Be nice to your Dentist

[MT Gianni]

Mine called today and said they had a sack of lead for me to pick up.

[abunaitoo]

Dentist here are moving away from Xray film.
Everyone is going digital.
One of the biggest reasons is cost of the film, but on top of the cost for the film,
lead has been classified as a hazardius substance.
Records of disposal must be submited.
Guy I know used to give me all the film lead.
Can't do it anymore.
Was really good lead.

[montana_charlie]

Ingots I make from dental film check as 7.8 BHN. What about yours?
CM

[jar-wv]

Does the thing your melting down look like a small piece of aluminum foil?

jar

[MT Gianni]

Yes it does.
Charlie I mix mine with tape on ww and use it as I do pure.

[montana_charlie]

Charlie I mix mine with tape on ww and use it as I do pure.
Dan Theodore did a 28-week test on a number of common bullet alloys to see how much the hardness changes over time...and how stable the detected hardness is (one lead/tin alloy was up and down for the whole period).

According to him (using a Lee tester for the readings, and a Cabine Tree for verification) certified 20-1 alloy has a final hardness of 7.8 BHN.

I don't have much trouble finding 'pure' lead, but if I could get enough of the dental film I could stop the endless tin search, and just use film exclusively.
Unfortunately, my dentist is only good for a few pounds every three months, and I haven't found any others using the old x-ray method.

CM

[454PB]

My daughter works for an endodontist, and saves all the lead shields for me. Mine tests at 8.7 BHN. I cast some Lee 255 gr. SWC from it, and they filled out just fine. I don't do a lot of casting with "pure lead", but what little I've done makes me think this stuff has some tin in it.

I have quite a collection of "pure lead" from various sources, and none of it tests 5 BHN. About the softest is 6 BHN.

[leftiye]

Mine only gave me a souvenir tooth to make a necklace out of. After I sank 2500 dollars into the tooth that is and he then pulled it out. Yup, good fun!