what's it made of

[glock3540]

I recently got two 8-10lb ingots of some type of lead from my wife's uncle that used to work for a telephone company. It is marked "Bell Service" then underneith it's marked "wiping solder." Do I assume this is at least 50% tin or is there a way to tell what the contents is?

[grumpy one]

According to what they taught me in engineering school many decades ago, wiping solder is a special brew for making wiped joints: the solder doesn't go straight from liquid to solid like the eutectic (60/40) solder does, but stays mushy for as long as possible. To achieve this, wiping solder has 10-15% tin in a matrix of lead.

Geoff