Stained glass cane?

[Rock]

What is the composition of the 'lead' cane that is used in stained glass?

I picked up about a pound of it at a yard sale, it is very soft and flexible.

[Muddy Creek Sam]

Should be very close to or is Pure.

Sam :D

[Rock]

Thanks Sam. I was hoping for some tin content.

[fredj338]

Thanks Sam. I was hoping for some tin content.
I use it when I can get it. It seems pretty darn soft, I think it extruded, so tin would only make that more difficult. Makes great LHP w/ 25-1 lead/tin.

[smoked turkey]

I have access to stained glass cane from a local shop. It is very soft and flexible in the cane form. I think it is composed of other coumpounds that make it hard after the casting process. I know that sounds like a dumb thing to say but I had a really bad experience here with the stuff. I cast some 50 cal maxis for my muzzleloader. I have a couple of friends that I wanted to take a few to since they hunt with sabots and I thought they might enjoy shooting some maxi-ball loads. The stuff was so hard it was a chore to get down the barrel of my TC Thunderhawk. In fact I broke my wooden ram rod trying to get it down the bore. I did shoot a few of them but they were not pure lead. I had to recall those before they had a chance to try them. I remelted them. I mix them with wheelweights and they work super in that application.

[DukeInFlorida]

One of my buddies does stained glass, and I asked him this same question. He warns that there's two types of this stuff. Oh, and by the way, they call it, "CAME"... not cane. Not sure where the name comes from.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stained_glass

also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_came_and_copper_foil_glasswork

Anyways, the stuff that goes between the lead glass pieces is virtually pure lead.
They do make a "U" shaped piece that goes AROUND the finished product, and that has to be strong enough to support the weight. The U shaped stuff is mostly ZINC! So, don't try to melt that into your alloy.

[fredj338]

One of my buddies does stained glass, and I asked him this same question. He warns that there's two types of this stuff. Oh, and by the way, they call it, "CAME"... not cane. Not sure where the name comes from.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stained_glass

also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_came_and_copper_foil_glasswork

Anyways, the stuff that goes between the lead glass pieces is virtually pure lead.
They do make a "U" shaped piece that goes AROUND the finished product, and that has to be strong enough to support the weight. The U shaped stuff is mostly ZINC! So, don't try to melt that into your alloy.

If it is zinc, how does it bend? My wife was doing sg for awhile & everything she brought home,lots of diff shapes, melted @ low temp & was very flexible???

[DLCTEX]

Zinc will not bend without breaking and it will not alloy with lead more than 2%, so I doubt there is enough zinc in it to matter. All I have used seems to be near pure lead, but may have some antimony and/or arsenic to harden it some after it is extruded by water cooling it as it is extruded in a near liquid state. The came I used mixed well with WW and exhibited no zinc symptoms.

[dragonrider]

There is also lead free came, and what they call channel made of zinc, I found this web site.
http://www.anythinginstainedglass.com/metals/came.html
best check closely and be sure of what you have.

[Ron.D]

I got some from a lead foundry a while back. It was the "came" rejects that came from the extruder. They told me it was lead with .45% antimont and 06% copper. Ron.D