magnoliabronze.com/contact/

[fc60]

Greetings,

Found this webpage that lists various Babbitt materials.

http://wiki.vintagemachinery.org/Print.aspx?Page=BabbittIDGuide

Magnolia Anti-Friction is a Lead based Babbitt.

According to the website, It is 80% Lead, 5% Tin, and 15% Antimony.

Cheers,

Dave

[largeolive]

Greetings,

Found this webpage that lists various Babbitt materials.

http://wiki.vintagemachinery.org/Print.aspx?Page=BabbittIDGuide

Magnolia Anti-Friction is a Lead based Babbitt.

According to the website, It is 80% Lead, 5% Tin, and 15% Antimony.

Cheers,

Dave
Thanks for that i have been researching and found the info from the other reply but this is even better I'm thinking at 80% lead its worth messing with maybe add some pure to it at small increments in a small batch and see what it does?

[405grain]

About 30 years ago I got an ingot of Magnolia Babbitt. I cut it 50/50 with pure lead and cast it into 245 grain SWC's for my 44 Magnum. Even with the added lead it was still pretty hard.

[HWooldridge]

Advertise and sell it as machinery babbitt - it’s more valuable to people who rebuild old machines - power hammers, crank shapers, etc.

[Rockindaddy]

I believe you have high speed babbitt! Makes great boolits!! Casts easy too.

[Larry Gibson]

"Magnolia Anti-Friction is a Lead based Babbitt.

According to the website, It is 80% Lead, 5% Tin, and 15% Antimony."

If that's what it is, I'd mix 5 lbs of it with 10 lbs of pure lead and then add 8 ounces of tin. Should end up very close to #2 alloy. Then I'd cast some bullets and see how they look, what they weigh and what the BHN is (after WQ). Just what i would do.

[ascast]

I'm with HWooldridge - what does it cost new? might could trade it off for something a bit better at a big profit. Maybe post on Yesterdays tractors for example.
I did a quick "google and find it on ebay for about $50 a pound before shipping. Bearings are a little more precise than bullets.

[dverna]

I'm with HWooldridge - what does it cost new? might could trade it off for something a bit better at a big profit. Maybe post on Yesterdays tractors for example.
I did a quick "google and find it on ebay for about $50 a pound before shipping. Bearings are a little more precise than bullets.

Even if it is "only" worth $10/lb it would be silly to make bullets out of it.

[Rickf1985]

Sometimes I think boolit casters get carried away and want to melt anything and everything without checking fist what the true value of that item is. A guy a long time ago melted down some pewter that after seeing the pictures and doing a bit of research I found that the items were worth hundreds of dollars on the antique market. And that was back when tin was nowhere near the price it is now. Needless to say he now checks out things first!

[Tatume]

"Magnolia Anti-Friction is a Lead based Babbitt.

According to the website, It is 80% Lead, 5% Tin, and 15% Antimony."

If that's what it is, I'd mix 5 lbs of it with 10 lbs of pure lead and then add 8 ounces of tin. Should end up very close to #2 alloy. Then I'd cast some bullets and see how they look, what they weigh and what the BHN is (after WQ). Just what i would do.

Larry's recipe would make 155 pounds of alloy, enough to cast over 6800 158 gr 357 bullets. It's what I would do too. Take care, Tom

[Rickf1985]

Looking at the specs on this product tells me it has a lot of graphite in it so processing it is going to be a dirty and tedious job. But, on top of that it would be a total waste of a very good material for making bearings for the old hit and miss engine that we all love. I think you could easily sell this to a old time engine machinist for the price of the same amount of linotype from Rotometals. Contact Keith Rucker, https://www.youtube.com/c/KeithRuckerVintageMachineryorg. He does a lot of poured bearings on old machines.

[WILCO]

"Magnolia Anti-Friction is a Lead based Babbitt.

According to the website, It is 80% Lead, 5% Tin, and 15% Antimony."

If that's what it is, I'd mix 5 lbs of it with 10 lbs of pure lead and then add 8 ounces of tin. Should end up very close to #2 alloy. Then I'd cast some bullets and see how they look, what they weigh and what the BHN is (after WQ). Just what i would do.

I like Larry's suggestion.
Path of least resistance.
Plenty of alloy available for those that have special needs.
Have fun with the inheritance.
Make boolits and stories.

[GregLaROCHE]

I agree with seeing what it’s worth as Babbitt. Someone could really appreciate having it for it’s intended use.

[35 Rem]

Every caster should download a copy of the Excel spreadsheet alloy calculator so they can play around with the numbers to see how to use these unusual alloys to get the best results. One option would be to double the pure lead Larry Gibson suggested to end up with something like the old clip-on-wheel weights. (5lbs Magnolia Anti Friction - 20lbs pure lead - 1/2lb Tin = 94% Lead/3% Tin/3%Antimony) That would spread your 50 lbs of alloy out to make 250+lbs of bullets. Once you know this then you can consider if it's worth more selling as is and buying a "made for bullet" alloy elsewhere.

[jrayborn]

As for what its worth, to me, it would be worth making bullets out of... :)

[bruce381]

hold on HOW can light density NONE soluble in lead graphite be incorporated into lead alloy? Also if so is it BLACK in color? if shiny lead look then NO graphite. AH I read more sounds like it Has? Graphite and is so must be that they pour it fast as to not let the graphite float out but that may also mean it would be easy to smelt let sit and it may float out? Then scrape off dross and flux. I have melted graphite coated shot and it takes more time to clean but graphite will float out.