Cannon
05-23-2006, 11:31 PM
Greetings, Gentlemen. Some of you may have already seen
this -- I posted at the sixshooter community site and a
friend posted it to the Yahoo CB-L list.
I have a 100 lb. pig of alloy from the Doe Run smelter that
I was hoping was pure lead. I cut off a couple of pounds
worth and melted it down in and un-used 10 lb. Lee pot.
The first thing I noticed was the pretty colors when I
stirred the melt -- brilliant blues and reds (I tried, but
couldn't get a picture.) The second thing was that it
oxidized unbelievably fast. After fluxing and skimming off
the crud, it would look like this within a matter of seconds:
http://204.184.75.173/~cwatts/melt.jpg
After repeating the process several times, half my metal was
gone and it was oxidizing as fast as ever. I decided to try
and cast a bullet or two, and this was the result:
http://204.184.75.173/~cwatts/mysterybullet.jpg
My first thought was that this stuff was worthless as bullet
material. However, mixed roughly 50/50 with wheelweights
and a little bit of tin for good measure, it casts great
bullets:
http://204.184.75.173/~cwatts/newbullets.jpg
The result is a little softer than straight wheelweighs
(9 bhn vs. 11 bhn according to my LBT tester).
So, what do you think I have? What would cause the
strange colors and extreme oxidation?
Second, unrelated question -- any idea what the composition
is of Taramet bar solder?
Thanks,
Cannon Watts
this -- I posted at the sixshooter community site and a
friend posted it to the Yahoo CB-L list.
I have a 100 lb. pig of alloy from the Doe Run smelter that
I was hoping was pure lead. I cut off a couple of pounds
worth and melted it down in and un-used 10 lb. Lee pot.
The first thing I noticed was the pretty colors when I
stirred the melt -- brilliant blues and reds (I tried, but
couldn't get a picture.) The second thing was that it
oxidized unbelievably fast. After fluxing and skimming off
the crud, it would look like this within a matter of seconds:
http://204.184.75.173/~cwatts/melt.jpg
After repeating the process several times, half my metal was
gone and it was oxidizing as fast as ever. I decided to try
and cast a bullet or two, and this was the result:
http://204.184.75.173/~cwatts/mysterybullet.jpg
My first thought was that this stuff was worthless as bullet
material. However, mixed roughly 50/50 with wheelweights
and a little bit of tin for good measure, it casts great
bullets:
http://204.184.75.173/~cwatts/newbullets.jpg
The result is a little softer than straight wheelweighs
(9 bhn vs. 11 bhn according to my LBT tester).
So, what do you think I have? What would cause the
strange colors and extreme oxidation?
Second, unrelated question -- any idea what the composition
is of Taramet bar solder?
Thanks,
Cannon Watts