Photo of a Linotype pig?

[Butzbach]

LGS has some scrap lead that looks like the world’s biggest window sash weights. Owner was pretty sure it’s linotype. They are a little over one foot long, roughly three sided (1.5” on a side) with about a 2” eye molded into one end. We were thinking they might be Linotype pigs but we’ve never seen one.

Anybody care to share a pic of a Linotype pig? I didn’t think to snap a pic of what he had. I did score two 10 lb pieces of clean pure lead.

Enquiring minds . . .

[Butzbach]

Never mind. I just did a web search and they are definitely Linotype pigs.
The LGS had two. There’s a pic above with a few more!

[Hodagtrapper]

Yep. Just melted a few yesterday. Cut them up into smaller pieces with my 30 ton wood splitter. Made a loud crack when they cut/broke. Definitely a lot harder than lead pipe!

Chris

[454PB]

Easiest way to cut them up is to hit them with a hammer.....they break like ceramic.

[Thunder Stick]

When you drop them 12" onto a concrete garage floor, pure lead goes "thud" and linotype goes "ping".

[Butzbach]

When you drop them 12" onto a concrete garage floor, pure lead goes "thud" and linotype goes "ping".

yup. That's how my LGS owner and I were separating the scrap lead that he had.

[fc60]

Greetings,

I have three LinoType "Pig Moulds". I cast pure Lead, salvage, LinoType, W-W, etc in them.

Unless you have the metal analyzed, it is anyone's guess as to what it is.

Cheers,

Dave

[USSR]

Greetings,

I have three LinoType "Pig Moulds". I cast pure Lead, salvage, LinoType, W-W, etc in them.

Unless you have the metal analyzed, it is anyone's guess as to what it is.

Cheers,

Dave

Dave,

I seriously doubt you are flooding the market with various leads from your linotype moulds.

Don

[fc60]

Greetings,

No flood gate here. I DO STAMP the ingots with what they are cast from.

The concern with buying used material with no provenance is you may get lucky or not.

I have a garage full of "Mystery Metal". The local scrapper has an XRAY analyzer. Sadly, someone must have dropped it as it reports rather strange alloy contents.

Cheers,

Dave

[Butzbach]

Greetings,

I have three LinoType "Pig Moulds". I cast pure Lead, salvage, LinoType, W-W, etc in them.

Unless you have the metal analyzed, it is anyone's guess as to what it is.

Cheers,

Dave

Exactly! The pigs I saw looked more like range lead than Linotype. They did “ping” when tapped.

[USSR]

Exactly! The pigs I saw looked more like range lead than Linotype. They did “ping” when tapped.

Sorry, but range lead will not "ping".

Don

[Butzbach]

Sorry, but range lead will not "ping".

Don

No need to apologize. Good to know. BTW, what’s up with your USSR screen name?

[USSR]

I use that acronym for several businesses I run. And, no, I am not Russian.

Don

[FLINTNFIRE]

The range lead I am getting is a lot harder and it does not go thud when dropped on concrete , your source or range diggings will vary by who casts and who shoots what , did get some linotype pigs in a batch once but they were not linotype , they went thud when dropped , any ingot or pig is a chance on what is in it and who poured it .

Without buying from a foundry or without it being analyzed it is a listen on the drop test , test for hardness , test for zinc , see what temp it melts at and take your chances , keep the muriatic acid available as it can come in handy checking before buying . Been there done that .

[facetious]

Melt some. Type metals will be hard and then liquid. There is no slushie faze in between .

[kevin c]

I've picked up maybe a dozen Linotype style pigs, long and with the split eye for hanging over the Linotype machine's melt pot, all from a metals recycler who sold them just as scrap lead. On XRf, five identical pigs had content and markings that made them replenishment alloy, six pigs in varying styles were Lino, and one was lead with usable but low Sb content and no Sn.

Overall I lucked out, but I've decided not to rely on a Lino pig's form for content.

I also have Lino in 10# bar form, bought at the same recycler, all in the factory shipping crate. That I also verified by XRf, though I just sampled one ingot (yes, it was Lino).