Favorite form of lead to find?

[Jniedbalski]

thats true but oddly enough, when I was apprenticeing the tradesman over me took me aside and says " Today we're going old school" and showed me how to tin up the panel and spoon on the lead and shape it with the file and prep for paint because he felt the trade was a dieing art. Still today die hard collectors come in and ask if we will do lead repairs oddly enough. Eastwood still sells all the stuff thats where I get my "sweetner " from.

I wanted my grandfather to show me how to do it for a couple of years. We also had people come in the shop wanting lead also. My grandfather just wouldn’t do it any more. People think that bondo only last a few years and falls out. I never had any do that in the thousands of cars I did. I have a 67 mustang I did in 83 and it’s still there and not fallen out. also my Buick I did in 87 still good. The reason he didint want to do it is because bondo is so much easier and quicker. People think the lead is so much better but actually bondo is just as good. You are right it is a dying art. Kind of like black powder and smokeless powder. People still use black but 98% of my shooting is with smokeless.

[Geezer in NH]

Easy linotype ingots for free

[ulav8r]

30 caliber bullets sized .310 and 45 caliber bullets sized .454.

[DME72]

i like coww and old lead water pipe which is pretty thick. most of which i get from friends and co workers. not alot but enough.

doug

[rcslotcar]

Any thing in large 20# ingots or larger. I makes it easier to alloy into smaller usable pot size ingots.

[GregLaROCHE]

If you find a sailboat keel, you can use a chainsaw to cut it into pieces to fit into your melting pot.

[DME72]

i wish i could find a sailboat keel. i would have a lifetime supply then.

doug

[Kraschenbirn]

i wish i could find a sailboat keel. i would have a lifetime supply then.

You've gotta check those old boat keels and ballest blocks for zinc contamination before you haul 'em away. Back in the day, many of the smaller boat builders poured their ballest from whatever was cheapest and it's a real PITA to discover you've dragged home a few hundred pounds cast from tire shop throw-aways with a high percentage of Zn.

Bill

[jsizemore]

Free lead is my favorite. In bulk or laying in the parking lot or side of the road.

[Retumbo]

If you find a sailboat keel, you can use a chainsaw to cut it into pieces to fit into your melting pot.

i wish i could find a sailboat keel. i would have a lifetime supply then.

doug

I have to go pick mine up sometime soon

[redhawk0]

I love roofing lead and plumbers lead and fittings. Easy to work with. I also get blocks of lead from a machinist buddy of mine. He says they use it to make dead-blow shot hammers. (I don't know what method they use to make it into "shot")....but he gives me the blocks when they get small (5" cubes)...Its ~25lbs of lead per block. It's super soft too.

Probably my least favorite is modern WWs. I hate the sorting process....it's still worth it...but it's not my favorite past-time.

redhawk

[gwpercle]

1.) Free Clip On Wheel Weights
2.) Sheet lead from construction : roof sheathing , roof jacks , roof flashing , shower pans , dental x-ray wall protective sheathing , plumbers lead , electrical cable sheathing .

A 50/50 mix of soft lead / COWW does just about everything for me in handguns and 30 cal. rifle hunting boolits (30-30) .
Gary

[Deadeye Bly]

X-ray sheet lead or radiation shielding bricks.

[Papercidal]

My first trip to the scrap yard for lead in the scrap bin where a decent number of 20# ingots stamped 90-5-5 at a buck a pound needless to say I got spoiled casting with that for my first few sessions.

[midnight]

I suppose free wheelweights 50 years ago doesn't count. Two recent finds were 69lb flat rate boxes of linotype, $85 ea. I bought five and 500 lbs very soft ( maybe even pure lead) X-ray room sheathing for $1 a lb. Picked it up 15 miles from my house. Both those buys were from guys here on the forum.

Bob

[rmark]

Free, however The 5lb bar of 89 percent tin babbitt mixed in with scrap lead was a nice find,

[bangerjim]

Any reasonably clean lead already processed in a commercial LEAD smelter plant.....not raw galena ore! I avoid COWW's today because 80% are Zn and Fe.....even if they are free!

Free is not necessarily free.....way too much time cleaning, sorting, re-melting, fluxing, and ingotizing for me. I generally get sheets of clean lead from the yards, with some Sn solder bars and other nice alloys in the mix for a reasonable $1/pound. I leave the "free" stiff to those that have way too time on their hands. I avoid drain pipes due to the stinky filthy mess.

[white eagle]

Favorite form of lead to find?

Free!

[kevin c]

I agree with banger: I'd prefer to pay a bit for clean, predictable content scrap like isotope containers over free dirty scrap that may not be suitable at all. Of course, while I'm not paying commercial foundry prices, I still have to have the funds to buy with, and I still have to process what I get.

[JM7.7x58]

Free!

I can make use of all of it. For the longest time I wanted to find free hard lead. I viewed pure as a problem to be overcome. I now see the value of pure as a consistent valuable alloy ingredient.

I've recently come into a good supply of free rolls of roofing lead. Because it is very close to pure, it is a perfect base for creating a known alloy. I going to mix up a large homogeneous batch of alloy for some higher velocity rifle loads. I will buy some Rotometal's Superhard, and mix this with part of a large batch of my pewter ingots(all hallmarked, culinary pewter), and the roofing lead.

I have a lot of "Trash Lead" of unknown alloy(downrigger balls, keels, range scrap, tractor ballast, and a deceased caster's mystery ingots), that once hardness tested with pencils can be sweetened with Lino or pewter, and be put to great use in pistol bullets and low node rifle work. I'm always happy to find this type of lead. But for higher velocity(2000fps-2300fps) I'm wanting a more consistent repeatable batch of alloy.