Battery lead for casting bullets?

SandRoad said:
That's correct.

However that only refines lead, it doesn't reduce lead oxides to lead as you noted. So, in short, it doesn't work with batteries because batteries don't contain (much) lead. They contain mainly lead oxide and lead sulphate.

As I posted earlier batteries, can't simply be "melted" down to get "lead". You get lead oxide and lead sulphate, neither of which are elemental lead. Just like aluminium oxide isn't aluminium or iron oxide (rust) isn't steel/iron.

Reducing (opposite of oxidizing) using a carbon source, in a non-oxygen atmosphere, is how the oxides and sulphates are removed, leaving lead (and other metals).

There is a small scale electrolytic method of using very concentrated sodium hydroxide. It is slow and multi stage and deposits lead on a cathode. That's why it's not used commercially.
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You'd already covered reduction, so I felt no need to go over it again... Reducing the lead sulfate and lead oxide to elemental lead then eletrolytic refining would be the most expedient... But, the reduction would be beyond most backyard refiner's capabilities. Done improperly, groundwater could be contaminated, one could get arsenic poisoning, which is a very painful way to die, and cleaning it out of your system is worse than dying from it... And if done wrong, the treatment for arsenic poisoning can cause your brains to come seeping out your ears... It's also black market, as no doctor with a license will do that treatment...
Get wheel weight scrap. Go to your junk yard and buy casting or machining lead scrap...
BTW, the Electrolytic refining I was talking about uses sulfamic acid.
 
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Do roofers still use lead sheet for the vents and stuff? I heard that somewhere.
If so, that sounds like a much better option.
 
amosfella said:
The roofers in Alberta do not use that anymore, however, they take a lot of them off of older houses...
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Not entirely true, I am a commercial plumber and we still use lead flashings on our roof drains on flat roofs.90 lbs of pure lead this month from trimmings and probably the same in March.
 
eaglesnester said:
Good story, very funny, are U sure U are not Mark Twain reincarnated?
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You know eaglenester I have been falling into sh-t and coming out of it smelling like a rose all of my life. I am one of the luckiest people I know. I have a good life and love a bit of excitement or if that isn't available, experimentation to scratch an itch about something.

Last week, I asked for and quickly got some information on the measurements of a Cabine Hardness tester. That was great. Turns out everything, other than the penetrator are off the shelf available. The only machining needed to be done was to turn the head of a 1/2 in bolt so that the grade marks on the surface were gone to rest the piece you are testing on and do the same to the threaded end of same bolt. I also had to grind a properly shaped penetrator for the thrust bolt.

Today, a friend came over with one he bought six months ago to loan/give to me. Other than color and brand of dial indicator, and hex nuts I used instead of round blocks, everything is identical. They even give the same readings. His unit cost him $145 delivered from Shiloh Sharps. To source the pieces and get them welded would have cost about 1/3 that price.

The cost of building one with the stuff I have available on my shelves was "nothing." I was lucky enough to have my pick of a glass container factory that was being de mobilized. Tens of thousands of dollars worth of stuff to be had if I wanted to haul it away. The plant closure could have been devastating to my retirement plans. What it did was to top up my cash and investments so that I could retire comfortably. Not only that, I have more tooling for my lathes, milling machine, drill press and grinders than I can use up in the rest of my remaining life. Talk about coming out of a bad situation LUCKY.

I like to have something going on at all times. I hope not to outlive all of my interesting projects and that I continue to have interest in them as I age.

I like Mark Twain's style. He went for it on a regular basis. He was smart and took everything with a grain of salt. One of my favorite quotes is that "everything will work out one way or the other, if you have the patience to wait or the presence of mind and steadfastness to influence the outcome."
 
Raton57 said:
I have melted down hundreds of them in my youth. Took hours to do it and the smell is pretty bad. Haven't did it in a while so the newer batters would probbably be a pain. Those old tractor batterys from days gone by had really big posts and the lead that connected the plates was big and heavy. I used to take the plates all out and then beat them to take all the powder off the plates so just the lead remained and then melt them down. Was still a lot of slag left. The lead worked well in my 30-30 with gas checks on 115gr. bullets.
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I grew up in the Caribbean and didn't have internet etc to tell us how dangerous batteries were. Who knew right? Drained the batteries, soak 'em out with baking soda to neutralize any acids. smash her open, beat that hard junk off from between the cells, smelt it down and clear off the slag and cast up some fishing weights. I should get checked for heavy metals on my next physical.
 
30+ years ago, the technology and chemistry of a lead-acid battery was different than the ones today.

Depending on where you live in Canada, getting busted doing this with batteries can possibly land you in the poo, with fines that are...considerable.

YMMV, but better to be aware, than ignorant. Choose your own path accordingly. :)

Cheers
Trev
 
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