Mercury alloy anyone?

[The Nyack Kid]

old jim
Now we're talking the fun stuff .
does this make as big of a mess as a 22 blank inserted base up in a boolit ?

[Harry]

I have a good bit of 1lb ingots that are stamped 10-1 and 2-10. Initial analysis done just recently yielded this.
10-1*
Pb = 87.6%
Sn = 8.5%
In = 3.9% (In = Indium)

2-10*
Pb = 78.4%
Sn = 14.5%
In = 7.1% (In = Indium)

Asterisk's indicate a question about the In. After a second analysis this is the report I got.

"I spent few minutes working on the samples tonight. I hit them with a torch and re-melted them. I then scraped the surface away to have a fresh surface to analyze. I am now confident about what I was missing.

Both 10-1 and 2-10 contain about 20% Hg or MERCURY."

It is recommended that I scrap them and not use for casting. These were made back in late '50s by my dad. Apparently he cast with it. This doesn't answer your question, but indicates people used mercury mixed with lead and tin.

[M-Tecs]

Interesting old thread. I have used it to clean barrels. Never thought about or knew it would alloy with lead.

[Harry]

If these ingots I have, contain 20% mercury, as indicated on analysis, it sure is not in a liquid state. It has amalgamated with the lead and tin. Otherwise, if it was in it's liquid state (boiling), mercury beads would be all over the place.

[Plate plinker]

The best thing to do with mercury is not to fool around with it at all, especially when heat is involved. It's a very hazardous heavy metal that gets into your body very easily.

Joe

Mercury is Not as bad as it is made out to be.

[Bent Ramrod]

Us kids used to make pennies into “dimes” by rubbing mercury into the copper coins. A few people are allergic to mercury, but in general, the metal itself is pretty innocuous. It’s the water-soluble compounds, and especially the organic compounds of mercury, that are extremely toxic.

They used to use calomel (mercurous chloride) as a patent medicine in the old days. The saving grace for the one medicated was that the mercurous chloride was almost insoluble in water, so there wasn’t enough of it there to to affect the average 55-year lifetime back then. But you didn’t want to try it with mercuric chloride, which is very soluble, and very, very poisonous.

That Minimata plant in Japan dumped a lot of metallic mercury into the ocean, figuring nothing would happen. Unfortunately, some pesky bacteria evolved that managed to incorporate the stuff into their digestive process, turning it into organic compounds of mercury. This stuff ran up the food chain to the fishing community across the bay, with horrific nerve damage and paralysis as a result.

I personally think that risks are things to be understood and managed. But the Caring and Concerned Industry is like any other; it has to grow or perish. Sooner or later, everything anyone does will come under the philanthropic gaze of the professional Viewers-with-Alarm, and their enthusiastic amateur followers. To these people, Safety means doing nothing, preferably in a padded room breathing filtered air and drinking distilled water. That’s an existence, not a life. Your choice.

[Spector]

Does scrap mercury which has been used to clean barrels and therefore contains some lead have any value? And what would be the acceptable method to dispose of it in an environmentally safe way? Is thete a market for it?

[Omega]

I played with mercury and bullets back in my youth, hollowed out a .22 filled with mercury then sealed with a bit of wax. Shot a few at some old boards, made quite a nice hole. Then my youthful curiosity shifted elsewhere, like 1/4 sticks of dynamite and tree stumps. I collected a bunch from thermostats that had electrical switches. Never heard of mercury to clean barrels, I sure would of tried it.

Anyone recall mercurochrome? I used this stuff right into the 2000s, was in many a military 1st aid kit, and while it stung like hell, it would stop the bleeding on small to medium cuts very well. I kept that and steri-strips in my individual kit for years, probably have some still in my old kits.

Generally speaking, methylmercury is the poisonous form which is not the form of mercury found in mercurochrome, thermometers, dental fillings, electrical switches, or vaccines. Mercurochrome contains mercury in a disodium salt form which is considered to be perfectly safe.

[quail4jake]

Careful out there folks! Metallic Hg is alot of fun but any salt or organic compound has high bioavailability and very insidious toxicity. This one is a much worse heavy metal than Pb...

[Geezer in NH]

Does scrap mercury which has been used to clean barrels and therefore contains some lead have any value? And what would be the acceptable method to dispose of it in an environmentally safe way? Is thete a market for it?

It certainly does for the Haz-Mat disposal company that removes it. Wait till you see what that costs!