Source of free lead

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Joined
Apr 19, 2019
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This is a reminder, I have mentioned this issue here before.
I am a piano tuner. Today I removed a set of 88 lead key weights from a piano's keys that were too heavy. Each weight is a lead cylinder of about the weight of a .50 or .54 round ball and these are usually pure lead.
Old pianos are regularly tossed into the dump when they are out of style or to difficult or expensive to repair. On an upright you can remove the front board and key cover the keys can be lifted out, though you may have to wiggle them out from under the action or hammer mechanism. Grand piano mechanisms slide out like a drawer after you remove the key cover and end blocks. Some pianos may have as many as 8 key leads per key (usually large grand pianos).
Watch out for badly corroded leads and wear protection or take precautions.
Ask any piano mover where old pianos are dumped, they may even help you.
 
Back in the day mid '60s I picked up 400 pounds of lead sheet that our telephone company was removing from the old transfer boxes when they were being replaced with newer boxes. I also picked up about 100 pounds of Linotype when our local print shop switched from type setting to computer's. Both for free, couldn't pass that up. I still have 50 pounds of the Linotype left.
 

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