My neighbor thinks lead has made me crazy!

So I picked up a lot of lead from the estate of a plumber a while back, I guessed on the weight at 1,000 lbs for $150. I've been picking up what I can ever since. I find most of it for free, I'm in a lot of basements of old houses & get old rolls of solder and find some ingots or lead pipe. I'm cleaning up and figured I'd weight it before storing it in it's final destination. My buddy walked over to see what I was doing, I had piles of lead everywhere. He thinks I'm crazy.
https://i.imgur.com/YAnT3Pf.jpg 550lbs pigs
https://i.imgur.com/2BNGYEK.jpg 126lbs sinkers
https://i.imgur.com/6xxzHL1.jpg 560lbs muffin ingots
https://i.imgur.com/NSmJyvk.jpg 125lbs lead water line
https://i.imgur.com/ULnhwZY.jpg 75lbs bar solder
https://i.imgur.com/YSdeQLy.jpg 65lbs roll solder
https://i.imgur.com/lucxOkM.jpg 40lbs linotype
https://i.imgur.com/tw2Vr2A.jpg 45lbs lead joints
https://i.imgur.com/01LBwwg.jpg 90lbs Soww/30lbs coww
https://i.imgur.com/TIyecKh.jpg 1,500lbs alloy
32lbs super hard, 8lbs pewter & 95/5 solder drippings, 91lbs range scrap & 91lbs range scrap.
OK, lead may have made me crazy! I but I have about $0.20 per pound into everything including the super hard, lino type bars & some solder I bought cheap.

i can tell you that your picture files are way too large

That's pretty awesome...I have a safe place you can store it! . :bigsmyl2: . From that, you can blend anything you want!

When are we going to see some of your casting efforts?

..............I nor any other caster would think it unusual to have that. Besides, it's a 'tangible' and has value like any other tangible such as Gold, Silver, steel, aluminum, glass, etc.

...........Buckshot

You have doubled or tripled your investment so far. Scrap lead prices range from 40 to 65 cents per pound. Tell your neighbor that. If he is not a shooter or outdoor guy do not show him any cast bullets, which is probably beyond his comprehension. Good on ya, matey!!

I would call it crazy like a fox.....Just dont put it all in the same place in your home, garage, or shed!

You need to get more. Your stash will only last a few years.

That's a good start :)

If the SHTF you are going to be one popular guy.

And if it does not, you can shoot as much as you want for as long as you want for the foreseeable future.

I call that a win win.

NYFirefighter357, like you, I too live behind enemy limes (NY). Stockpile as much as you can! I can't believe Cuomo and his cronies haven't already outlawed the possession of lead!

Good for you
crazy like a fox
now cast some boolits

Time to get busy!

If you would have let a deal like this slip by you, yea, you would have been crazy.

you lucky so and so! so you get it mostly at estate sales?

The estate lot was prob. about 1,200lbs.

Thats a Great haul! Was the old plumber that organized or did you have to sort it?

Living in NY I have to make sure I have something to make bullets when they make them illegal here. The lead was piled up in the shed, Pretty organized. My buddy got the rolls of 50/50 solder before I got there 30-40. I'm working on getting them as well, he got them for free, he's how I found out about the lead.

Take any lead you can get... I had the lead fairy arrive Friday night. Lead flashing was the gift. I have not kept track of my lead but I don't think I have more than $150 of actual cash in my pile which is about 1500+lbs I do give some away to new caster every year to a casting seminar put on on another forum.
I have not travelled out side my daily travels to "find" lead.
Solder is still a bit of a secret around here and small rolls can be found at yard sales for pennies ....for now.

NyFirefighter357, Thats my strategy too. I'm probably already in the "lifetime supply club" but I would rather my family have to deal with it after I'm gone than to run out! Networking works! The more friends looking the better. Congratulations on a nice score!

mac1911, I've only traveled one time for lead. That was last month and was mostly for bullet molds, the 20 buckets of sorted wheelweights were kind of a bonus! However, we have plans to go back for more lead. Thats about the only time that I have ever bought lead!

Looks like a good supply and well organized ....i don't see any issue but already drank the koolaid here.

The only thing I can see that might be called crazy is the cost of the powder it will take to get all that where it is going. But if you can't think of anything you would rather spend it on, that question is answered.

Some of it looks a bit oxidised, so there would be no harm in wearing gloves and being careful about disposal of dross.

FWIW, you won't look so crazy when it is all in nice ingots and stacked neatly. Do you plan on making different alloys with different shaped ingot molds or are you just going to mark/stamp them to tell them apart? Gotta do one or the other, because one melted lead is much more difficult to tell hardness differences. Hate for you to get it all organized, and then for some reason the piles fall over and get all mixed!

I pity the guy who tries to steal the lead out of my garage... First they have to move 4,500 pounds of wood pellets for my pellet stove I heat with :mrgreen: I had thelead lined up along the wall... needed somewhere for pellets and well... it was the only open spot of floor... glad I poured that slab 6" thick!

I stamp my alloy COWW, SOWW, RL & LINO I haven't stamped the soft ingots.

Found and brought home another 5lb ingot today.

My niece's son who is about to enter college saw my lead stash of about a ton or so in 5 gallon buckets (some buckets are taller & have more than 5 gallons plus my quantity of tin) and thought it was pretty "cool." He was raised as a shooter so its all in one's perspective. Big Boomer

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NyFirefighter357

Found and brought home another 5lb ingot today.

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We need to see some smelting pictures when you get around to it!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Big Boomer

My niece's son who is about to enter college saw my lead stash of about a ton or so in 5 gallon buckets (some buckets are taller & have more than 5 gallons plus my quantity of tin) and thought it was pretty "cool." He was raised as a shooter so its all in one's perspective. Big Boomer

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I've given a few ingots away to people who saw them and thought they were cool.

I've given out a few corn stick ingots as paper weights.

I'm not sure a chemical analysis of the different types of lead would be necessary, but it might be prudent to hardness test the various types. That way, if you find a need for projectiles of a particular hardness for a particular task, you can go right to the type that is closest. Or, if you're trying to use up some alloy that is too hard or too soft, you can make a better estimation of how to mix it with other lead alloys. Just a thought.

Hoarding lead and alloys is a prudent precaution in these days and times. Hoarding primers would also be a worthwhile pursuit, since it's just about the only non-replaceable (or certainly the LEAST replaceable). component of metallic cartridges.

I may get a lot of quizzical or disingenuous looks & comments for this, but I've made up my mind that stockpiling table sugar wouldn't be a bad move. Besides just cooking, it has multiple uses (cleaner, disinfectant, component of propellants & explosives, synthetic intermediate of complicated organic syntheses), and is difficult to replace, when missing. The U.S. capacity to produce sugar is tremendous, but so is its consumption. Supply lines can be impaired or completely interrupted, fairly easily.

Oh My GOD!!! Your neighbor is right!!! Lead and this site made me crazy YEARS AGO!! (I'm calling OBAMA!!)

Nose Dive
Cheap, Fast, Good. Kindly pick two.

I agree with the other Pards that you're crazy ... crazy like a fox. And smart to take advantage of great opportunities.

There's an old saying something to the effect "One can never be too rich or too thin". To that I would add "or have too much ammo or reloading components".

If the lead turns out to be in excess of your needs (and IMHO even big stockpiles of lead get used up pretty quickly) you can have a not-so-small business on the side of selling 1 lb lead ingots. A good bunch can be stuffed into a USPS small flat rate box and a "whole mess" into a medium flat rate box.

Happy Trails and Happy Casting

Fort Reno Kid