Struck it rich at the radiator shop today

[odinohi]

Went to the radiator shop and look what I found. I couldnt get the photo posted for some reason, but heres a link to it on photobucket. This is 4 full buckets that I cleaned up for the owner. The chunk on top of them is probably about 40lbs and the big old lunker on the ground is close to 100lbs. I didnt weigh any of it, but I'm guessing the total is around 600lbs. I had to use a pick axe to bust most of it up. I swept up and gave him 5 minutes helping him hold a radiator so he could clamp it down and pressure test it. I drive dump truck for a asphalt company and we are about to do a big job out by the mans residence. He asked me if I could bring him some road grindings. The company is always looking for some nearby places to get rid of some of the grindings, so I said sure, I'll do my best. He wouldnt take a dime for the solder. He said he uses 40/60 solder. So, how did I do on this deal? I know I'm a happy camper. Cant wait to get my new melting pot built and start melting this stuff. Here is the link to the picture, hope it works. OK, I previewed it and it worked on my end though it took a few to load. That it my little niece Shelby hamming it up for Uncle Tom's pic. She is a spoiled little sweetheart!

http://s642.photobucket.com/albums/uu146/odinohi/?action=view&current=GEDC0252.jpg

[PatMarlin]

Time to do the Happy Dance Tom ..!

Did the little blonde cutie go with the deal too? ..:mrgreen:

[high standard 40]

Nice haul, you did good. My radiator shop does not have anything looking nearly that good. What I have been able to get here is by volume mostly junk. Sand rust, dirt, cigarette butts, blah, blah, blah. I get 30-40 pounds of good ingots from a 5 gal bucket. That big chunk looks great.

[RoyRogers]

WOWIE!!

Good snag!!

[RoyRogers]

Odinoh - your find looked so good I decided to call a couple of radiator shops this morning. First shop, the one a few miles from my house, the guy said "wish you would have called Tuesday - we threw two 5 gallon buckets full in the dumpster & its already been hauled off" RATS!!

Called the next nearest shop ~ 20miles off & the owner said "yeah - I've got a 5 gallon bucket full" I asked if I could have it & he said to come pick it up. When I got there he asked me "what do you think that's worth?" I said it depends on how much solder is in it. I was under the impression he was going to give it to me by the way he sounded on the phone. Long story short I offered $10 & he begrudgingly accepted it. Don't know how much solder is in there as it looks like a bunch of floor sweepings but it was pretty heavy and I could see some solder mixed in with the crud. Hope I got my $ worth - we'll see.

[odinohi]

Odinoh - your find looked so good I decided to call a couple of radiator shops this morning. First shop, the one a few miles from my house, the guy said "wish you would have called Tuesday - we threw two 5 gallon buckets full in the dumpster & its already been hauled off" RATS!!

Called the next nearest shop ~ 20miles off & the owner said "yeah - I've got a 5 gallon bucket full" I asked if I could have it & he said to come pick it up. When I got there he asked me "what do you think that's worth?" I said it depends on how much solder is in it. I was under the impression he was going to give it to me by the way he sounded on the phone. Long story short I offered $10 & he begrudgingly accepted it. Don't know how much solder is in there as it looks like a bunch of floor sweepings but it was pretty heavy and I could see some solder mixed in with the crud. Hope I got my $ worth - we'll see.

Keep looking Roy. That was only my second shop I visited. The first one charged me 8.00 and I ended up with about a quarter bucket after I hosed it and strained the sand out. I'm not gonna hose anymore, takes to long to dry out. Keep looking man!

[RoyRogers]

Well, I finished rendering my solder drippings today. The 'ore' was a little richer in the bottom 1/2 of the bucket and I ended up with 50lbs of beautiful ignots. It was a lot of work spread out over 2 days, ~ 8hrs in all. I learned a few things between my first melt on day one & the second. Probably the most important is to let the whole pan freeze overnight after all the crud has been melted and stirred through the molten solder. Its a lot easier to get the dirt, soot, and other nastiness off the slug after it cools and then remelt it to final flux & skim. Second, the cheap silver muffin tins sold at Walmart bond as well with solder as does cleaned and fluxed copper pipe. Not recommended. The higher quality ones my wife donated to the cause released the ignots just fine. Guess I should have prepped the cheap tin in some fashion?

If my time weren't cheap these days & I had it to do over again I would just buy tin ignots but - I can now say I've processed a bucket full of all sorts of ugly smelly crud into something good looking & useful. Actually, this batch will likely be enough for my remaining shooting years so that's probably a non-issue.

[runfiverun]

rust is an excellent release agent.

[RoyRogers]

run5run

Good idea. I'll try to rust up the offending muffin tin. I'll be melting WW soon and will need all the molds I can get

[odinohi]

So far I have got 50lbs of melted solder. Been melting it in a 8" pot, letting cool and dumping out. Brooming off the sand. I'll melt it all again when I get my smelting pot made. Then I'll flux and make into pretty shiny little ingots. Still have much more to melt down though. Tom