Removing impurites from lead?

[Scott nthQld]

Does anyone know an effective way to remove impurities and get a better quality lead to make sinkers out of? Ie the tyre weights? or any old lead that been lying around and gathered all sorts of crap over the years?

Should i just smelt it down and scoop the crap from the surface as it floats up? Or is there an actual prcess that can be done in a fairly well equipped shed?

[nezevic99]

We've always just melted it down then scooped the scum from the top.

[pommy]

Yup, melt and scoop!

Rob.

[Noelm]

dont need to scoop really, when you pour it, very little impurities go in, so unless you are trying to impress the fish, then a bit of a blemish will not hurt, or you could just melt and scoop!

[Scott nthQld]

I just found another site with google that said wax used to be used to remove tin from lead. Can anyone verify or comment on this?

I'm pretty sure its tin used in the lead to make tyre weights.

Apparently, because tin has a lower boiling temp than lead, when you add the wax to the lead bullion it vapourises the wax, and the tin is attracted to the wax and goes along with it.....apparently anyway. The lead has the reach temperatures above 550 deg celcius though, which I'm pretty sure that won;t be able to be achieved in the backyard on a gas burner.....just a thought

[Lbudgie]

dont worry about getting the tin out of the lead. all it will do is make the sinkers a bit shiny. as you know, having a bit of bling now is very fashionable.

[Scott nthQld]

yeah but shiny sinkers makes them attractive to the razor gang, and I don't really feel like donating more lead than I have to the sea floor. Plus the tin makes them slighty lighter

[dogsbody]

If you get a Lee melting pot it makes the job so much easier. It pours out the bottom so there's a lot less mucking about with the crap on top.

Dave

[DigitalSI]

Regardless of of tin being in the lead or not, freshly poured sinkers will be bright & shiny until moisture attaches itself to the surface. Leave them outside in full weather for a few days and they will turn grey. Heating lead above 450deg will require proper breathing equipment, keep it under that to use cheapy masks. And scooping the crap off the top using a desert spoon is all that you need to do.
I use a stainless steel cup that is used for creaming milk on coffee machines with a small gas burner to melt my lead.

[murf]

what is the extra substance in battery lead?

I grabbed a couple of sinkers from a mate the other day and they were as light as, he said they were made from old batteries

I could not imagine myself getting lead from a battery as I acquire good quality lead else where

cheers Murf

[ozbee]

the downfall with wheel weights is if not blended with other lead it has to be kept hotter to pour and is prone for pour clogging the mould . it also is a lot brittle r and is prone to break on opening moulds in big sinker sizes. if you heat the moulds pretty hot you can continuous poor but is a lot harder than straight lead. rub your mould with beeswax helps it flow also.

[tunaticer]

Ok here is the drum.
Wheel weight lead is about 90% lead on average some down as low as 80% and they are alloyed with Antimony to make the weights more rigid and less expensive. This alloy is very common across the bard nearly with non pure forms of lead although in some instances it may be tin or silver added depending on the usage. There is no way of removing the alloying metal from the mixture in your backyard shed. Alloyed lead will also not pour as well as pure lead. If you want a good pouring lead source some roofing lead as it is about 97% to 99% pure and it will pour perfectly into the smallest of jighead molds.
Flux your lead in the pot with a quick dab of a long candle about once every twenty minutes and you will have lots less scum and spoor forming.

There is a lot of myth out there about casting lead and the bottom line is you need pure lead for good pours, not an alloy.

[mikeyh]

My grandfather was a metallurgist and got me into the sinker making about 40 years ago.....a tip I remember him showing me for scraping the molten lead surface was to use a piece of pine about 50mm across (not treated under any circumstances unless you really like sucking on arsenic fumes). It collects the impurities really well - you are l;eft with the lead looking like a mirror.....and you can them scrape this out with another spoon.
Tunaticer is bang on about lead purity....and thanks for the tip about the candle :D

cheers, Mike

[Scott nthQld]

thanks for the help guys.

I've got about 20kg of 100% pure lead at home in the shed that we brought up here when we moved from NSW. Dad flogged it from BHP where he used to work. We had an awful lot more, upwards of 800kg of pure lead, but it 'mysteriously' dissappeared from the removalists, we logded a claim against them and got a measly 60c per kilo.

There's a couple of metal recyclers around town, that might have it, but have no idea on what that might cost per kg. Does anyone know the current trading price for lead, or where I could find it? so i can get some idea. Ideally I'd like the purest lead I can get, but I can get plenty of tyre weights for nothing to make do with if I have to, trouble is, arsenic is used in them as a hardening agent.

That lee, melting pot looks the goods, I checked it out on Cabela's and they have them for about $60USD, does anyone know where I might pick one up from Oz?

[dogsbody]

I got my pot from e bay(US) bout $100AU del came with a plug to put on myself to suit Aus sockets.

Dave

[cormorant]

Lead ( or lead futures ) are traded on teh LME ( London Metals exchange) and they have spot price ( today) and prices going into teh future at 1-3 month intevals

Have a look here or direct on the LME site. Will all be in USD per pound
http://www.metalprices.com/

Prices and graphs are on their site or here ( in USD per pound and coming off a low 4 months ago) Chinese are buying again
http://www.metalprices.com/FreeSite/metals/pb/pb.asp

[cormorant]

delets double post

[oldboot]

melting down batteries may have been a good source of lead in the long past, but these days there is so little pure metalic lead it just isn't worth it.

I tried it quite some years ago, and even when I broke the battery up it was obvious that I wasn't going to get much lead out of the exercise.

there is lead sulphate paste, plastic, and the grids could have a variety of other metals in them such as calcium.

Out of a whole battery I would have been lucky to get enough good lead for one big sinker.

cheers

[Owen]

Just use some dripping or lard to flux the lead and remove the crap by scooping it off with a warmed spoon.
The lee pots and the higher quality RCBS units are available from any gun shop, but those catering to pistol shooters are most likely to have them in stock.
Probably more expensive than your average fisho is prepared to pay to make sinkers, but the bottom pouring is the go.
The old clip on wheel weights are a fine source of lead if you can get them.
Used to make many thousands of pistol projectiles (bullets) out of them so I can't see any issues as sinkers regardless of the lead/tin/antimony ratio.

Remember moisture is your enemy with molten lead.
EVERYTHING should be heated before use to get rid of any moisture.
Also wear a sutable mask.