strange hard alloy

[bartman]

I have around a hundred pounds of this stuff and I'm not Shure what it is. I work with my dad in a family demolition business. I save all sorts of lead but nothing is as hard as this stuff. It is cast in big flat ingots. I broke them apart with a sledge hammer and it is very flaky. When you drop them they have a high pitch ring. They say St. Joe on them I'm gunna try and post some pics.

[P.K.]

Sounds like linotype to me. There is a MidWest Scrap Management in St. Joseph MO.

Dunno. Never heard of a "St. Joe" ingot mold.

[bartman]

That's what I was thinking I'm trying to post pics with my Droid phone but having a hard time. I might have to wait until I get to a computer. I'm not Shure where we got them from they have been sitting around our shop for a long time.

[P.K.]

That's what I was thinking I'm trying to post pics with my Droid phone but having a hard time. I might have to wait until I get to a computer. I'm not Shure where we got them from they have been sitting around our shop for a long time.

If you can get the photos to work it would be a big help. We may be able to ID the material by the sheen and the way it settled out in the mold. The "ring" you mentioned, if it was crisp and high I'll still lean to lino.

[bartman]

[bartman]

[bartman]

Tomorrow I am going to the scrap yard and asking them to use there analyzer on it.

[blaser.306]

Can't be sure but that looks an awful lot like the block of pure antimony that someone else on the site had smashed into pieces and offered up for sale !

[bartman]

I wish I would have took a pic of it hole. The ingot pic that says St joe was twice that size with grooves for breaking it.I broke them down smaller with a shop press. There is no telling where we came across these. I find all kinds of "treasure" in the demolition business.

[blaser.306]

If it is antimony you may want to avoid breathing too much of the dust created with a chop saw as I beleive that it can be toxic ( even by casters standards )

[sqlbullet]

Does it melt and if so, at what temp. Also, do take care with any dust. Blaser is right about antimony being high on the list of not good in an un-alloyed form (think arsenic poisoning). This is especially true for inhaled dust.

[bartman]

Just got back from the scrap yard and I am disappointed with the results.
94.7 Zn
2.34 pb
.23 mo

94.7 zink!!!!! Dam I though it was antimony at 13000 a ton

[Suo Gan]

zinc is over a buck a pound for scrap

[daschnoz]

Any reason not to cast it into boolits? They would be hard and suitable for higher speeds.

Maybe???

[P.K.]

Any reason not to cast it into boolits? They would be hard and suitable for higher speeds.

Maybe???

Plenty of reasons:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=49484

[sqlbullet]

Yeah. Sell that stuff or see if the scrap yard will trade you for lead. Not worth the hassle to try to cast with it.

Maybe if there is a bronze foundry near you you could see if the want it. The one I know wouldn't but ymmv.

[daschnoz]

Plenty of reasons:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=49484

Well, ok then.

[evan price]

I answered the wrong post- when you inhale zinc oxide fumes you will get very very sick. It makes you feel like a really bad case of the flu. When we welded galvanized steel it would mess you right up. It's not a fun experience.

[bartman]

I know that feeling from welding Fence posts when I was young and dumb. It makes weird thick yellow smoke that will make you gag. The next morning when ya wake you feel like you've been drinking all night.

[badbob454]

stamp the contents and percentages in the metal (using a metal letter stamp kit)and save for higher zinc prices then you will remember what you have , or sell on eb*y for 1.25 per lb/// or as noted above ,swap it at the scrap yard as zinc is higher than lead now