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Thread: A possible way to remove zinc from molten lead

  1. #21
    Boolit Master Ricochet's Avatar
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    Smile

    Flowers of sulfur started getting hard to find back in the early '70s, when I was still experimenting with "applied chemistry." So did saltpeter.
    "A cheerful heart is good medicine."

  2. #22
    Boolit Bub Lunk's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ricochet View Post
    Flowers of sulfur started getting hard to find back in the early '70s, when I was still experimenting with "applied chemistry." So did saltpeter.
    You can buy food grade saltpeter on the 'net now. They limit you to like 1lb a month or so so "applied chemistry" may not be all that useful.
    I imagine that the same places sell sulfur as well but have not looked as of yet.
    Between midnight and dawn, when sleep will not come and all the old wounds begin to ache, I often have a nightmare vision of a future world in which there are billions of people, all numbered and registered, with not a gleam of genius anywhere, not an original mind, a rich personality, on the whole packed globe. -John Boynton Priestley

  3. #23
    Boolit Mold
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    I was just wondering the same thing, "Where do you get sulpher?"

    Then somebody suggested a garden shop, and I remembered my gardening buddy using sulpher for the garden.
    Gonna ask him.

  4. #24
    Boolit Master
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    I can get it here at the drug store, right next to the saltpeter. It's sold in 1# white plastic jars. Couple of bucks.

    TH

  5. #25
    Boolit Master
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    Isn't powder to keep snakes away made of sulphur?

    I've gotten rid of all the zinc and steel wheel weights (some local tire shops recycle them and I get their stick-ons). If I had some I could reverse engineer a batch in straght wheel weights and see if the zinc I got out was the same as what I put in. I'm probly not the only one to think this.

  6. #26
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    I live in an area that has lots of vineyards. Sulfur is delivered to the vineyard by dump truck and dumped beside the road by the ton.

    I think that it would be a "last resort" option. Its easier to keep zinc out than to get it out.
    Last edited by SciFiJim; 10-03-2009 at 08:18 PM. Reason: spelling


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  7. #27
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by SciFiJim View Post

    I think that it would be a "last resort" option. Its easier to keep zinc out than to get it out.
    I sort my WW, but stuff happens.

  8. #28
    Boolit Master Ricochet's Avatar
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    Smile

    See that thread in the cast boolits section about 50/50 lead/zinc boolits. Sounds like arsenic may help the zinc blend in?
    "A cheerful heart is good medicine."

  9. #29
    Boolit Mold
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    i have some lead that i suspect has some zinc in it. how can you tell? how does the melted lead/ zinc behave or look?

    thanks, mike.

  10. #30
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by linus9 View Post
    i have some lead that i suspect has some zinc in it. How can you tell? How does the melted lead/ zinc behave or look?

    Thanks, mike.
    oatmeal

  11. #31
    Boolit Master

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    Grey oatmeal.

  12. #32
    Boolit Buddy 45-70bpcr's Avatar
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    At the risk of looking stupid, aren't matches and as someone else said road flares made mostly from sulpher? What keeps these big lumps of sulpher from accidentally igniting into a big fireball? I understand flash points and these temps may be well under what it would take to make sulpher ignite but what if you accidently stir the pot with a spoon that had some wax flux left on it or something?

  13. #33
    Boolit Bub
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    Quote Originally Posted by 45-70bpcr View Post
    At the risk of looking stupid, aren't matches and as someone else said road flares made mostly from sulpher? What keeps these big lumps of sulpher from accidentally igniting into a big fireball? I understand flash points and these temps may be well under what it would take to make sulpher ignite but what if you accidently stir the pot with a spoon that had some wax flux left on it or something?

    I believe that matches and road flares have an oxygen providing compound as one of their ingredients. You would be amazed how quickly a huge number of materials would combust when mixed with a good provider of oxygen.

    Hugh
    Last edited by sciguy; 10-08-2009 at 11:04 AM.

  14. #34
    Boolit Buddy Bulltipper's Avatar
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    Well I've got a bunch of contaminated stuff to try this on. Shore is pretty all gold and blue...
    "These are not hi-capacity magazines, these are standard capacity magazines. High capacity is belt fed from the can."

  15. #35
    Boolit Master HORNET's Avatar
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    The colors don't necessarily indicate contaminated alloy. See: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=63550 . If it looks like lumpy gray/silver oatmeal that doesn't want to dissolve back in at the lower end of casting temperature, you might have a problem. If it dissolves back in, it might have been your antimony & tin.
    Rick
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  16. #36
    Boolit Bub
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    I may have a couple of zinc weights in about 100 pounds of wtts. How much zinc is the SWAN SONG for a batch of wtts???

    moose

  17. #37
    Boolit Master sagacious's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bulltipper View Post
    Well I've got a bunch of contaminated stuff to try this on. Shore is pretty all gold and blue...
    Blue and gold colors are not signs of zinc contamination.

    Test pour your alloy, and if it pours well, all is OK. Good luck.

  18. #38
    Boolit Master sagacious's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by magmoose View Post
    I may have a couple of zinc weights in about 100 pounds of wtts. How much zinc is the SWAN SONG for a batch of wtts???

    moose
    Do some test pours and see how the bullets come out. If it pours fine, then no problem. It's results we're after, and if you get good results, you're OK as-is! Good luck.

  19. #39
    Boolit Mold Bartster's Avatar
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    Zinc contamination

    I had a batch of molten lead, wheel wts only, and as it was close to final skimming and casting into my pigs, it turn very dark, black and powdery, the more I skimmed it the worse it got. Is that a result of Zinc contamination ? Thanks.

  20. #40
    Boolit Master sagacious's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bartster View Post
    I had a batch of molten lead, wheel wts only, and as it was close to final skimming and casting into my pigs, it turn very dark, black and powdery, the more I skimmed it the worse it got. Is that a result of Zinc contamination ? Thanks.
    Sounds like waaay too hot. When overheated, ww alloy will form a dross that turns dark and powdery. Reduce the heat a bit-- more heat is not always better. Good luck.

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BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
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LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
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