Telephone pole lead??

[seanhagerty]

I have a pal that has in his grubby hands what appear to be slabs of lead from telephone poles. I have never heard of this before being used with poles before, anyone know anything about this?

Sean

[GOPHER SLAYER]

I worked for the phone company for over thirty seven years and I never heard of it. Could he possibly mean telephone cable sheathing, made of lead? There are still tons of that stuff still in use.

[Boondocker]

Sean I worked in the garage for the phone company and between digging in the scrap bin and the linemen bringing me tear downs I have accumulated quite of lead cable. The is all I have left to smelt and I had probably 10 time this amount. Since they closed our garage in December and I got layed off it was the end. Maybe the guys will remember me in the long run, but they have their own worries. In the bottom of the pick is some lead strapping I found in the back of my pickup one day, hard telling where they got that. Its a good thing the wife manages a Dunkin Donuts as I can get some cheap barter material.:grin: Boon

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c277/boondocker6/029.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c277/boondocker6/028.jpg

http://s29.photobucket.com/albums/c277/boondocker6/Casting%20furnace/

http://s29.photobucket.com/albums/c277/boondocker6/cast%20loads/

[1hole]

The lead used for cable sheathing is as close to pure lead as can be found anywhere. Never heard of "pole" lead.

[sav300]

Have seen a lead plug used between the insulator and the metal screw/bolt that holds the insulator and wire to the pole.

[Lloyd Smale]

phone company juntion boxes on poles used to be lead. Could be what you have. Its most like pure or near pure.

[lathesmith]

Whatever it is, melt it and use it, it should make great bullets! As long as it isn't battery lead you should be able to use it with no problems. You may need to toss in a few wheelweights or a little tin, but for black powder or light pistol loads it should work fine as-is, no matter what it is.

lathesmith

[Fly-guy]

[QUOTE=Boondocker;944836]Sean I worked in the garage for the phone company and between digging in the scrap bin and the linemen bringing me tear downs I have accumulated quite of lead cable.





It is considered pure lead, basically like plumber's lead. Great for muzzelloaders too soft for rifle or pistol boolits - just my opinion.

[lwknight]

I've gotten some of what the op is talking about. Not sure what the purpose is but they (mine ) are 1/2" thick with some bolt hole patterns and about 12X12" square.
They seem to be pretty much pure lead. I had to use the weed burner to get them melted cause they would not fit inti my pot.

[Johnch]

If you find a soldered joint , the solder was 50/50 Tin /lead ( I think )
Other than that
All the sheathing I have salvaged was almost pure lead

John

[wire nut]

They are probably plates used as a pole guard. We install these at intersections where a pole is near a street and get hit by a vehicle occasionally. wire nut