lead and pricing

[bucktail]

Wondering what most are paying for lead these days,seems as tho last couple purchases on ebay i
am not happy at all with quality of it...but 60lbs at $90 isnt bad but when only 35-40lbs are decent at best
This is not such a deal 
I'm looking for pure lead so I can have less hassle with my pot..anyone care to share a spot to look for bulk
Lead
Thanks

 

[Hawnjigs]

Altho I haven't used lead for years took a look at eBay the other day and noticed that some vendors don't know or care what they're selling. Soft lead ingots should have a smooth shiny surface, and many of the "soft" lead lots had a frosty or grainy appearance indicating the presence of tramp metals. Shopping local will get you best prices, some possible sources of soft are:
1. Sheet lead from construction demolition or remodels
2. Flashing from roofers
3. 33# radioactive shielding canisters from x-ray labs
4. Stick on wheel weights from tire shops (not clip ons!)
5. Plumber's 5# blocks
Bear in mind that I haven't bought lead in many years, and composition may have changed.

I had good luck posting ads in local trade papers for "scrap lead" wanted, and asking around at garage sales. Scrap metal dealers may have some, but their markup from buying to selling prices may be high.

 

[bucktail]

Thanks for response Hawn,I'm thinking my next purchase will be bulk...more than 60lbs so want to get
pure lead ,seems most places are around $2 @ lb and more than also

 

[hookup]

Kinda like cuban cigars. If you ask anyone you know going out of town to get you one, they'll bring back a five pack.

Leads the same. I let everyone know I want lead, and one guy got me a bunch of canisters that held nuclear medicine. I traded him a bunch of jigs. Another couple guys just gave me a bucket full of old lead weights. I bought them each a six pack of premium beer. Another guy dropped off wheel weights so I hooked him up with tube jigs. My cousin works a construction site and picks up scrap for me whenever he sees it. I usually pay him off by buying a lunch here and then. My father-in-law found out I needed lead and sent me two 25# bars he was going to use for some project that never happened.

Some people have it sitting around and don't know what to do with it and would gladly have you just take it to get it out of their hair.

 

[Hawnjigs]

A few corrections:
1. hookup's description of shielding cannisters for nuclear medicine is more accurate than my assuming they were for x-ray use, since they are generally sourced from hospitals. The 33# ones shaped like a no neck squat bowling pin is really good stuff.
2. freshly poured soft ingots are shiny, sometimes with blue or gold tints. With age the surface of soft lead forms a dull dark gray smooth coating, any frosty or sparkly appearance is caused generally by antimony used as a hardener.

Definitely like hookup suggests, tell everyone you know you're looking. Offering to pay a decent price, maybe $1 a lb. might motivate strangers who would otherwise be reluctant to just give it away.

Another fun way to source scrap lead is to scavenge. I've gotten a fair amount from abandoned buildings, and old dump sites particulary those with construction rubble. A pile of old metal roofing might include flashing, and an old collapsed house might also have lead pipe in addition to roof flashing. If you locate sheet flashing, look also for rounds that were used at the base of vent pipes. Old iron or steel drain pipes have a fair amount of plumber's lead sealing the joins between sections.

 

[Kdog]

Good pure lead from rotometals is a good buy. You need to spend 100 or more to get free shipping

 

[hookup]

When I get scrap lead, I'll melt it down, flux w/ wax, and skim any impurities that float to the top. I usually get allot of flotsam - especially from tire weights. Then I'll ladle it into a mini-sized muffin pan. Muffin's fit nicely into a Lees pouring pot.

I just poured over 300 jigs this morning with the lead muffins and had maybe a golf ball size, if that, of crap that I skimmed off the top of the lead

I'm thinking the lead you got off of eBay was not fluxed & skimmed prior to being poured into ingots. I wouldn't be buying from that source anymore

 

[duffy]

 double post

 

[duffy]

Was going to mention Rotometals also. If you sign up on their site they send out specials during the year usually close to holidays. Also keep an eye on the site from time to time as prices fluctuate. Always have to be cautious of scrap lead to make sure it hasn't any zinc in it otherwise you'll mess up a whole pot of good lead.

 

[hookup]

1. hookup's description of shielding cannisters for nuclear medicine is more accurate than my assuming they were for x-ray use, since they are generally sourced from hospitals. The 33# ones shaped like a no neck squat bowling pin is really good stuff.

Never seen one of those. The ones I got weight between 4-6# and hold a small glass jar w/ medicine. During the time the guy had the job of transporting nuclear medicine, we discovered the max weight you can stick into a medium sized priority mail box is 70#'s.

Always have to be cautious of scrap lead to make sure it hasn't any zinc in it otherwise you'll mess up a whole pot of good lead.

Now I'm no expert, but ...

The melting temperature of lead is 621.5dF (Google) and the melting temperature of zinc is is 787.2dF (again, Google). Lead is heavier than zinc, so even if the pot is above 787dF and the zinc turns to liquid, then the zinc will float to the top and you can remove it easily. With that said, I don't know what crap I get in lead tire weights, but in liquid form, the denser material sinks (lead) and the lighter material (zinc, other crap) floats to the top, which can be skimmed off easily with an old kitchen spoon. Sorta like oil&water or fat&gravy

 

[gaspumper]

If you happen to melt zinc in with your soft lead you cannot just skim it off,I happened upon a site called "cast boolits" its about casting all sizes of bullet heads.Its a very informative site on the different types of lead available.Scroll down to the heading "lead and lead alloys.

 

[bucktail]

Thanks kdog this is the answer i was in search of,wondering if these places such as rotometals had the rep,I'm not afraid to spend the money if I know I'll only be skiming a little here and there,thanks,I know many places to get scrap just wanting the real deal and money isn't the issue it's quality I want

 

[duffy]

Like GP said you can't just skim it off. I once had a small amount mess up a 10 lb batch of bullet alloy and it took me several hr's (days) to get it cleaned up to where I could semi use it. It will mix with the lead and turn it into an un-pourable mess with a bottom pour pot and even a ladle. You'll be pouring just fine and all of a sudden the flow will slow down like thick molasses and then stop. Molds won't fill, you get wrinkles in your castings and it's no fun at all. Even if you crank up the heat it'll barely flow and still won't fill out properly. I did manage to salvage some of the melt by letting it solidify and then slowly reheating it several times to melt just the lead but lost much of my tin and antimony in the process. Had once gotten some Babbitt material that thought would work great except that it also contained aluminum. Couldn't tell at first but once it was melted and poured into ingots you could tell there was something else with it as it looked like 40% sand. I did get some nice tin out of it though but it was a real PITA separating it at first.

 

[Kdog]

Purifying lead, removing contaminates and alloying elements tin, zinc and antimony is not as simple as it sounds. Also, alloyed lead for some reason melts at a slightly lower temperature. However, for those who really want to read up on cleaning lead, hee is an interesting link... http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/0304/Ojebuoboh-0304.html

 

[Kdog]

Having said that, for most of our needs most lead, simply melted down, fluxed stirred and refluxed will work well. sure your weight may be off a tad, but rarely will jigs come out exactly the weight as stamped on the mold. too many variables for our hand processes. IMO the best flow will come from pure zinc which is priced in the ozone. Zinc is added to lead lead to improve alloying as well as flow. Antimony and copper act as hardening agents with the most popular being antimony. Nut all must be presnt to properly alloy lead. Unfortunately, removing them is not a simple process. About the best we can hope for when using scrap it to remove all the oxides present in the molten metal. Zinc will evaporate from the molten bath if its hot enough, but leaves ozides, copper and antimony will usually remain antimony if you can get it unalloyed will be grainy and with enough stirring finally float. copper also, problem with copper is getting it hotenough to release the copper. Even worse is testing to find out how pure your lead is. A good spectrographic lab is going to charge 50 dollars or more to test a single sample. If you are getting good castings go forward. Not getting good castings, adjust temp, try mold releases agents such as drop out, baby powder or graphite powder. All work and different molds like different products.

The only concern I have is getting well filled castings, all else is not worth my time.

 

[hookup]

That's why I'm glad it's just a hobby.

 

[LedHed]

bucktail - sent you a pm