Thread: Lead ingot question

I’m breaking down some large pieces of “clean” scrap lead that I’ve scrounged up. I had a sheet of X Ray room liner that I melted down by itself because I think I read that’s the best stuff out there. This ingots are a bluish color. Next I’ve melted down some large 3/16” thick sheet and large diameter pipe that looked the same and had about the same flexibility. It seems like pretty good stuff. Those ingots are very shiny silver almost like aluminum foil. Even though they appear to be soft does that mean they have a high tin content?

Lesson for today..... don’t put a wet piece of solid lead into a pot with molten lead. Sorta makes a small scale explosion.

Im being real safe today. Got my leather boots on. Wearing thick stick welding gloves. I’ve got 2, 54” exhaust fans on in the shop and I about exploded myself with wet lead. And this is the story of how every
event in my life goes. I think it was John Wayne who said, “If you’re going to be stupid, you’d better be tough.” I test that theory nearly on a daily basis.

Thanks guys. I think the thing that saved me is that I'm using a big stainless stock pot for the initial melting. It's probably 14-15" tall, so those deep sides contained the molten splatter from the explosion. I think I paid $2 for it at a junk store. I use to use it to boil steel traps in.

I'm still not as careful with the hot part of this process as I should be. I'm numbed down to the dangers because I deal with plasma cutting, torches and welding every week day at this same shop that I play at on Saturday. Red steel is hotter than molten lead but it doesn't matter, best case, they'll both get your attention in a hurry.

Jamesdean, the more tin, the harder the lead. If I said that wrong in my first post, it was due to toxic fumes. LOL