In loving memory of Kenis D. Keathley 6/4/81 - 3/27/22 Loving father, husband, brother, friend and firewood hoarder Rest in peace, Dexterday

Lead

Discussion in 'The Game Room' started by FatBoy85, Mar 17, 2021.

  1. FatBoy85

    FatBoy85

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    This post might make some bullet casters drool if they like to see raw product. I kinda wish I took more pictures but I aim to do that once I get this step by step done...

    Anyhow with the hoarding bug in mind, I thought I'd try to invest in some precious metals and found this on one of my trader apps. Some roof flashing and the vent cap coverings. 20210305_172430.jpg
    I got the bathroom scale out and kinda held 20 to 50 lb bundles at a time.:rolleyes: If I got it marked right, looking at about 400 lbs. I looked at Casper 's post, drooled a bit and thought "hopefully I can get some bars cast like his" or close enough.

    This would be a first for me. I've watched a good bunch of videos in turning scrap into bars. Most of them are range lead videos but others find interesting sources of lead like dental x ray pads, if one can find the time to separate all that...gooder on them. But how about anyone here sharing some tips? I know about the no moisture deal, Tinsel fairy visit, yeah . When I got it all out of the truck, I unfolded the sheet pieces to get it nicely tucked away. Not much junk in it but the roof tar apparently would make a good flux?
    Now I'm not fully understanding to put saw dust in the molten lead as a flux and how it helps clean it. I see a better outcome with people putting candles in or a bit of that gulf wax. But as I watched the videos, they just show that the dross rises and then its disposed. Guess I'll see for myself. Trying to secure a crap-pot for this and some ladles. Then I'll wait for a dry day with a bit of nothing much to do and take my time.
     
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  2. Casper

    Casper

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    Nice!

    Make sure the folded pieces do not have any moisture when adding to a molten pot. The ones I had/have conceal it deep inside the folds. Steam explosions are extremely violent.
     
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  3. FatBoy85

    FatBoy85

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    I was hoping for some words of encouragement here and glad you spoke up! I'm hoping to let these pieces out in the sun for a day or two. Since none of the videos really showed flat lead like that, I wanted to get some context tips. Think it be a good idea to take some shears to those pipe pieces? I sort of flattened them out as they got somewhat bigger as a pile than I realized. But cutting them to open them up would make a lot of sense. Thanks!
     
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  4. Casper

    Casper

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    Anything to expose voids is good. For super tough to open pieces I have had luck allowing them to cycle through a couple warm up and cool down cycles before letting them get hot enough to melt.

    If I run across stuff that I suspect won't dry out I will set the turkey fryer and dutch oven in the field and walk away. Tinsel out there isn't to big a deal although it rarely happens. Usually, it's from a piece of pipe sheared closed tight on one end and pinched on the other. I try and pry one end open enough to let steam out. When I say sheared, I'm talking about one of the type on a demolition excavator. Some pipe I've picked up is 3/8"-1/2" wall.

    Other thing I've tried using to cut sheet is one of those "dual cut" saws with counter rotating circular blades. Low rpm means it doesn't throw chips as far and I can keep 90% of them on a tarp.
     
    Last edited: Mar 18, 2021
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  5. FatBoy85

    FatBoy85

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    I'm believing this stuff is about an 1/4 " thick overall but there are sheets about 16 inches wide and look to be a few feet long. These are probably the pieces I'll take more attention to these as they haven't been completely unraveled but looked minimally wet with some leaves in the folds when I pried the smaller pieces apart. The rest were very manageable pieces of a couple sheets of paper sized that look worthy of setting flat on the cast iron bottom and maximize a ready surface for more.

    I plan to get some muffin pans and maybe a small bread loaf for getting this stuff doled out. The bars you made make the OCD happy. But I'm probably unlikely to find one of those molds near me unless its online. They don't seem to have more than 1lb in those nice molds though. I thought if I made in bulk now, putting them into smaller bars might be the goal later being easier having cleaned it all up.
     
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  6. Casper

    Casper

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    I got my ingot molds from an estate sale. They were in the bottom on a box of tools. Some people weld up a 4-6 cavity ingot mold out of angle iron. The trick is to make sure there is a slight angle on the ends so the ingots will drop free.

    Organic material like leaves (ie; found on roof flashing) will hold enough moisture to cause an steam explosion.
     
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  7. FatBoy85

    FatBoy85

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    So no straight sided molds?
     
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  8. Casper

    Casper

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    I wouldn't make them, but factory would probably work.
     
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