Color in ingots tin? antimony? ???

[mrappe]

The lead that I melted this weekend had blue,purple,green and gold colors after I pored the ingots they manily show blue and purple on them. I still had some of this colored stof in the put and I heated it. The silver lead color seems to melt sooner and come out with less color that the other parts. The large pile of dross has very strong colors in it. I am trying to figure out what this stuff that had the colors in it. The ball that I cast was harder than pure lead so something else is in there. What color is molten tin? antimony?.

Thanks,
Mike

[lwknight]

I can tell you that is not tin or antimony doing that.
Pure lead has a blueish hue to it.
A little tin in the mix takes the bluish color away.
A lot of tin in it has a wheat straw colored dross skin.
Antimony , as far as I know , does nothing to coloring.

[sagacious]

LWKnight is correct. It's the lead itself that makes those colors. If the melt is overheated, common lead alloys like ww alloy will turn funky gold/blue/purple colors. Live and learn, good luck.

[evan price]

You are melting at too high of temperature, that dross is probably all the good metal that has been separated. Remelt the entire batch at 700 degrees maximum and then flux the heck out of it with used motor oil or some other carbon source, stir it a lot, it will melt back in and you will be OK. The gold/blue/purple colors are what happens when the metal is overheated.

[lwknight]

I think the unmeltable globbies are tinned oxides. They should flux back in.
Use a plenty of wax on the melted metals and stir and smash the gobbies on the sides while the wax is burning off in a big yellow flame with a long handled spoon.
You should end up with nothing but a little dust on top.

[madsenshooter]

I have several ingots of babbitt that have a high copper content, I think around 6%. They have the colors that you are referring to. A little of this stuff added to WW makes for one tough bullet.

[Gun Nut]

+1 on the heat factor,and when your that hot any zinc ww that you may have missed while sorting is going to blend right in with the pb. Then you will have problems with molding boolits

[mrappe]

I have never had any ww s. Also I have tried many places here and cannot get any tire stores to give or sell any ww s. This was lead I purchased from someone that was in the form of large ingots with the name Willard on them which was/is a battery manufacurer I believe. One thing that I am concerned with is that copper and lead can contain arsenic which may account for the green color.

[sagacious]

One thing that I am concerned with is that copper and lead can contain arsenic which may account for the green color.
There is no reason for concern. Metallic arsenic in a lead alloy poses no hazard, and is almost surely not the cause of the green color.

Pure lead is well-known to oxidize easily upon heating to form a rainbow of colors. Those new to working with molten lead commonly assume that molten lead is always silver-colored, and any mysterious colors on the melt must be due to a 'contaminant.' That is usually an incorrect assumption-- it's the lead itself that forms that colorful dross. Good luck.

[mrappe]

The reason for concern was that the book "The ABC's of Reloading 5th edition" by Dean A. Grennell. I have had this book for some time and he states that no maintence batteries should not be smelted because of the amount of arsenic in the dross would give off a super deadly gas if it comes in contact with several household chemicals such as water. And since Willard makes batteries I was concerned that this lead may contain a lot of arsenic. The reason that it may have been too hot was that Wen it was at a lower temp it was sticking to the sides of the pot and to the ss spoon. I don't currently have a thermometer so I don't know exactly what the temp was.

[sagacious]

The main risks posed when reclaiming lead from batteries come from the concentrated sulfuric acid and lead oxide paste on the grids. Those compounds present real and immediate hazards, and heating the H2SO4 will evolve toxic sulfide gases. In answer to your original question, if your lead is from a battery-recycler, it probably contains no tin at all.

Factory-reclaimed battery lead is safe to use for bullet casting. Works very well, and the basic lead-handling safeguards (such as disposing of dross properly) are sufficient. Good luck, and good casting!

[mrappe]

T

Factory-reclaimed battery lead is safe to use for bullet casting. Works very well, and the basic lead-handling safeguards (such as disposing of dross properly) are sufficient. Good luck, and good casting!

What Is the best way to dispose of dross?

Thanks,
Mike