melting dross

[buttonbuck]

I was wondering if anyone has taken much time to melt the dross skimmings from the lead pot? I did this once but got hard lead, however i had melted dental lead with it and there was some chilled shot along with a soft source of lead. SO I will get to the question. If you melt Dross fromation from a known source of soft lead do you get soft lead or what? I am attempting to keep the lead as soft as possible.

 

[paulvallandigham]

The dross you get is typically tin, zinc, and/or antimony. Without expensive electro-chemical equipment, it would be impossible to separate them. If you have a steel mill or fabricator plant near you, Save up 10 years worth of dross, and take it to them to use. You might get coffee money.

 

[Tumblernotch]

After I accumulate a coffee can or two of slag from my casting, I re-melt it and get some more lead from it. Even if you're careful when skimming, you can scrape up some lead with the lighter metals and dirt. I can always count on at least a pound or two from a can of trash. I don't waste anything.

I keep the slag from hard lead castings separate from that from soft lead. One little piece of hard lead will ruin a batch of soft lead.

 

[Idaho Ron]

dental lead and lead shot are BOTH, HARD! What I would do if I were you is get a mould to make fishing sinkers. Find a store that will buy them and make sinkers from the dross. I made 2 dollars a sinker for Sturgon sinkers. It was a great deal for me. The Dross helped me to buy more pure lead. Ron

 

[buttonbuck]

I tried it out a second time had about 15 pounds of dross total and got about 2 lb of lead alloy of some type. Even the dross from soft lead yielded an ingot that was significantly harder. For the work I would rather spend my time with casting bullets. Someone who shoots hard lead (for pistols) will get some free ingots. Thanks for the info, Hey Ron how is the hardness testing going looking forward to your results.

 

[Frank/Pa]

I just throw it away. It is not worth messing with.

 

[spud]

DITTO!

 

[Idaho Ron]

I forgot all about it to be honest.
I can't even remember which lead I was going to run again. Was that the stick on wheel weights? You are going to have to help me remember. Ron

 

[buttonbuck]

stick on and dental x ray film, some said dental was hard stuff some said it was darn near pure.

 

[Idaho Ron]

The stick on wheel weights were .035 to .040 with a BHN between 5 BHN and 7 BHN.
The dental lead last month was .075 for a hardness of about 12.5
This month the Dental lead measured .082 to .085 for a hardness of about 15 BHN.
The lead got a harder in both types of lead. Also the BHN for pure lead is 5 BHN and Clip on wheel weights are about 13 BHN. The Stick on WW's are somewhat soft and Dental lead that I have is very hard, and getting harder. Ron