Got a fix today

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Nice!

I have 4 or 5 of those. Must be 25 pounds each or so. Mine are pretty pure I believe. Old shielding from a lab.
 
F

freebullet

Guest
Well, the pocket knife hardness tester said purty soft. Not real sure yet. It's welcome at my place whatever it is. Roughly 125 lbs. nothing major, happy to have it.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
they make beautiful jacketed bullet cores.
I got a few a couple of years back, they acted like they had about 1% antimony in them.
 

Uncle Grinch

Active Member
Never seen lead bricks before. I did spy some large brick size ingots at a nearby hospital a few years ago. They were being used to prop open doors in the maintenance shop. Tried to buy them but they refused to sell.
 

Rally

NC Minnesota
DSCN2116.JPG
Me too. Came home Tuesday and these were sitting in front of my shop door. No note or explanation or a clue what it was made, but looks like it could be a counter weight for a tractor or something. Good to have friends. Weighed one and it was slightly over 50 lbs. Scratch test says they are pretty soft. Anybody have an idea what they are used for?
 

Rally

NC Minnesota
That's my guess also. The center has a light metal liner, so when the two halves are bolted around something round it would wear on the center lining rather than the lead. I'm also curious who dropped it off. LOL
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I would be more curious about whether or not they had more.
 
F

freebullet

Guest
Nice score, Rally. Definitely a counterweight off something. Had to pay for mine.
 

Rally Hess

Well-Known Member
I’m thinking it came from the son of the local gun shop owner. He
‘S quite a character and we always have some kind of “deal” going. He won’t call and tell me he drop it off for a long time, just because he knows l’ll go crazy wondering where it came from! That kinda guy. I had a hog i’d Bought from a farmer friend once, gutted on a trailer. I stopped at the shop and he went out and screwed a set of antlers to the head!
 

abj

Active Member
About the bricks, I was told many years ago by a x-ray room contractor that when those bricks were dry stacked the bottom of the stack had to be harder than the top ones. So I assumed a higher antimony content on the bottom and lesser near the top. The combined weight from the top would start to flatten the bottom if pure lead. Just relating the story, no clue about the truth of the story but I have never seen any of mine measure any softer than about 7/8 brinell on the lee tester and some as hard 10BH.
Tony
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
My bricks measured at 7/8 bhn also. Interesting story about the different hardness based on position.
I wonder how they are used for x-ray purposes? I have never experienced a wall of lead anytime I got an x-ray
 

Ian

Notorious member
You likely experienced walls of lead EVERY time you've had an X-ray. In the ER they have a portable screen that wheels around. That's on top of the vests and blankets they use to protect you. What I've seen for walls is 4x8' sheets screwed to the studs, hidden behind the drywall. Lined doors also.
 

abj

Active Member
I think the x-ray room he was referring to was an industrial x-ray of some type. Manufacturing of some sort I think. They were also used as table leg supports for dampening against the concrete floor on some sort of vibratory machine. I got a bunch like that when a plant closed. Have any of you guys melted any of that vest material? I tried once and only once, had to sell that pot of lead? back to the recycle center.
Tony
 

Will

Well-Known Member
View attachment 7344
Me too. Came home Tuesday and these were sitting in front of my shop door. No note or explanation or a clue what it was made, but looks like it could be a counter weight for a tractor or something. Good to have friends. Weighed one and it was slightly over 50 lbs. Scratch test says they are pretty soft. Anybody have an idea what they are used for?

Those look to me like the weight above the hook on a crane. Around 100lbs would be about right for a small one.