Lookit What I Found...

[Josh Smith]

... Linotype lead!

12 lbs here; he has 300 more pounds waiting on me to raise the money.

I had to go through about half an hour and tell him how to use the stuff - he wanted to make sure I was going to be safe. He asked me what I was using for flux; I told him paraffin. He wasn't satisfied with that and told me he'd throw in some real flux.

This whole stick will treat, it says, 2000 lbs of lead.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b191/WabashShootist/Guns/linotype.jpg

Also scored some wheel weights, but only maybe a pound or so. Enough to mix in with the Linotype, anyway!

I'm a happy camper today.

Josh <><

[Jumptrap]

Josh,

Before slobbering over your find too much.......make sure the sample you have bought isn't tin depleted. Linotype when used by printers was reused over and over and by and by, the tin would become depleted from the alloy. Melt a sample and see what kind of separation you get before you flux the pot....the tin will rise to the top of course and then, cast a few bullets and check for fill out and finally do a hardness test.......good lino should yield around 22 Bn.

You can do a visual check too by breaking a long piece of lino in your hands....it should snap right in two and the breaking point will be grainy and coarse due to the tin being stratified throughout the mix. You can't scratch lino with your fingernail as it appears to be harder than a harlot's heart.

There are other folks here that can give you a more qualified and definitive answer and explanation. But the bottom line is; make sure you are buying good stuff.

[cabezaverde]

Joshua,

Not to pop your bubble, but those look to be spacing strips.

Probably almost dead soft lead. See if you can bend one w/o breaking. Most likely, you can make an "O" out of these.

If there is not letters molded into the strips, it's probably not lino.

[Josh Smith]

I dunno. I just asked for whatever $5 would buy. He as some with and without the lettering.

Regardless, I'll be happy even if it's all straight lead. I have tin laying around here, and I figured on tossing in a couple, few wheel weights anyway.

I can bend it, but I can't scratch it. Strange.

Josh <><

[Josh Smith]

Ok, just found one that snapped in half.

Seems to be a mixture. I'll have to go through and see what's what here.

Josh <><

[Josh Smith]

I just cast 68 boolits from this stuff.

I had zero rejects, which is a first for me, and they came out very shiny and very hard.

I don't know if the color has more to do with the material, or with the flux - that stuff is something else and puts everything else I've used to shame.

Josh <><

[Shiloh]

This is to precious to cast boolits out of. Use it to sweeten your other stock of lead alloy. And you are right linotype turns out beautiful boolits, Total fill out, bright, shiny, and few if any casting flaws.

A stash of lino will go a long, long, way when used to alloy.

Shiloh

[runfiverun]

i picked up 80 lbs of those strips and some radiator solder droppings for 40 cents a lb at the scrap yard,they had absolutely no clue what they were and they are usually not depleted as they just keep on using the strips and not re-melting it down as the strips dont ever touch the paper,they come in different thicknesses and widths too.