Diving weights

[*Paladin*]

Hey all- I smelted down some diving weights today. I figured they'd be just about pure (I know, DV's can be anything) but these came outta the ingot mold looking frosty, in fact identical to my WW ingots and they didn't sink in the center of the ingots like PB does as it cools. Would high antimony content make the ingots look like WW's? I have no reason to believe there's zinc in the batch.

I figure I'll wait a week or so and then compare hardness to WW's and see.

[Rangefinder]

IF they're "new-ish", there's a high probability they are WW's. I have a couple that are at least 35+ years old that I know are pure, but I've come across a couple recently that were considerably harder and came out equal to my WW ingots.

[*Paladin*]

Cool! I hope they are! I'm getting a bit heavy on the PB side and so I need some more WW ingots. Right now they're fairly easy to scratch with a fingernail, but hopefully after a week or more they'll be as hard as WW! Thanks for the reply!

[lwknight]

I would use a WW plus 2% tin alloy for my diving weights.
You can buy then as pure soft lead or hard lead.
Pure soft lead is preferred for instructors who use pools because the
weights get dropped a lot and can damage the tiles or coatings of the pool.

Hard weights are preferred by divers that don't want their weights beat all to pulp
and looking dull ugly grey.

[Rangefinder]

I would use a WW plus 2% tin alloy for my diving weights.
You can buy then as pure soft lead or hard lead.
Pure soft lead is preferred for instructors who use pools because the
weights get dropped a lot and can damage the tiles or coatings of the pool.

Never thought of it that way--but makes sense. All my dives were in open water or fresh water lakes---so I guess I never thought about it.

[lwknight]

The pools are for beginner class practice. Those ginners are bas to drop weights.
Especially when its a 87 pound 13 year old girl that never had any experience with anything heavier than a cell phone.

I have been on tours where they supply the weights and they are so beat up that you can't get the belt through the slots. I was really wanting to melt the fugly beat up junkers and recast then into nice new shiny hard cast weights that would hold their shape.

[xr650]

Paladin,
I cast some dive weights in 429421 to check hardness.
Hardness test with Cabine Tree
Day of cast .052
1 week after cast .052
1 month after cast .054
This is about 9 Brinell.
I know this doesn't mean much about your dive weights. It is info about mine though.

[CLAYPOOL]

I got 2 - 3 Lbs. ones + 2 marked 12 Lbs. I guess. I boughtem any way as that has been smelted and hope fully a lot of **** is all ready gone.
CLAYPOOL