Help with ingot identification. (I did a search, no luck)

[Lee W]

My casting buddy got his hands on some odd ingots and I would like to find out what they are before they get used as pure lead.

The strips have just an "A" on them with no other markings. They do not sing when bent, so they are not high percentage tin.
The other two are as shown.

If you have any idea what they are, I would appreciate any information.

[cbrick]

Melting some of each and paying close attention to the melting point could give a good clue as to what it is. Both of those company's no doubt has an endless list of possible alloy's they sell including what a particular customer may have ordered for a particular use.

Rick

[glicerin]

Top left, are they about 1 lb? Have seen pure tin like that(have never heard tin sing when bent!) Does it ring and deform when struck with hammer? No corrosion? Top right, looks like soft lead, will it mark easily with thumbnail, does it thud when dropped or some ring? Soft lead will oxidize with time and moisture(white, grey, brown), hard alloys and tin, less so. Some hard alloys like linotype will crack(crystalline) when struck on corner, ring. Don't mix unknown block in with a large pot of good alloy. goodluck detective

[badbob454]

2 on the right appear to be pure lead , the other i would guess a solder bar , melt it and test its setting up temp, to tell if it is tin, should be @ 400 degrees if lots of tin in it...or 550-650 if lead/ antimony /copper babbit just a rough guideline

[runfiverun]

nat'l lead id bet is pure lead.
roth bros probably is too, i'd give them the tud drop test and go with it based on that alone.
the long bars "look" like 50-50 solder but.... they just don't have the right shine.
i'd be more inclined to say they are body lead.
i'd melt one and note the melt temp, they could be 10-20% tin.
i'd also weigh a boolit made from one of the bars versus one made from one of the blocks.

[evan price]

Roth Bros and Nat'l Lead have the look of soft plumbing lead. The gouges, the color, the appearance. I bet if you drop them on concrete they just go 'thump'.

Those other A bars look like bar solder. Dropped on concrete they should clang. More clang, more tin and antimony. Without an analysis or melt testing there's no way to know what they are. I was thinking Alpha Metal, but they use Alpha not just A.

[Lee W]

I did the thunk test. The thin bars sound exactly like the 50-50 bars I have that are the same size and shape but are marked 50-50. The Roth ingot had a little higher pitch than the National ingot, but I am thinking that is due to the size difference. Both had a little ring to them, so I am thinking perhaps a little something other than lead is in them.

The solder strips are of most interest to me since I plan on buying them. Would you buy them as 50-50 with the evidence I have?

[cbrick]

Not without melting some to get an idea of melt temp, not unless they are dirt cheap.

Rick

[evan price]

If you can get the probably bar solder for under $2 per pound I would take every scrap.
The other two no more than $1 per pound.

[RogerDat]

Rather than start a new "solder" thread I'm adding to this one. Hoping the stuff I can't identify others can. Plus link together another couple of posts on identification.

Went to the local recycler and found a far amount of "good" stuff or at least I think I did. Mostly different solders. 50-50 or half & half, and Sn30 all seem pretty straight forward.

I have 4 bars from Alpha Vaculoy 2 marked 63-37, 1 marked 63-37-Sn Google leads me to believe these are 63% tin but I have no idea what the 1 bar marked "EN" is other than shiny.

I also have some bars marked "35x" and "40x" from WARALOY that seem very stiff. This brief thread makes me think those are tin percentages. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...5x-Waraloy-35x

An ingot of "who knows" wiping solder, from the threads on that it seems to be generally between 30 and 40 percent tin.

Some National Lead 111 which this thread identifies as 50/50 http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...tional-Lead-Co

What I did not pick up was some flat fairly thin bars marked "Seam Bell System" And some thin 1/4 x 1/4 stamped National Lead Company with 4 stars. But would really like to know if anyone has any idea of what these are and if they are good I'll go back for them.

Even found a little Lino and mono type, maybe 10-12 lbs. Along with some ingots that seemed pretty hard. The one I hoped might be a Lino bar tests HB with an art pencil, scratches with F which puts it around BHN of 15. Was really hoping this was a major score had flat bottom, rounded top and key hole at the end, other end was snapped off.

Think I may have found scrap from a caster there was 4 Lyman ingots marked WW in marker in the box with the Type metal, and a couple of "muffins" that look like a pour ladle full of lead, can see teats where the pour spouts are on either side and too hard to scratch with thumbnail. The Lyman ingots and some of the solder had identical price tags as did a 3 lb block of type metal with an advertisement. Looked like a caster selling stuff and eventually it ended up as scrap, judging from the prices it was for sale a long time ago.

[RogerDat]

Found this manual online that lists Waraloy (Hewitt Metal Company) adding company helped with the search. Lists 35x as 35% and 40x as 40% tin balance Pb.

http://books.google.com/books?id=RzM...oducts&f=false

[bangerjim]

Do what I do and tell everybody else on here that asked "what is this lead".......take some to a scrap yard that has an x-ray gun and analyze it. Only takes about 10 seconds and most do it for free, when you are buying something else!

Best way to know for absolute sure.......and totally eliminate all the above guesstimating.

banger

[Defcon-One]

The long thin ones are Wiping Solder or some type of lower Tin Solder. The other two are most likely soft plumbers Lead! They just have that look that it get over time.