Painted Lead

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  • Last Post 15 May 2017
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BigMan54 posted this 15 May 2017

Got a deal on some lead last week. But it's been painted on one end of each ingot. 

Can I still melt it as normal ?

Bought it from a lady that bought a house a few miles from me. The previous owner had died & his grown kids just wanted to be shut of it as quickly as possible.  The lead was cast into LYMAN ingots & painted blue on one end. It appears to be pure lead.  It passes the thumbnail test & goes thud when dropped on concrete.  The ingots were heavily oxidized & found in a ancient 5 gal. bucket that had split from age.

I'm hoping I got a deal. I figure the paint as some sort of marking system to identify what kind of alloy the ingots were. 

Anyone ever melt  painted lead before? 

Long time Caster/Reloader, Getting back into it after almost 10yrs. Life Member NRA 40+yrs, Life S.A.S.S. #375. Does this mean a description of me as a fumble-fingered knuckle-draggin' baboon. I also drool in my sleep. I firmly believe that true happiness is a warm gun. Did I mention how much I HATE auto-correct on this blasted tablet.

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Duane Mellenbruch posted this 15 May 2017

Use the normal lead dust cautions when handling these ingots.  Normal melting as if cleaning scrap would probably be better than trying to put them in the casting furnace, due to the oxide.  Will not be a lot different than cleaning painted WW or other lead scrap.  Good find, who knows, might stumble across other treasures at that house. 

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BigMan54 posted this 15 May 2017

Thanks.

A few will go into the small cast iron pot on  small propane burner I have, so I can cast a few bullets, 1st to check how they fill out & get samples for my SAECO lead  hardness tester. We used rubber gloves when handling the ingots.

I did ask the Lady. But she said the house had been "professionally cleaned" out. The bucket of lead was under a giant over turned clay plant pot. Guess the "cleaning crew" was too lazy or too stupid to take away the lead. Probably didn't realize the value. 

Long time Caster/Reloader, Getting back into it after almost 10yrs. Life Member NRA 40+yrs, Life S.A.S.S. #375. Does this mean a description of me as a fumble-fingered knuckle-draggin' baboon. I also drool in my sleep. I firmly believe that true happiness is a warm gun. Did I mention how much I HATE auto-correct on this blasted tablet.

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