sillymike
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Just melt away on a large propane burner, and flux with some beeswax... scoop the garbage that floats to the surface.
Lead salvaging
- Thread starter cXIII
- Start date
Just melt away on a large propane burner, and flux with some beeswax... scoop the garbage that floats to the surface.
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
This, adjust temps so the lead melts but doesn’t overheat. You’ll get blue/purple tones when temps are high, you’ll see it on the surface of the molten lead as well as the cooled ingots. Personally I sort clip on and stick on as I want to keep hard and soft lead separate, as well as get rid of the zinc and steel and as much dirt/garbage in the pails as I can.
Got tons of stick ons. There are some fancier whitish ones that are not magnetic? But in strips like the obvious lead ones. Any good? Lots of painted ones with clips with MC on them. Put them in the question bucket. I'll do the drop test on something solid. Thud or klang.
Pictures please.
Thud/clang not best method. Side cutters i found is the best method and even that is not 100% fool proof
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
Painted MC marked stick on’s are all lead from my experience, side cutters are the way to easily tell what’s lead or what’s zinc if you’re not sure. Steel is easy, they’re either rusty or the clips are crimped/riveted on.
What Am I looking for with the side cutters? Soft and grey? I'll take some pics tomorrow appreciate it. The old school are easy and the lead strips. But I think they started painting them for aluminum rims some are magnetic and most not.
Got lots of those mc ones. A few were magnetic. Theres rust on a lot of them just from the clips and sitting in the bucket in the rain.
I would not bother with side cutters, just do a quick sort and pick out the obvious steel and zinc ones. Then just put it all in the melting pot and stick a pid thermometer in and melt to the lead melting point and scoop off everything that does not melt.
For scooping the best thing is a stainless fine mesh strainer, works a lot better than a slotted spoon.
Got quite a few of these. Looks like lead under the flaking corner.
Im separating some weights into a suspect bucket. Melting them separately
I always put those in a separate pile. i think the lead is a bit softer, good for cap and ball applications. The zinc weights typically have Zn on them and if i miss any they always float to the top. you can see my video on my channel where i demonstrate it.
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
If it’s lead side cutters will cut into them easily and not cut into zinc or steel, with longer length clip on’s that aren’t obvious you can grab with cutters and try to bend them. Lead will bend and sometimes break in two.
Got quite a few of these. Looks like lead under the flaking corner.
Im separating some weights into a suspect bucket. Melting them separately
Sorry I had a recollection of those being the mc marked stick on’s, the circular logo was where I thought the mc mark was. Those in your pic are softer lead, I’ll have a look in my scrap ww bucket and see if there’s any mc marked. If it’s magnetic is steel, or if it’s stamped FE. Zn for zinc weights, but I’m sure you’ve seen that. I just sorted and melted 3-4 pails so I’ve got a full pail of steel and zinc in the shop.
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
MC are steel coated in plastic, any plastic coated are the same. Here’s a shot of some steel clip on styles, the clips are press riveted basically or cast into the weight. The stick on’s are all steel and the clip on’s above them are zinc.
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
If you can cut into them with cutters like the top one it’s probably lead, just goes to show you how different they all can be. Toss them in the melting pot, you’ll know quick enough if they’re lead. If they’re not they’ll just sit there with the rest of the clips and slag you skim off.
The one shop that I get the bulk of my WW pails from only has MC plastic coated steel. I’m guessing they’re newer production from that maker, last time I had tires mounted at Kal tire they used those. I asked Kal tire once if they had WW’s I could buy/have and they told me they switched to non lead a while back, unlike my reg spot that still uses lead.
The one shop that I get the bulk of my WW pails from only has MC plastic coated steel. I’m guessing they’re newer production from that maker, last time I had tires mounted at Kal tire they used those. I asked Kal tire once if they had WW’s I could buy/have and they told me they switched to non lead a while back, unlike my reg spot that still uses lead.
Try stained glass shops, I've had great luck salvaging hundreds of pounds of very clean lead from them. In addition you can talk with the owners and get them to put it all aside for you indefinably instead of selling it to scrap yards. High in tin and 2% antimony, great base to start with.
1 and a half pail to go. Lots of good lead. 4 half pails so far. Lots of waste 2 half pails so far started another pail. Dang its time consuming the sorting
exactly, that is why you'd be better off with a good thermometer and sturdy strainer.
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
Your first pails you sort are a pain, after that it speeds up once you know what your looking at. I prefer to have my stick on and clip on’s separate, so it’s worth it. If you don’t want or care about keeping harder and softer lead separate melting it all in one is less work.
Figured I'd have to do both. There was/is a lot of garbage. Dont have a big pot but if I get into this in a bigger way I'll get setup with a bigger smelter. Lead ww vs junk ww is probably getting less all the time. More garbage.
