Uncle Grump Posted August 3, 2009 Report Share Posted August 3, 2009 I'd like to hear about how other forum members handle the storage of their lead stash. I tryed putting some of it on a metal shelf unit, but it didn't take long to overload the shelf and bend it. Have also used 5 gallon pails, but they also overload quite quickly. Right now, I've got about 4-500# of lead. It's sitting on pallet, and I've got the use of a pallet mover to move it in my shed. This works well, but when I loose the access to the pallet mover.... Thanks much. UG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadman Posted August 3, 2009 Report Share Posted August 3, 2009 UG, I pour in my garage. All my lead is under my pouring table, so when I need it, it is readily accessible. I also keep all my lead in the same size ingot size (marked with a black marker S=soft H=hard) so this way I know what ratios to mix instantly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted August 3, 2009 Report Share Posted August 3, 2009 If that amount of lead is delivered daily, then I can understand your problem. But you are moving 15,000 jigs per day, so you can afford to buy your own hydraulic palette mover. If this is not the case, I do not understand the need to continually move the mass around. I would build a shallow box, to contain the lead, in a corner of my workshop. Build a stout trolley, to move lead from the car to the storage box. Make half a dozen small, easy to carry boxes, that hold just enough lead to load up the melting pot, this way I would only have to grovel amongst the dirty lead once for every six pots of production. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalljaw Posted August 3, 2009 Report Share Posted August 3, 2009 My neighbor is a plumber and gave me a lot of lead but he got it in bulk a long time ago and it was in a dome shape and each piece weight 50 lb. and he gave me 6 of these so it was 300 lbs. worth. Anyway I got a big cast iron pot and borrowed a friends burner from a turkey fryer and melted it down into usable size ingots, you could buy a lee ingot mold or get yourself a muffin pan and pour yourself small inmgots and then store it in a box close to where you pour. I do like cadman and store the ingots under my work bench. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadman Posted August 3, 2009 Report Share Posted August 3, 2009 (edited) My neighbor is a plumber and gave me a lot of lead but he got it in bulk a long time ago and it was in a dome shape and each piece weight 50 lb. and he gave me 6 of these so it was 300 lbs. worth. Anyway I got a big cast iron pot and borrowed a friends burner from a turkey fryer and melted it down into usable size ingots, you could buy a lee ingot mold or get yourself a muffin pan and pour yourself small inmgots and then store it in a box close to where you pour. I do like cadman and store the ingots under my work bench. I bought a small turkey fryer from BPS for about $20, and it works great. Best $20 I ever spent. I bought a small cast iron pot, which I melt my lead in and then spoon it out with a ladle. I also have the Lee ingot mold and 3 mini muffin pans they all work great. Makes for easy stacking............You and I think alike Edited August 3, 2009 by cadman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ogajiga Posted August 4, 2009 Report Share Posted August 4, 2009 When my wife worked at Safeway, she saved me "Jelly Belly" boxes which so perfectly fit 64 standard 1 lb. ingots the boxes are stackable. So, the 5 lead alloys I use are all boxed up in clean fluxed ingots ready for use. A box each handy on the floor by the work table, the rest sitting on the slab inside a storage shed. Also a bigger box with coupla hundred pounds of unalloyed soft in 8-10 lb. pugs as a reserve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Grump Posted August 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2009 Guys I am not moving 15K jigs - not even close. The most I make at a time is a couple hundred - these are for myself and friends. No sales here. Much of my lead is still "raw" - as it came from the scrap yard. Some of it - being sheet lead - is in large - odd size bundles from being folded up. I have access to the pallet mover, as it belongs to my son - he stores seed corn / soybeans in my shed, and needs to be able to move the pallets of seed - So I've got the empty pallets, and the mover available (right now). The shed is in a state of flux all the time - stuff is always getting moved around - to make room for the latest project or sweeping, etc. My ingots are made using a muffin tin (Salvation Army thrift store) - store them in a 5 gallon pails. Vodkaman's idea for the small cart/trolley - this is the type of idea I was after - I was having a brain fart - not thinking along those lines. I could make a cart w/ some heavy duty casters and some 2x6s - put several pails on it, and some room for the larger hunks. Thanks for the ideas/suggestions. UG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
