Remember the old auto body lead?

[qajaq59]

We used to heat it and spread it with the wooden paddles for dents on cars.

Well anyway, I picked up about 10 lbs of it today and I'm wondering if it is pure lead or was there tin in it? Anyone know?

[Cactus Farmer]

I think it was 50% tin 50% lead solder. It is easy to work and stays semi-solid for a long time.

[qajaq59]

It is easy to work and stays semi-solid for a long time. Yup, that's the stuff.

Thank You Cactus Farmer. I'll put it aside for when I need some tin.

[cajun shooter]

I think as a friend of mine did a lot of custom work in the Baton Rouge, La. area in the early 60's and 70's that they also used some very soft lead that was probably not 50/50. 50/50 is hard enough to not be pliable and I saw them using a lead that could be scraped and formed with almost anthything. It almost worked like clay. Later david

[badgeredd]

My BIL who was trained by an OLD body man 35 years ago said the old fellow's preferred alloy for body fill was 10/90 tin/lead. The old guy quit using lead about 5 years later because he couldn't get a good alloy. Seems that a lot of his supplied filler was "contaminated" with antimony and it didn't spread nearly as well. He used a 50/50 solder to tin the surface before filling.

Edd

[Echo]

I looked on eBay and there were sales for 30/70 body solder. That ratio makes sense to me, since the body man wants it to stay plastic (like clay), and more tin would bring the fluid temperature down making it easy to heat it too much and it would run off the body being soldered.

And they want a LOT for that 30/70 solder! Like $60 for 5 lbs!

[qajaq59]

And they want a LOT for that 30/70 solder! Like $60 for 5 lbs Wow!!! I got 10 lbs of it at the scrap yard for $0.50 a lb.

[Dale53]

I ran a large body shop in the middle sixties (part of a Chevrolet dealership). We used 80/20 lead/tin. We used NO plastic filler. It was lots more expensive in both time and material but we believed that a better job resulted...

Dale53

[qajaq59]

When I was young and Bondo first came out, you were considered a hack if you didn't use the lead. Times change I guess.

[Blammer]

Hence the terms "lead sled" :)

[qajaq59]

If I had half the lead I wasted learning how to use that stuff on my 49 ford, I could probably cast a 1000 bullets now. LOL

[Freightman]

My neighbor across the ally from me made me sick the other day, before I knew him and before he moved there he was a body man. He said when he retired he left 4 55 gal drums of scrap and wheel weights because no one wanted them. The man who owned the building hired a front end loader and hauled it to the dump. Remember this was back when they did this kind of work and no one cared
what you dumped in the dump.

[qajaq59]

That like the guy that tells you he found a great deal on a rifle the day after you buy one. Grrrrr LOL