Today I smelted a few pounds of dross to recover the remaining lead in it. I did recover about 3 pounds of lead. But here's the mystery. I also turned the heat up so to speak by using my cutting torch on the remaining dross and ended up with about 6 pounds of metal that's heavier and harder than my std casting alloy of 3% Tin, 3% antimony, 94% lead. It also melts at a higher temp than my Lee 20 lb pot will go up to. I used a hand ladle and melted the alloy with my torch then cast several bullets in a Lyman 540 gr BPS mold. The bullets came out beautiful and HEAVY, weighing in at 556 grs. I don't have a hardness tester. I did this long time ago and came our with a similar alloy. I'm trying to figure out what this stuff is. I also ended up with what I think is bismuth stuck to the cast iron pot. Shiny and brittle. Any ideas on what this stuff is ?
baddad457
I was under the impression that harder = lighter, not heavier, but could be incorrect. Could this have some steel content in it?
I don't know of anything heavier than lead that would be in a casting alloy. It could be tungsten or platinum maybe? the introduction of the cutting torch would have enough heat to melt platinum (3214 F) but not tungsten (6192F)
RJ
RJ
Over the years I've collected and melted down about 1300 lbs of weights, I cast them into 30 lb bricks (plus or minus a couple pounds) using a stainless bread pan. This dross came from some of that. To cast, I melt a brick down and alloy it with 50/50 solder and pour it into 1/2 pound bars using half round cornbread molds. Some more dross comes out of that as I'm casting and fluxing.
Every time you remelt lead it gets more of the "impurities" out which float to the top. I always give it a good stir when fluxing (beeswax) so if by chance the dross does contain tin or antimony it gets mixed back in.
Yes, according to the periodic table, platinum is heavier than lead.
RJ
Yes, according to the periodic table, platinum is heavier than lead.
RJ
@baddad457
Go to your local saddle shop and see if they have some, or some place like Murdoch's or Borax laundry soap works too.
Gulfwax is a petroleum distillate and as I've never used it, I'd still suspect it's leaving ash behind unless you light it and burn it off which is what I do with beeswax.
Go to your local saddle shop and see if they have some, or some place like Murdoch's or Borax laundry soap works too.
Gulfwax is a petroleum distillate and as I've never used it, I'd still suspect it's leaving ash behind unless you light it and burn it off which is what I do with beeswax.
I'll stick with wax. Been using up a huge table candle the wife tossed out. It was about 6" x 3" tall. When I'm done I have a good stock of gulfwax in a box. It self ignites and I stir the pot and skim off the dross when it goes out. Leaves no residue period. Been using it for 35 years now. Years ago I bought a fluxing material from Midway I think. Damed stuff made a huge mess, I tossed it out after a couple sessions. Didn't work near as well as wax.
Years ago my dentist would throw the 'lead' shields (about 1" square) used in dental X-rays into a box. During my visits he gave me what he had saved up, as he knew I was a caster. One time I cast a small sampling in a TC Maxi Ball mold and gave them to a coworker, thinking they were pure lead. He reported back that he could not even get them started into the rifling, let alone push it down the bore. Didn't have a tester but it was much harder than lead. Never thought to compare weight to lead, but it was certainly not 'pure' lead...don't know what was in it(?). Maybe you got some dental X-ray 'lead' in your mix.
Land anchor. Love it.
Baddad457,
Your bullets are casting not quite 3% overweight. That's not really anything unusual for alloy variation. If the mold's target weight was 540 grains with 94:3:3 lead:tin:antimony alloy, the expected density of that alloy is 10.90 grams/cc, while pure lead is 11.34 grams/cc, so pure lead in the mold with that design would be 4% higher if the volumes of the two casts were the same. So your mystery alloy sounds like it is probably something close to pure lead, but not quite.
Baddad457,
Your bullets are casting not quite 3% overweight. That's not really anything unusual for alloy variation. If the mold's target weight was 540 grains with 94:3:3 lead:tin:antimony alloy, the expected density of that alloy is 10.90 grams/cc, while pure lead is 11.34 grams/cc, so pure lead in the mold with that design would be 4% higher if the volumes of the two casts were the same. So your mystery alloy sounds like it is probably something close to pure lead, but not quite.
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