Getting out of casting, making lead ingots to cleanup. Fair market values?

G

G.Mitchell

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
161   0   0
Location
Grande Prairie Alberta
Hey folks, as a dad of 6 with an acreage we are building into a hobby farm and a high demand always on call job I’m finding no time to cast or load so I’m clearing all my gear out to move onto other hobbies with my family.

I’ve got tons of lead that I plan to finish processing into ingots and I’m curious what fair market value is on casting lead.

Stick on wheel weights and pure lead made into ingots.
Clip on wheel weights made into ingots.
Radiator solder made into ingots.

Any guidance on fair pricing would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
G.Mitchell said:
Hey folks, as a dad of 6 with an acreage we are building into a hobby farm and a high demand always on call job I’m finding no time to cast or load so I’m clearing all my gear out to move onto other hobbies with my family.

I’ve got tons of lead that I plan to finish processing into ingots and I’m curious what fair market value is on casting lead.

Stick on wheel weights and pure lead made into ingots.
Clip on wheel weights made into ingots.
Radiator solder made into ingots.

Any guidance on fair pricing would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Click to expand...

On CGN you'll be lucky to get what scrap yards pay (~$0.45/pound), but only in 25-50 pound lots with shipping costs and general CGN fussiness (e.g. what's its exact content?) being big issues. Good luck!

I suggest you just truck it to the scrap yard.
 
Really really wish I wasn't at the other end of the province. Could use some of that... Let me know if you happen to be heading south anytime.

Is the rad solder 50/50? To buy virgin tin new at a supplier is in the neighborhood of $30/lb so selling 50/50 at $10/lb wouldn't be a bad deal. Yommoma is selling pewter here which is about 97% tin so you can check what his prices are. Given shipping costs you're probably serving different buyers.

Processing wheel weights is a bunch of dirty work that most people should be happy to pay for but then they look at how cheap raw weights are and grumble about the mark-up. Straight WW can be used for fairly high pressure levels which is what many casters are looking for too. Personally I would ask a $2 - $3 a pound but wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't move fast either.

Pure lead is generally around $1/lb but it's going to vary on the area and availability...
 
Do you have Gardewine trucking or any regular freight carriers? I’m in Manitoba but already in ingots in say 25-50 lots shipping might be affordable at the prices mentioned and I don’t mean scrap !
 
What do you mean by tonnes???? I have roughly 3000lbs sitting at home. Would really hate to deal with anything over 2-3 tonnes

Quick guaranteed sale would be $1/lb.
If you have time, you can ask $2/lb but will have to wait till someone really needs it.

As for the 50/50...most people wouldn't know what to do with it.

My advice...for what it's worth...

Try to sell as a lot at a reduced price to get rid of it all at once... $0.85/lb

Trying to manage selling little bits and pieces here and there will burn up just as much time as casting bullets.

Post it on Kijijijijijjiji, here and any gun club you can

Good luck.

p.s.

you just may want to sit on it for a bit cause I have a feeling that prices will go up with all the crazyness going on. You will always be able to sell it for $1/pound.

p.p.s. Location has a lot to do with what people are willing to pay for it.
 
Thanks all, by tons I mean a lot not literal tones. Likely 1,000 pounds or more from my very rough math and count of buckets full.

I gathered a lot for a number of years before having a large family and acreage but now it’s just sitting and I’ve got no time. It takes up a corner of my mini shop that I need for current projects so even at a lower price it’s better than sitting here unused.

$1/lb as clean casting lead is better than $0.35/lb from the local scrap yard.
 
The few commercial sellers of lead ingots that I know of are at about $3.00/lb, so there are buyers willing to pay that much for clean ready to go lead. I wouldn't even bother going to all the effort of melting scrap for less than $2.00
 
ryan said:
The few commercial sellers of lead ingots that I know of are at about $3.00/lb, so there are buyers willing to pay that much for clean ready to go lead. I wouldn't even bother going to all the effort of melting scrap for less than $2.00
Click to expand...

Sucks to be down east. For that price I can get virgin lead alloyed to my specs.
 
just having some fun said:
I would say $1.50 a pound for ingots
.25c a pound for lead ww

the new ww are all steel and Zinc
Click to expand...

Thanks, still lots of lead wheel weights here in northern AB. Many shops still put them on instead of zinc.

I hand sort before a melt and remove everything that isn’t lead and separate by clip on or stick on before casting so no zinc gets melted.
 
bertn said:
It will float as intact wheelweight.

best is to get yourself a pid controller (digital thermostat) to make sure you are staying below zinc melting point.
Saves a lot of time sorting.
Click to expand...

Intact as bertn said.
Tricky part is that most people are processing wheel weights and the like on propane or camp stove type burners that aren't likely to have an electronic circuit to put a PID controller into.
A thermometer could work but I have found just keeping an eye on the melt and lots of stirring will let you know when the lead is melted but the Zn are floating to the top. Just skim them out with a slotted spoon, reduce the heat and flux a couple times. Then pure your ingots and start from an empty pot again. A cover speeds things up.
 
vagrantviking said:
Intact as bertn said.
Tricky part is that most people are processing wheel weights and the like on propane or camp stove type burners that aren't likely to have an electronic circuit to put a PID controller into.
A thermometer could work but I have found just keeping an eye on the melt and lots of stirring will let you know when the lead is melted but the Zn are floating to the top. Just skim them out with a slotted spoon, reduce the heat and flux a couple times. Then pure your ingots and start from an empty pot again. A cover speeds things up.
Click to expand...

i melt on a big bad a$$ natural gas burner and use the pid controller just like a thermometer to know when to manually turn down the heat.

by the way, to skim it i find a metal mesh strainer to work faster and better than some sort of spoon.
 
Last edited:
I sort them manually. Zinc is harder than lead, and if in doubt, a pair of sidecutters will tell you
in a few seconds if it is lead or zinc. Steel weights are out there as well, but if you miss one of
those, it obviously will not melt, but will float to the surface regardless of lead temperature.
I have several hundred lbs of it [WW lead] in ingots here at home. Dave.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom