Lead ingots with Willard name on them

[mrappe]

I got 200lbs of lead mostly in the form of round joined ingots that have the name Willard in them. The guy that I got them from said that they were going to be used for sailboat balast at one time but the man that had them never buit the boat. The lead appears to have been possabibly in water for some time. It had a lot of white crusty stuff on it. The lead seems fairly soft. I looked up Willard and found that they have been around for dome time making all kinds of batteries. Has anyone else heard of this stuff?

[Muddy Creek Sam]

The white is oxidation, can you scratch it with a fingernail? If so it is probably pure.

Sam :D

[lwknight]

Most likely pure oxidizing grade lead.
Good find for sure.

[Papa Jack]

Willard Batteries has been around for years...The lead must have been their own make up for the production of said batteries. I would imagine Willard had their own foundry just for that purpose... "PJ"

[mrappe]

Thank you for all of the replies

[mrappe]

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb376/mdrappe51/Metal/boxoflead.jpg?t=1285453263
These are the lead ingots

[358wcf]

It really pays to let the right folks know you will help them dispose of any lead they come across- Great find!

358wcf

[mrappe]

I just cast a few balls from them. I took one of the balls and put it against a Hornaday lead ball that I usually shoot and crushed them together in a bench vice. The Hornaday ball was a little softer so I tried putting one of each in the cylinder with the on pistol lever. I got the cast one in but it took a little more effort. This brings up the next question.. When is a ball too hard to be good to shoot in the pistol?

[lwknight]

I have found old bullets that had a little tin in then that were softer than others that were suposedly nearly pure lead.
What I saw in the picture is what pure lead looks like when its been out in a barn for a few years.

[Frank46]

The round ones in your pic should be plumber's lead. Seen them at the local scrap yard. Frank