quack1
05-30-2006, 11:02 AM
This weekend I was given some lead, supposedly wheel weights, that was in 2 big chunks about 25 lb. each. It appeared they had been melted in a big pot, knocked out, then kept outside as they were oxidised pretty heavily. Yesterday I melted them, fluxed them clean, and poured them into muffin pans to make ingots. After I poured the first 25lb chunk into ingots, I noticed the sides and bottom of the ingots were covered with small, shiny, irregular, angular flakes about .5"to.1" in size. The second 25lb chunk showed nearly the same flakes, although they were smaller and less numerous. I melted between 625 and 650 degrees, figuring that if there was any zinc in the batch I could skim it off when fluxing. I also cast a few trial bullets from each batch. All bullets were completely filled out with no wrinkles, so I'm guessing there are no bad contaminents in either batch. I never have noticed flakes in my ingots before.
Any ideas on what those flakes are?
Thanks
Any ideas on what those flakes are?
Thanks