First smelting session

[needcoffee]

I just gave smelting WW a try yesterday. I have a 14" piece of 3/8" wall pipe that I welded a a piece of 3/8" plate onto the bottom of to make a pot. I also installed a thermowell with a 200* to 900*F thermometer. So that I could reliably monitor temp. I put the pot on a propane burner that I had reinforced. Filled it up and lit the fire. I ran the heat up slowly to allow time for the lead to dry and start to melt without vaporizing (which I understand is above 900*F or so). This took a while. I had approximately a bucket of WW in the pot, around 100# or so and it took me 2 hours to melt at 600*F. I fluxed and poured my ingots. They looked good (to my inexperienced eye). I let the pot cool, filled it and fired it off again. I had intentionally left an inch or so of lead in the the bottom of the pot reasoning that it would melt more quickly and help the melt along. It apparently did. I fluxed the heck out of it again (I am using sawdust which is reccomended here and on lasc.com) poured ingots and once again they looked good.

My question is what does a zinc WW look like? I have been looking for the last hour or so on this website and have not found any pictures. But I am not finding them. Everyone says that they are easy to spot but I did not see one that I know of. My WW are fairly old. I got half a ton of them from a guy who was building a sailboat and using WW for lead ballast. So it is possible I didn't have any zinc WW's. I modulated the temp fairly carefully (with a calibrated thermometer) not much over 600*F. I was suprised when I stirred up a few stickon WW's that I had missed taking out when filling the pot with clip on WW's. Since they melt at pure lead temps of 621*F. I think I was right on the money temp wise. I don't believe the zinc WW's would of melted at this temp. Is the prior assumption correct? Also would you all point me towards some links will some methods of testing for zince WW and some pics?

Thank you all for your help,

Regards,

Jeff

[lwknight]

I think you did just awesome and that you did not have any zinc or you would certainly know what they look like. Some look exactly the same as lead and may or may not be marked as such. A lot of WWs have paint on them so appearances can be deceiving.

They will definately float up long before they melt. Same with steel , which are easier to id. The steel weights have the clip spot welded on the outside.

[Jailer]

Every Zinc WW I have run across so far have Zn stamped on them. Not all do so if you're not sure, drop them on the ground on the end of the weight from about a foot in the air. If it bounces and rings it's Zinc or steel. If it hits with a "thud" and just kind of falls over it's lead. If you're still not sure, grab a pair of side cutters and try and cut it. You won't cut Zinc or steel but they will go right through lead quite easily.

[jmsj]

needcoffee,
Sounds like you had a successful first smelt. Welcome to the group here.

As stated lots of the Zn wheel weights are marked Zn, also many have rivets in the back of the weight. Keeping the temp down, like you are doing, will help a lot.

When I started I used a pair of wire cutters to test the wheights for Zn. Now I can spot most of them visually. I still keep temps down to around 650*.

Congratulations and welcome to madness, jmsj

[WHITETAIL]

needcoffee, Welcome to the forum!:drinks:
You are on the right track.
But there is many pics. on zinc WW on this forum.
Just type in zinc on the search.

[needcoffee]

I finally looked at the correct "Stickies." I was looking under the local lead and alloys heading. The threads addressing zinc were on the main page.

Thanks guys I appreciate the help.