Hi,
I have been offered some roofing lead, is this ok to make ball from? It doesn't appear to have been treated in any way and appears to be plain lead.
How much should I be expecting to pay for scrap lead that I have to collect?
Cheers,
Blackrat
Hi,
I have been offered some roofing lead, is this ok to make ball from? It doesn't appear to have been treated in any way and appears to be plain lead.
How much should I be expecting to pay for scrap lead that I have to collect?
Cheers,
Blackrat
Roofing lead or flashing is good stuff to use. The first melt will be dirty and smelly so best to do it and pour the good stuff into ingots, I use a very dry house brick with a cavity. Second time you melt it use some flux and make yer balls.
When friends learn that you cast your own bulets and ball you soon get regular donations of the stuff so I dont pay a penny and have close on a hundredweight of the stuff. I also sieve the sand trap at my club for a harder alloy for .357 bullets.
“If a cricketer, for instance, suddenly decided to go into a school and batter a lot of people to death with a cricket bat, which he could do very easily, I mean, are you going to ban cricket bats?” :- Prince Philip said after Dunblane
As above. I use it when i can get hold of it cheaply, ie swop it for home brew wine or cans of beer ect. If im offered any lead i always take it if the price is right as you dont always know where your next lot is coming from and it can always be swopped for other stuff such as molds. "Ta Dave." Iv also been known to dig the sand pit for harder lead but its always such messy stuff that you have to wash it first and sort out any unwanted crap before melting it down to store in ingots.
Have fun. Tim
The scrapman is paying 50p per kilo right now.
Mine sells at £1, robbing Bxxxxxx
I have about 60lb of lead blocks in my garage. I intercept it from work before they chuck it out.
This is about £30 at today's prices.
I don't use it..
Last edited by snock; 10-05-2009 at 08:20 PM.
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just had our central heating replaced swoped all the copper for lead at our local scrappy odd seemed to have a lot of flashing in the exchange.......
viv
Guys,
Thanks for the rapid replies, how do I clean the lead once its melted?
I have only made ball once before when a friend showed me how it was done but I think the lead he was using was already clean
Cheers
BR
melt it down first - I do mine on an open fire in a big old pot, but that's a bit dangerous and I wouldn't recommend to anyone else. You can get electric pots from Midway and such like. Skim the crud off the top once it's melted using a small steel ladle. Be aware everything is going to get real hot so wear some decent heatproof gloves and goggles.
I take my cleaned up lead off into Lee ingot molds, let them cool off, knock them out and store them indoors. Then each ingot makes about 50 balls. Casting takes a bit of practice, but I did 1500 .433 for my Pedersoli Le Page during a couple of cold weekends last winter and I'm a long way from making a visible dent in them so far.
My wife complains that I've got more sense than money.
Thanks Lee,
I shall get myself an electric pot and get cracking
BR
You flux (purify) the metal by introducing a source of carbon into it, a wooden stick to stir it which chars or better still a finger nail sized lump of candle wax which is stirred in.
The wax will create a lot of smoke which needs igniting with a blowtorch or lighter, it will then burn clean.
Keep stirring in until the flames subside and all the impurity will rise to the surface as slag to be skimmed off.
Very dirty lead can almost be self fluxing as the crap burns when it melts and creates the same effect
Works for me anyway
Old wheel weights are a good source of Antimony
The impossible I do immediately, miracles take 24 hours..
NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE,IT JUST COSTS MORE
Quote from the British Pharmacopia - 'Antimony and many of its compounds are toxic. Clinically, antimony poisoning is very similar to arsenic poisoning. In small doses, antimony causes headache, dizziness, and depression. Larger doses cause violent and frequent vomiting, and will lead to death in a few days.'
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tac