Sorting my first 5 gal pail of WW

m777

m777

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I've sorted the steel and the stick on weights out. It's too hot on the tail gate to split the lead from the zinc.

1. What pile to these coated ones go in? There's just a wee bit of pull on the magnet
2. The weight in the 3rd pic is quite bendy. Is it stay with the stick on weights or get tossed?
Thanks
Clint

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The coated ones are steel, coated precisely because steel will rust. The plastic coating is quite thick, which is why the magnetic response is weak.

The last one is weird, I have had one or two in the past, but I don't recall how I handled them. Probably just threw them in to see if they melted, and don't recall the result.
 
I never bothered sorting my pails of WW, I just pulled out obvious trash as I was making ingots and let the lower melting temp and higher density of lead sort it out for me........

Steel will never melt, and it requires severe neglect to melt zinc into your mix, but I have tried to do it by really cranking up the heat and waiting long past when obvious non-lead was floating. I just barely succeeded, so it can happen, I just choose not to be neglectful.
 
Yup, anything floating on the lead is zinc or steel, flux with a spruce stick and skim everything off the top of the lead.

So

Zinc has a scrap value much higher than lead. The problem is finding a scrappie that buys it.
 
The strip you show in the first post is pure soft lead stick on, AKA: SOWW. As opposed to COWW, clip on wheel weights. Stick-on is used inside Mag wheel rims. Usually pure lead, and worth a bit more than COWW.

If you have a temp controlled pot, you can just dump it all in, and skim the zinc and steel weights off the top with a slotted spoon.

It's not really a big deal unless you are pounding a lot of heat in, and not paying much attention.

If you don't pay attention to the amount of heat, the Zinc melts and makes the cast material look and act like lumpy oatmeal, not a good thing, unless all you want it for is the weight!
 
don't waste time sorting, get a thermometer and keep an eye on the temperature and skim off steel and zinc.

I find that a stainless mesh strainer works better than a slotted spoon in scooping up clips and impurities.
 
I sort my lead and scrap the leftovers. The local scrap yard pays $0.17/lb for wheel weights. One 5 gal bucket is about 100lbs i buy for $20. if half is usable lead then 50lbs gets sent to scrapper for $8.50 so that 50lbs of lead is only $11.50 netting $0.23/lb. Not bad.

I should add that sorting a full bucket takes me about 2-3hrs and i make sure all i get out of it is lead. That way when i'm melting the lead i dont need to worry about contamination.
 
Jessegreenwood said:
K, but do they contain lead? I was thinking, when it is cold weather again, puting them in a big tin can in the wood stove with a fire going, to melt lead, and burn off the rubber.
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Like others have mentioned, this is not advisable but it also hints at another issue / mindset. The idea is to get more 5gal buckets ASAP and sort those knowing that only the "good ones" will get melted. It's a return on investment in time. It's (imo) better to spend an hour getting 5-10lbs of actual WW you can melt later instead of an hour burning rubber and cleaning a stovepipe to get 1lb of WW lead that still needs to be melted / fluxed again.
 
denydart said:
Like others have mentioned, this is not advisable but it also hints at another issue / mindset. The idea is to get more 5gal buckets ASAP and sort those knowing that only the "good ones" will get melted. It's a return on investment in time. It's (imo) better to spend an hour getting 5-10lbs of actual WW you can melt later instead of an hour burning rubber and cleaning a stovepipe to get 1lb of WW lead that still needs to be melted / fluxed again.
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good advice. to speed up the sorting process I used a vice grip to clamp a very coarse metal file to the unsorted wheelweight pail and would run a questionable weight on it when needed. very quick and no question as to which weights were zinc or steel or lead.
 
I quit collecting ww at least 5 yrs ago. Still have about 10 five gallon pails to sort. You will acquire an "eye" for sorting by sight. I use a large pair of side cutters to test if I not sure. Will hardly mark iron or zinc. Cuts into lead ww easily. I certainly noticed the ratio of lead to iron and zinc dropping off near the end of my collecting career. Love to get into one of my older pails which are almost all lead. Lot of good things can be said about the old days!
 
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