Is this pure lead, or mystery metal?

[Patrick L]

I was doing a smelt today, and made a bunch of my regular bullet alloy. I also finally melted down some metal my father-in-law gave me a few years ago.

I think it was lead, but I'm not sure. I have never melted straight lead, so I don't know how that behaves.

To begin with, there were four round ingots, about 4" in diameter and 3" deep. They were a dark grey/green color, I think just patina or maybe paint. When hit with a hammer they deformed pretty easily, and bright silver metal shone thru on the flat.

When this stuff melted, it was a cloudy grey in color. It was also "stickier" than the WW metal I'm used to; I mean if I stirred it, the splashes really stuck like a skin to the sides of my cast iron pot, and I could "peel" them back into the melt. When I fluxed there was a thick layer of dross, but the dross itself seemed to have quite a bit of metal to it.

Since I didn't know what it was I melted it separately and just poured it into smaller ingots for possible future use. I didn't add any to my bullet alloy.

Is this how pure lead acts, or what do I have?

[HeavyMetal]

When you descibe "round" ingots are your talking a "dome" shaped ingot?

If you are there is a strong possibility that these are babbit metal, high tin content, alloy instead of pure lead.

Pure lead will also cast into ingots and have a distictive tint, usually purple, to it.

I will suggest you find a clean pot heat some up and cast a few from a known boolit mold then compare as cast weights from the mystery metal and your own alloy.

If the mystery metal boolits are lighter then it is a babbit alloy and you need to use it as a sweetner after you git a good idea of tin content

[Patrick L]

When you descibe "round" ingots are your talking a "dome" shaped ingot?


No, I mean like a cylinder.

[mtnbkr]

Patrick, I was given a hunk of x-ray room shielding that similar in color and also threw off significant dross. I thought it was oxidized lead mixed with dirt/dust. The dross I skimmed off is silvery on the outside, but when you break it, it is grainy and greyish brown inside, looking like concrete almost. The splashes from stirring also stuck to the pot, but I assumed this was because my thin steel pot was not holding enough heat in the sides

Chris

[sqlbullet]

I would guess near pure lead as well. Lead has as significantly higher melting point than the alloys we normally deal with. As a result, it will seem to re-solidify easier because your temp is low compared to the melting point.

I have also dealt with heavy dross from lead. I got some lead wool (like steel wool, only lead) recently, and it had a lot of dross similar to what you describe. The package indicated it was pure lead.