If someone wanted to buy all your lead...

[CoolHandMoss]

So my dad builds boats for a living. They just dropped a new boat in the water, floats high in the stern, they need 253 lbs quick. I've got about that much on hand. I spent roughly $0.80/lb on it at a scrap yard and somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 hours if not more melting it down, cleaning it and pouring ingots. Not to mention the $10 at least worth of propane I burnt. This is a $1,000,000+ boat and they need it to float right by Tuesday. I am in a good bargaining position but I also want to be reasonable. I am thinking that about $2.15/lb would be reasonable? I know that to order lead and have it delivered is upwards of $3 usually. Their usual go to for small amounts of ballast in a hurry is lead shot from the local LGS which doesn't carry nearly enough, though that would cost under $2. Obviously it depends on the person what it is worth to them, but to those that have been privy to the lead market for longer and have a better idea of the value, what would you recommend?

[VariableRecall]

So my dad builds boats for a living. They just dropped a new boat in the water, floats high in the stern, they need 253 lbs quick. I've got about that much on hand. I spent roughly $0.80/lb on it at a scrap yard and somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 hours if not more melting it down, cleaning it and pouring ingots. Not to mention the $10 at least worth of propane I burnt. This is a $1,000,000+ boat and they need it to float right by Tuesday. I am in a good bargaining position but I also want to be reasonable. I am thinking that about $2.15/lb would be reasonable? I know that to order lead and have it delivered is upwards of $3 usually. Their usual go to for small amounts of ballast in a hurry is lead shot from the local LGS which doesn't carry nearly enough, though that would cost under $2. Obviously it depends on the person what it is worth to them, but to those that have been privy to the lead market for longer and have a better idea of the value, what would you recommend?

Looking at Rotometals (Expensive, but they have to guarantee purity), they sell their pure lead at about $4 a pound. The rush-order of $2.15/lb seems reasonable to me.

[para45lda]

Give it to him and ask him to replace it next time they order lead.

Everybody is happy and he gets to brag on you a little

Wes (a Dad)

[CoolHandMoss]

I would but I don't think they have any regular source they order lead from!

And to be clear, my dad is an employee and I am selling to his employer. He is not the business owner otherwise I would probably just be giving it to him.

[jsizemore]

Where are you located?

[RogerDat]

Shot runs about $2 a pound but I can almost guarantee it won't stay in the bags. Might I suggest easiest way to find it is send spouse down below barefoot.

Ingots at $2.15 is not a bad price. IF there is a scrap yard in the area they MIGHT have lead in a form that can be used for around a buck a pound. Have seen 300# rolls of sheet lead on a pallet getting scrapped before as well as the occasional 1/2 inch thick x-ray wall lining in quantity that will meet the use case.

Otherwise you are saving them money compared to a rush order. If they were going to buy shot they might want to look into reclaimed shot. Suitable for their use and less expensive.

If they will pay $2.15 it is worth that price if they think it is too expensive then it isn't worth that price. Also they don't care about alloy, you may have stuff such as COWW that will cost you more to replace than plain lead.

[Adam20]

figure out what it is going to cost to replace it from a supplier, rotometals ect. and add at least 20% like any other business with inventory would do. They will understand that. They want lead quickly cost is not much of a concern to them.

[Winger Ed.]

figure out what it is going to cost to replace it from a supplier, rotometals ect. and add at least 20% like any other business with inventory would do. they will understand that.

^^^ this^^^

Every one knows if ya gotta have it right now---- it costs extra compared to having time to shop around.

In the overall, big picture, its toll road change compared to the value of getting that much boat in the water.

[Burnt Fingers]

How do you spend 12 hours melting down 250 lbs of lead?

That's no more than 1-2 hours max.

[MOA]

Have them go to Roto Metals for half a pig or so, or charge of $5/lb.
Roto has ballast lead for 97 bucks for a 50 lb bag.

5x50=250
5×97= $485 bucks

[CoolHandMoss]

How do you spend 12 hours melting down 250 lbs of lead?

That's no more than 1-2 hours max.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong. My kettle handles about 22 lbs at most. I have 3 ingot molds. I melt and clean (thoroughly) about 22 lbs give or take, pour the 12 lbs that 3 ingot molds accommodates, then start melting down more. Wheel weights have to be added a handful at a time I find which makes it slower. I also usually melt down new lead simultaneously with casting and go back and forth to give the flux time to burn off and give fresh additions of lead plenty of time to melt so that does add quite a bit of time. But if I had been rushing, 250 lbs would take me minimum 5 hours, with minimal cleaning.

[Chill Wills]

Your not doing it wrong. You are just getting started. Like we all did. No one comes into this game having it all unless it is a father to son deal.
This will process about 220 LBS safely but I am more likely to do 150 - 175 at a time.

If you stay with this casting bullets hobby, you will acquire better equipment. It just happens.

[MOA]

Yuppers. That's why I went to a bigger pot for smelting. A small pot just takes forever.

[poppy42]

I would not sell my clean lead to use as a boat Kiel! The first thing I would do is to go to the scrap yard and see if I could find zinc or zinc wheel weights. Mix them in with lead and melt them into big ingots. Zinc doesn’t even have to be melted as long as it’s suspended inside an ingot. But that’s just me I would hate to waste my good clean ready to cast lead.

[CoolHandMoss]

I would not sell my clean lead to use as a boat Kiel! The first thing I would do is to go to the scrap yard and see if I could find zinc or zinc wheel weights. Mix them in with lead and melt them into big ingots. Zinc doesn’t even have to be melted as long as it’s suspended inside an ingot. But that’s just me I would hate to waste my good clean ready to cast lead.

There are actually potential issues with zinc in a boat. I am not sure of the exact conditions in which it would matter but zinc is used sacrificially on boats. That is in a particular installation but I wouldn't want to risk it causing a problem. Something about static dissapation.

[GARD72977]

If the are selling a boat for that much then they can afford to let you make a good profit on your lead!

Dont sell it cheap. The rich guy that owns the business would not sell it to you cheap!

[44magLeo]

Galvanic reaction, The electrical current caused by contact of too different metals.
On boats used in salt water the zinc is used as a sacraficial anode on the drives lower unit. As the salt water acts on the alloy of the lower unit the zinc gets eaten away instead of the alloy case.
On fresh water it's not so much of a problem.
I don't think the zinc WW in the keel of a boatr will be much of a problem. They won't be in contact with salt water. I might suggest sending them to a auto salvage yard and getting cast itrn head and exhaust maniflods.
Some salvage yards you might find castiron sash weights. These are weights that used to be used on iold window frames. They counter balanced the weight of the windows so you could atually open and close them.
Leo

[CraigOK]

If the are selling a boat for that much then they can afford to let you make a good profit on your lead!

Dont sell it cheap. The rich guy that owns the business would not sell it to you cheap!

I agree. Million dollar boat? They shouldn't bat an eye. Make sure you can replace it for what you get for yours

[garandsrus]

The other thing’s is that I can’t imagine a couple hundred pounds of weight changing anything on a boat that big. 1000 pounds, maybe, but not a couple hundred.

[uscra112]

Demand $1000 surety, to be returned to them when they replace your lead. In cash.

I lived in Rhode Island for a time. Learned never to trust boat-builders. Half of them were virtually bankrupt most of the time.