TV tonight - show on LEAD

[MakeMineA10mm]

Modern Marvels on History International channel starting in about 30 mins. Is a show about lead - our second-favorite subject!

[Moonie]

So how was it? Informative or paranoid anti lead?

[MakeMineA10mm]

Partly paranoid anti-lead, but mostly talking about how useful lead is, and showing the diversity of uses it has.

There was a great segment on recycling lead and showed a foundry which takes in WWs, scrap lead (including gleanings from range backstops), and CRTs (which the interviewee said contained about two lbs of lead each). But, 85% of the lead they recycle comes from batteries. Showed some really interesting processes how they re-cycle that lead and get rid of the acids. Also showed the smelting and pouring of it into ingots and talked about fluxing and skimming off the dross!

I really liked the part on pipe organs where they make a 60-40 tin-to-lead mix that they pour into a sliding trough, and when they have the right amount of alloy at the right temp., two workers briskly walk to the end of a long table dragging the trough with them, and it lays out a thin sheet of lead-tin alloy that immediately hardens. They then let the sheet harden for a couple weeks, and then thin it to the right thickness and roll and solder it into a pipe. The Voicer than cuts the mouth, drills a hole and puts it on an air supply to tune it.

I DVRed it and will watch the whole thing when I get a chance. It gave me some ideas on where to scrounge more lead! :mrgreen:

[Moonie]

Please share when and if you discover new sources, I'm sure everyone here would love to know. Especially with the WW issues.