sheet lead?

[kolar55]

It's been a long time since I have posted anything on here, so I don't know if this is the right place or not.
I have a large amount of sheet lead/or tin or something. There were a number of 2"wide by quite long strips (maybe 10 feet?) and about 1/32 or 1/16 thick. very pliable and when melted it was a blue/gold/silver shiny color. Ingots when cooled seemed to test out at about 7 Brinnell. There is also a bunch of sheets about 16-18 inches wide and like 6 ft. long. They're all folded up with some kind of a sticky brown paper on one side. I'm assuming the paper is discolored from age, but I don't know that for sure. No writing on it that I could see. This stuff too is quite pliable and about 1/8" thick give or take a bit. With the hardness at 7 I was guessing it might be tin? Some sort of flashing material? I'll try to get some pics in a couple days. Would anybody know what this might be or what the makeup of flashing is/was? It all looks old but new/never used. Thanks in advance.

[Winger Ed.]

Sounds like you have Lead sheeting that went behind the sheetrock wall in a X-Ray room.
The brown paper is probably left from when they used liquid nails calk to stick it up there when the room was built.

Back when the scrap yards paid 10 cents a pound-
A life long friend was the job foreman for the remodel of a hospital.
The crew had carefully pulled down the Lead sheeting for two X-Ray rooms.

He told them, "Oh no,,,, this stuff has all been radiated. It has to go to a HAZMAT site".
The HAZMAT site was my garage. (We did give them a big cookout beer party though)

[Hannibal]

I have some of that. It works great for cutting rectangular pieces from to line vice jaws with to prevent marring things I'm working on. After time the lead sheets will get holes/tears in them and they go in the smelting stash.

[uscra112]

Yah, X-ray room shielding. Much of my soft lead supply is what remains of some 500 lbs of the stuff I found by sheer luck in a scrapyard one day while dropping off a load of rusty iron. Complete with the nasty glue, which burned off as I smelted it.

Irradiated! HAZMAT!

[Dusty Bannister]

There are some critical observations missing in the OP. Pure tin will crackle when flexed.

Pure tin will tend to remain shiny and not turn gray or perhaps develop a white oxide.

Sheet lead and X-ray room shielding is generally pure lead with a small percentage of antimony added for strength. This also adds hardness.

Heat during melting can affect the color of the melt surface so that is of little help.

[stubshaft]

I used to get a lot of sheet lead from my brother who was a roofer at the time. The only concession I would make was to cut out the solder joints and call it pure.

[jsizemore]

Lead melts at 629°F. The various tin's melt at 450°F or less. Roll lead can still be used as pan liner and roof flashing. 10" wide strips were used to flash up a wall and over the shingles like a dormer or step flashing up the side of the dormer or skylight. Some of it came with an adhesive and paper backer. Also used thin strips, 2-4" wide, for hand trimming hand blocked cloth wall covering. Still have customers that use lead and copper for flashing on slate roofs. 50/50 is used for soldering copper seams and gutters and downspouts.

[canyon-ghost]

Sheet lead is used for X-Ray rooms and sound proofing office spaces. I had some that was 18" wide by 2 or 3 feet long. With leather gloves, I unfolded it and then rolled it up to 2-3 inch diameter rolls. Then, I flattened it with a hammer and ran it through a bandsaw. That way, it fit into a ladle-casting pot. If it's that soft, you have pure.

[kolar55]

These are of some of the sheets we have cut up to be ready to melt. No writting or markings of any kind.

[Hannibal]

That looks just like what I have also. I was told it came from an x-ray room that was torn out but I don't know that for certain.

[GregLaROCHE]

It’s most likely it’s lead. Using tin like that would be cost prohibitive I think.