Lead score!!

[zomby woof]

Fresh off CraigsList. I scored this Type set and Lynotype lead. There seems to be quite a bit. Some of the lead letters seems soft. What can you experts tell me about what I have and how best to seperate. Thanks

WOO HOO!!!

http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/100_2457.JPG
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/100_2456.JPG


Oh yea, it was free!!!

[snaggdit]

When I got some letter blocks, the guy told me they were foundry type. I guess individual letters as often as not are made with foundry type so they last (but often linotype as well). Whole words are usually all linotype. As well as the spacers. No need for the extra hardness of foundry type for them.
When "smelting" I had issues with the tin and antimony oatmealing up at the top. Don't skim this off! This is the good stuff. I was told (and it worked great) to flux with charcoal (like a 1/2 cup per pot full) and stir with a dry wood stick. You will need to get it pretty hot, but the oatmeal will dissolve into the melt. Let the heat down some and cast your ingots. If you are planning to alloy with WW, you might want to cast half-muffins. Allows you more flexibility when making 20:1 mixes and such. If you plan to cast pure lino for HV rifles, just go for it.
A few other notes. It seems to take longer to set up into ingots than WW. Could just be cause I had to get the melt that much hotter though too. It also came out of my muffin molds bubbly on the surface, due to the heat. No big deal. It alloyed fine with WW in my experience. Good snag!

[Leftoverdj]

I'm the unscientific type. Throw it all in a pot, melt it down, cast a few bullets for testing, and make the rest into ingots. Give it a week, test the bullets. If you get a result of c. 22 bnh, treat it as lino.

[southpaw]

I tried the charcoal on the last batch of lino that I got and it worked the best!!! Just keep pushing it against the side of the pot and it will all melt back in. Then skim off the charcoal and pour.

I had the same problems as snaggdit did with the ingots. Make sure that you give them enough time to cool or there will be a mess[smilie=1:.

Great score!!!:drinks: And just out of curiosity, how much did it all weigh?

Jerry Jr.

[zomby woof]

I'm guessing there is over 200 pounds. I likes the size because they will fit right into my LEE 10 pound pot. I wasn't planning on making these into ingots. I can melt them right into the pot, flux and start pouring. Is there something wrong with this approach?

[.357]

Great find!

[runfiverun]

the letters and words have usually been lino and save the spacers out they have usually been foundry type with a higher tin content.

[snaggdit]

I'm guessing there is over 200 pounds. I likes the size because they will fit right into my LEE 10 pound pot. I wasn't planning on making these into ingots. I can melt them right into the pot, flux and start pouring. Is there something wrong with this approach?

After my first smelting experience, I decided to keep 50 or so letter blocks as is. They are about 1" square cubes. I thought the same as you. Why go through the effort of smelting when you could just toss one in to a pot of alloy? Haven't needed any more 30-06 bullets yet so haven't tried it. The 200+ I cast in feb aren't gone yet. I use them in an 8:1 ratio with WW. Water dropped gives me 25+Bhn.

[zomby woof]

After my first smelting experience, I decided to keep 50 or so letter blocks as is. They are about 1" square cubes. I thought the same as you. Why go through the effort of smelting when you could just toss one in to a pot of alloy? Haven't needed any more 30-06 bullets yet so haven't tried it. The 200+ I cast in feb aren't gone yet. I use them in an 8:1 ratio with WW. Water dropped gives me 25+Bhn.


Is your 8/1 ratio WW/letters or letters/WW?

[snaggdit]

Oops, sorry it was confusing. 8:1 WW/Letters. Since my letters are foundry type, they are 15% tin and 23% antimony. Since according to Lasc.us WW have .5% tin and 4% antimony adding the foundry type gives me an alloy that is 2.1% tin and 6% antimony. And with the trace elements from the WW, I can water drop or heat treat up to 30bhn.

[454PB]

If you have a hardness tester, it's worthwhile to test some and know for sure what you have.

In my case, I found that the larger single block letters are monotype (BHN 27 to 29), and the longer "lines of type" or full sentences are linotype (BHN 22 to 24). I found nothing that tested as hard as foundry type.

I see no sense in melting and recasting into ingots. The stuff I have is very clean and identifiable just by whatever form it is in.

As to that foamy problem, I use either Marvelux or more traditional carbon based flux, and it all melts down into a foam free melt given enough heat and time. Just give it time, and flux well.

[snaggdit]

If you have a hardness tester, it's worthwhile to test some and know for sure what you have. Good Advice!

In my case, I found that the larger single block letters are monotype (BHN 27 to 29), and the longer "lines of type" or full sentences are linotype (BHN 22 to 24). I found nothing that tested as hard as foundry type.

Yeah, I had forgotten about monotype. The letters I got came from a guy who used to work in the printing industry and knew the letter sets were foundry type. Very hard to last for a long time. But what 454PB says makes sense and jives with the info I have been able to find. Just the naming itself bears this out. Historically, monotype was used for single letters, hence mono. Linotype was used to make lines of type. Machines (big auto casting setups) were used to make the linotype at the printers. Since the lines changed every time, they didn't need the hardness of reusable single characters. As the printing industry changed over the years, these classifications began to overlap and easy distinctions blurred. Using a hardness tester will help in determining exactly what you have.