Mystery bars

[TomSp8]

I have three of these lead round bars all with the same stamping on them. Im new to this game, can anyone give me direction or advise on what they are?

 

[TomSp8]

View attachment 28293

 

[Jeff H]

I don't know myself, but what are the approximate dimensions of them? Might lend a clue to someone as to their possible original use.

If not that, at least some interesting and fun conjecture.

 

[Rick]

Every foundry (there are thousands of them) blends their own alloys based on the customer's request. Without knowing the foundry assuming they are even still in business it could be and most likely is anything. Cast some with it before blending with known good alloy and see how hard it is. That is extremely unscientific but could give ya an idea on how usable it is for bullets.

 

[TomSp8]

I was hoping based on the shape of them, that might be a clue to someone. I will add them to my "mystery" alloy bin for now. These were in the lot of stuff I originally acquired with my pot, ladle, and other ingots that I've been casting with so far. It is shiny when I scratch it with a razor. Not super soft, but not super hard either.

 

[Dimner]

I have a bin of what I call WTF lead. WTF because thats what i stamp the ingots with. Every time I smelt down a hundred to 150lbs of range scrap I throw a bit in there.

Worse case, and you end up stumped, I'd probably just treat those the same way as stick on wheel weights.

 

[Snakeoil]

Interesting shape that seems to be cast in rather than the ends rounded over from using them to hit something. My guess is some type of counterweight. Is there a hole down the center? The shape makes me think they had a mechanical purpose. The number could be a part number as well as an alloy number. Could be there were other sizes with different numbers.

 

[TomSp8]

Interesting shape that seems to be cast in rather than the ends rounded over from using them to hit something. My guess is some type of counterweight. Is there a hole down the center? The shape makes me think they had a mechanical purpose. The number could be a part number as well as an alloy number. Could be there were other sizes with different numbers.

That was my thought as well, that they were cast that shape for a purpose. No hole to attach anything, and they are solid. Oh well, into the mystery bin they go for some other day I reckon.

 

[Winelover]

Like Rick said. Cast a few from a known mould, and compare castability and weight...........if you have no way to definitely check BHN. I don't fret, as long as it behaves like lead. You can always make the castings harder/weigh lighter or softer/weigh more.

There's an old saying................dilution is the solution to pollution. Can extrapolate that to lead, also.

 

[Snakeoil]

Could be the ends are like that to keep them from slipping out of a hand. They might have been a weight used to hold something down on an assembly line or some other process. If the company that used them had them made by another company, that would explain the number stamped on them.

There is a magazine called Yankee. They have a section where you can send in a picture of some obscure antique item and they will try to tell you what it is. Worth a shot.

 

[Ian]

Lead/Telluride thermoelectric rods?

 

[RBHarter]

I'm going with clock weights , and the number being a pairing or matching SN .

 

[fiver]

well they got all sorts of vice-grip marks on them.
maybe a jumper for a battery pack or the like.

mystery metal for sure.
but comparing it weight wise to a known, like pure lead and pure lino from the same mold would give you an idea about how much of it ain't lead.

 

[358156 hp]

And two of them are bent. Lead drifts?

 

[Missionary]

Clock weights would have some simple and secure means to connect to a chain or cable.

 

[Dimner]

I doubt any clock had these ugly things showing. If they are clock weights, they would have been in a decorative cylinder of some sort. And if true, some intrepid salvager banged them all up removing the lead.

 

[RBHarter]

Clock weights would have some simple and secure means to connect to a chain or cable.

Those that I've seen up close , real functional pieces , had brass cups with the chain fittings there it's been a long time ago . My wood shop teacher was building an all wood grandfather clock .

 

[richhodg66]

There's a good guy on the other site, goes by BNE. Send him a tiny sample and a pound of some kind of casting alloy as payment for the service and he'll put an XRF gun to it and tell you exactly what it is. I've had him do this for me a couple of times, great guy.

 

[Ian]

One of them rolled off a bench and landed on a fine-thread bolt at some point. They've had a rough life and I bet more than one life, the last one likely being in someone's shop as non-marring drifts as was mentioned. I could see clock weights for sure if they were installed in a brass canister, but I've never seen them done that way. Sash weights were usually iron and had integral rope eyes cast into them. The part number is the real stumper to me, seems to have been part of something but no idea what.

 

[L Ross]

In my highly technical scientific method of doing things I'd grab something sorta pointy. Maybe a scratch awl, a screw driver, or my Swiss Army knife. I'd drag it across the surface and feel it. Gummy feeling, soft lead, add some harder lead and make bullets. Kinda skiddy feeling, harder lead, cast bullets as is. Sharp pointy thing doesn't impress it much, go grab a bar of lino and see if the sharp pointy thing feels similar, add soft lead and cast up bullets. I'm with Grinnell on lead.