Reclaimed roofing - what a mistake

Snakehunter

Snakehunter

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Location
Kenora, Ontario
So, today was really warm and just a bit windy with no rain in the forecast. Perfect for melting down some lead in the backyard.
I had received a bucket of reclaimed lead sheet roofing for free from a friends mother in law and was anxious to melt it down into manageable ingots.
I set everything up and began the process of loading my smelting pot with about 10lbs of wheel weights I had on hand. Got that melted and cleaned of clips and crap then started adding the roofing.
Let me tell you, I was glad for my respirator. The smoke and fumes were awful. The asphalt residue was disgusting.
In the end I have pretty much ruined my smelting pot as I have black tar residue all over the sides. The metal spoon I was cleaning the lead with is also ruined.
Never had a problem with my pot or tools when using wheel weights.
Lesson learned. Now to find a new melting pot!!
Glen
 
If you have a freezer big enough or wait till winter that's how we clean our tar kettles it shatters off with a hammer. That may help you
 
I have some roofing with tar on it and it stinks pretty bad, but the worst sheet lead I have has plastic coating on one side and residual contact cement on the other. I throw a few chunks in the pot and then go do something else until the smoke clears. It usually takes about 10 minutes until I can approach the pot again. I do my melting of scrap in an old steel pot that I bought for a dollar at a second hand store.
My electric lead pot is only used for casting from clean ingots.
 
Try spraying some WD-40 on them and see what happens.

I had gotten some tar-like substance in my basement shower stall and NOTHING would touch it.

I tried every bloody cleaning product that I have in the house and scrubbed for hours.

I was about to give up when I thought to try WD-40.

Amazingly, the tar-like crap came off easily and effortlessly.

Have some blue shop towels and an old toothbrush handy and you should be good to go.
 
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If you live in the country and can burn, just put it on the bonfire when the wind is blowing the right way, then rake the puddled lead out of the ashes when the fire burns down.
 
I would just run to the hardware store and grab a gallon of lacquer thinner and wash the pot out. Thinners will melt the tar like nothing. I was just given over 250 pounds of new roofing lead from a jobsight. Some had a little tar on them,rag with thinners,wash it off,let dry and continue on with my day.An unlike varsol,there is no left over oily residue..
 
Tar is easy to deal with. As posted, WD40 works really well. I worked for the town I lived in one summer in high school and did a bunch of crack sealing (the tar strips on roads) and we kept wd40 for anything that couldn't be tiger torched. Our gloves would get so sticky you could put your hand on something, pull your hand out of the glove and it would stay there. Gloves never fell off the truck and if they sat overnight they were almost permanently attached. WD40 rinses the tar off like a Mr. Clean commercial.
 
Wait until winter and use a hammer all the tar will shatter off of it. When we get a buildup or tar in our roofing nailers we give it a squirt of wd40 and it eats the tar off the steel of the gun. Hope that helps.
 
If you can put it in a barrel with a touch of gas and burn the tar off first then melt it down to what you need. If you have freezer space just put it in there for an hour and it will shatter just as well as waiting for winter.
 
I've melted lots of roofing lead with tar and crap on it, it all burned. My bulk melting setup allows the evil smoke to easily ignite, it keeps the fumes down. I've melted sewer pipe that was chalk full of dried up old sh#t, even that flared off with not too much trouble.
 
icehunter121 said:
I would just run to the hardware store and grab a gallon of lacquer thinner and wash the pot out. Thinners will melt the tar like nothing. I was just given over 250 pounds of new roofing lead from a jobsight. Some had a little tar on them,rag with thinners,wash it off,let dry and continue on with my day.An unlike varsol,there is no left over oily residue..
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Lacquer thinner is a great solvent for paints, glues, etc. Just don't get it on painted surfaces or plastic. It'll turn them into mush. I clean my reloading dies with lacquer thinner and they come out sparkling clean. It will also break down epoxies, which a lot of solvents won't.
 
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