stamping ingots with info?

[rondog]

Does anybody here stamp their ingots with letter/number stamps? You know, the kind you whack with a hammer to stamp steel with. I have a set of each, and I was thinking about stamping my ingots (when I get around to making some) with "WW" for wheel weights and "PL" for pure lead. Probably want to stamp the date on them too, so if I have a problem with a batch I can identify all the ingots from that batch.

Good idea, or just silly?

[hoosierlogger]

I just throw all of my WW ingots in a stack of milk crates labeled "WW "and my soft lead in the one marked "Soft" It works for now, but If I ever move Ill have to do something different.

[mold maker]

Yep me too. Harbor freight has them for cheap and time or UV or dampness can't erase it. You might want to just use a lot # instead of the whole date, ie "WW 4".
I also stamp whats left from the pot and store it with its alloy ingots for use in the next smelt. That helps keep track of lot #s.

[509thsfs]

I stamp them. I have a couple different mixes ( pure lead for RB's, WW, and WW/Lino mix) so it just keeps them straight.

[dominicfortune00]

After I dump the ingots out of the ingot mold, for WW I take a straight screwdriver and mark a 'W' without lifting the screwdriver, pivoting on the corners; if you know what I mean.

Unmarked is pure.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Magic Marker

[Fugowii]

I only stamp the pure lead as I have very little of it. I store my other lead in five gallon buckets
and put a stick of wood in each of them that identifies the contents. Too much trouble to stamp
hundreds and hundreds of ingots.

[miestro_jerry]

Sharpie

[Elkins45]

black crayon-works even better if they are still slightly warm

[GP100man]

Sharpie

[SciFiJim]

Sharpie, S for stick on, C for clip on, L for linotype, T for Tin.

I also weigh each ingot and mark with weight to nearest 1/10 oz because that's what my scale indicates to.

[sljacob]

I mark all my ingots with a sharp center punch . I just use it like a pencil and scribe letters and or numbers to the back of the ingot

[lwknight]

I figured that a sharpie marker would fade or not show up when they turn dark grey-blueish color.
I stamp the alloy on my ingots. I keep only a few less than 10 pounds so its not so much stamping.

[captaint]

I stamp mine, soon as they cool off. Pb, Sn, or WW. Nothing elso. I sweat the blending and the rest later, when it's time to make boolits. I'm not sure the date matters. After all, you're going to melt it all later anyway. enjoy Mike

[miestro_jerry]

I have some lead ingots that are over 10 years old that the Sharpie has not faded at all. I have some pure lead bars that have grayed up some, but you can still see the Sharpie markings. I don't have any simple personal code, Wheel Weights are marked WW, Lyman #2 is marked #2, Tin is marked Tin, Lino is marked Lino and pure lead is marked Lead. Anything that is a "I Don't Know" gets a question mark or sometimes I actually write "I don't know" on it with a sharpie. Antimony is in a bag marked "Antimony."

My Range Lead is marked Range Lead, but I keep that in 10 pound bars.

Jerry

[FISH4BUGS]

Just did a 5 gallon bucket of straight ww's last night. Guess what it is marked? WW!
Unknown - U
pure lead = P
Linotype = L
Sharpies last forever it seems.

[RayinNH]

Letter stamps
W=wheelweights
P=pure (stick ons or flashing)
R= range scrap
Type metal so far is still in original form, letters :)

[pdawg_shooter]

I stamp all mine by BHN. Sort them the same way.

[jsizemore]

I use a Sharpie.

I sat with a friend at the gun show last weekend. He had some ingots that another friend had sent with him to sale. Lino was stamped but the lead ingots were not. I didn't know if they were straight Pb or WW. Lots of folks picked them up, but no sale while I was there.

[Thecyberguy]

Sharpie

[rollmyown]

Mine get stamped pb or ww. I like letter punches because they don't wear off.

[Recluse]

I'd go stark-raving, full-nekkid, on-my-knees-frothing-at-the-mouth and-howling-at-the-moon insane crazy if I tried to stamp all my ingots.

Then I'd get committed, my guns and stuff would get seized, and I'd go even crazier.

No, I just use different ingot molds to denote the alloy composition.

:coffee:

[Suo Gan]

I stamp them all right after they get out of the big pot. Doing it in bulk helps me remember, something I should have done from the beginning.

[fredj338]

It would work fine, but so does a Sharpie. Unless you handle the ingots a lot, it will still be there years form now. I use diff ingot molds for diff alloys, so at a glance, I know what I am working w/: Lyman for pure lead, rectangular channel iron mold for ww & 2" square alum mold for range lead or 50/50.

[casterofboolits]

I only mark my alloy bars of lino and tin. These are one pound and half pound ingots. Base ingots are 50/50 WW and range lead poured in cast iron muffin pans. The muffins average 2.5 pounds. I add 1.5 pounds of the tin/lino mix to 10 muffins in my RCBS pots. This alloy throws advertised weights in Lyman and Saeco molds in 09, 38/357,38 Super, 40, 45C. The 50/50 alloy is perfect for 45 ACP.

[JIMinPHX]

I stamp the unusual alloys (like babbit or special mixes) that I am putting into storage for a long time. Stuff that I expect to use soon just gets marked with a sharpie.

When possible, I like to store my ingots in .30 cal ammo cans. They hold about 65 pounds each, which is about as much as I want to handle in one package. When I'm using the ammo cans, I just mark the can with a sharpie.

[hansumtoad]

We now smelt in 100 lb lots. Once metal is molten, skimmed, fluxed twice, it then goes into Lyman ingot molds. When the first is cold, we run a Brinell. Then at random 3 more are done during the run. Then the last one. They USUALLY are all the same but once in a while we will get a .1 variance. We average the 5 and stamp into the back of each the BNH and the month/yr smelted. Example for the lead sheet we just did. 5.8 510. Would be impossible to produce a consistent boolit without the QC on the front end.

[geargnasher]

I bought two sets of $4 Harbor Freight steel stamps years ago for restamping VINs on frame/body swap projects under witness of DPS officers (necessary for titled "hybrids"), only used them twice for that but hundreds of times for stamping ingots. All my ingots are cast from the same mould (one-pound exactly in WW metal) so to avoid confusion, or in the event of my untimely demise, I stamp them with either and ID mark (WW, LINO, MONO, BATT, etc) or the Periodic Table symbol if pure or binary (PB, SN, SN/PB-60/40, SB, etc.).

It's easy to make a string of characters with the punches using electrical tape or duct tape, then tape a stamp across the top (if more than three letters) so they all imprint evenly with only one mallet tap.

Gear

[Echo]

Sharpie on the muffin molds - W for WW, ? for ?, R for range lead.

Lyman/RCBS molds get a W, or W-B for 50-50 WW-reclaimed boolits, or W-L for 50-50 WW-lino, or 3W-M for 3-1 WW-Monotype

Then empty Coke cans for stickies/pure. Will hold about 6 lbs.

And angle iron for WW+2% Sn.

Most of my type metal is as type (not ingotized) so have no problem id'ing them.

[Muddy Creek Sam]

Sharpie, it's less trouble.

Sam :D

[alamogunr]

WW= Small Muffins
Range Scrap = Large Muffins
Stick On WW = Lyman,RCBS,SAECO ingots
Anything Else = Sharpie

John
W.TN

[cbrick]

Magic Marker . . .

CWW for clip-on weights
SWW for stick-on weight etc.

I have ingots 15-20 years old and none have faded yet, wonder how long that would take? I also make 5 pound ingots so if I do 100 pounds of weights I need only mark 20 ingots, not 100.

Rick

[Ole]

I use the stamp dies from Harbor Freight. I think they were $7 for a whole set.

ww= wheel weights
pb= pure lead
rs= recovered shot (runs only a little harder than ww's)

Also I try to put my rs in 3.5 lb angle iron ingots and use only muffin pans for wheel weights.

[SciFiJim]

I had originally had all of my lead in muffin ingots. I am working on changing all of it to angle iron ingots because it stacks better. Not a fast process as I only change the lead left over from a casting session. Might throw in an extra muffin ingot or two, but not crazy about doing all of it at once.

I mark with a sharpie.

C = clip on WWs
S = stick on WWs
T = 50/50 radiator solder
L = linotype
#2 = Lyman #2 that I made from the above ingredients.