Anybody know what kind of lead this might be?

Full.lead.taco

Active Member
I know, I know... most of the time you can't tell by what the lead looks like in the pictures, but I figured it would be worth asking. My family knows I cast bullets and that I am always looking for cheap/free lead. My uncle was at an auction and saw this stuff and picked it up for me. He just told me it was from alaska and it looked like lead, so he got it for me--ha ha, awesome. Anyways, the "ingots" have a "B" stamped on them--not sure if that means anything or if the "B" was just part of the "mold" they poured the metal into. Here are a couple of pics.
jimlead1.jpg
jimlead2.jpg
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
The best you will ever know about it is when you melt it paying attention to the melt temp, cast with it and check the BHN a few days later. There are as many different lead alloys as there are lead ingots. Could be and most certainly is . . . Anything. The B means nothing, just whatever mold they had handy to pour & make ingots. Try it and see how it works for you, could be a great find, could be a worthwhile lead to alloy with something else. Work with it and see.
 

Full.lead.taco

Active Member
Yeah, I was planning on melting it down into ingots and then using that little lee hardness tester on it. My uncle also has a very large counter balance weight that he's going to give to me to melt down. I think the counter balance weight is like 200 lbs.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I know xactly what kind it is.
it's the heavy kind.

seriously those are plumbers lead ingots.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
they got wet as some point be very careful of that white coating on them, and when melting them down.
wear gloves, and start from a cold pot.
 

Ian

Notorious member
ETA Fiver beat me to it. Still, could be zinked WW cast into plumber's moulds, you never know.

Do a scratch test and an acid test and if you still like the looks of things, throw one in the pot and cast a few bullets. Water drop a few, air cool a few, do hardness test on each after casting, then a day or two later, then a week, then a month. Compare weights to known alloys cast from same bullet mould. Observe mush phase temperatures and range, full liquidus point, freeze point, and then you can tell what to use the metal for even if you don't know what's in it.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
they got wet as some point be very careful of that white coating on them, and when melting them down.
wear gloves, and start from a cold pot.
Ok, I want to comment on part of this response. Sorry fiver.

You do NOT need tos tart from a COLD pot, you simply don't want a pot with molten lead in the bottom. After pouring ingots if a billet lead is left the turn off the heat, let that lead solitude, then add more of the raw material and turn the heat back on. Can't have the tinsel fairy if there isn't an molten lead to splatter!

Sorry, pet peeve of mine.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Or just throw a bar in the big "smelting" pot and slam the lid on it real fast, that's what I do in hold da beer a minute situations.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I shovel, yes with a long handled shovel, range scrap into my pot even if it has 1/2" of molten metal in it. Once I get a layer deep enough to cover the molten metal I dump it in to the top. It is only what goes below the surface of the melt that matters.

My range scrap is stored in a dry garage for a yea roof so before I melt so I don't worry about wet lead too much. I also never wash the dirt off, why add water to what I want dry? The dirt will come off in the melting process.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Oh, it looks like plumbers lead to me. Likely pretty close to pure.
 

Full.lead.taco

Active Member
Yeah, I've been using gloves with that lead as I noticed the white oxidized lead on some of the outside. I will, most likely, try to get that melted into ingots this weekend--just got it yesterday. If it is pure(ish) stuff, that is great! I could use a bit more of my softer lead alloys. Getting kind of low on my soft stuff. Yeah, and as I melt it down I will pay attention to how it melts and whatnot.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Forgive me if you already know all this: If it's pure it will take a lot of heat and make all kinds of purple, blue, and gold stuff on top of the melt. Sawdust will save all those oxides and reduce them back into usable metal.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I was gonna mention the colors and the new ingots having a bluish color tot hem if it is pure lead.
just dropping the bars on the cement should produce a thud sound and even dent the edge a bit if dropped from 3-4 feet.

you don't have to work from a dead cold pot like Brad mentioned but I'm not gonna say that.
I just wanna put the warning out there that water was present at some time and the usual precautions should be followed.
 

Full.lead.taco

Active Member
Here's the video of cutting, melting, and turning that scrap into ingots. At the very end I bang a couple ingots together so people can hear the difference between hard ingots and soft ingots.

 
F

freebullet

Guest
That B stands for Bruce & thank you for smelting it for me, looking forward to it being returned. I'm not sure how you got it out of my locked shed but, thanks again for cleaning it up. Drop it by anytime.:p
 

KHornet

Well-Known Member
Will help you unload it at Bruce's for a percentage of it. Any thing
up to a ton would be appreciated.

Paul