odinohi Posted July 28, 2015 Report Share Posted July 28, 2015 Answered an add on Craig's list. I expected a few buckets of filthy wheel weights, what I got was all new unused WW's all mixed together. I brought them home and started sorting them. Then I started calling tire shops that I have not been able to get into yet. I am giving them eight bags of 25 or 50 per bucket of used wheel weights. I got to clean out my shed, I need to make room for many many wheel weights. Even a blind dog finds a bone once in a while;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatman Posted July 29, 2015 Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 Great deal but make sure there aren't any Zinc ones in the batch. The ones I know of are Z, ZA, Zn - get rid of them!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odinohi Posted July 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 I hand sort all of my wheel weights. The zinc that I miss floats to the top. As long as I do my part keeping it stirred and below 700 degrees. I seperate the unpainted stick on weights. These are close to pure. Seperate the steel, these go to scrapyard. The zinc I just keep in a seperate bucket to sell to the cannon guys for there cannon balls. Gonna take a lot of work, but that's the price for cheaper lead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LimpNoodle Posted July 29, 2015 Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 I pay $0.70 a pound for pure scrap lead. My time is better spent playing Diablo III than sorting through wheel weights for a 30% yield of lead. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadman Posted July 29, 2015 Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 I pay $0.70 a pound for pure scrap lead. My time is better spent playing Diablo III than sorting through wheel weights for a 30% yield of lead. That is a great price for lead. I can't touch it here from the scrap yard for under $2. Great deal you got there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odinohi Posted July 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 It's still around 80% here in Ohio. But it is coming nationwide before long. Where are you guys located? I put adds up and pay no more than .40 lb. Been getting sailboat keel lead lately. I had a guy call me, he has a keel encased in fiberglass. Total pain to get the lead out. Offered him 100.00. We'll see. It's estimated 2000 lb. To me It's worth my time to get it cheap. That is why I'm going to start spincasting. Only so much time in the day. I don't know why, but this year the lead is finding me and I like it. Like it a lot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LimpNoodle Posted July 29, 2015 Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 I'm close to Dallas Texas. I helped a buddy with a 55 gallon barrel of wheel weights he got for $0.25 a pound. We ended up with 175 lbs of lead and 3/4 of a barrel of scrap. He figured that that lead ran him $2.50 a pound. I turned him on to my source and he's very happy now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalljaw Posted July 29, 2015 Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 I pay a good bit as I get my lead from Roto Metals and to be honest, it pays for itself in terms of time. I could not believe the time I save, the first part is when I melt the ingots into smaller ones I no longer have to flux the lead then skim off the slag, instead I melt and make ingots. The other way I save time is a lot fewer incomplete pours, it is remarkable how well good clean lead pours and the only time I flux is after I'm done pouring and the lead cools and hardens, the next day when I fire up the pot I'll flux it and that is all I need, I get a tiny 1/4 teaspoon of slag or dross and that is it, before when I used scrap lead I'd get pounds of slag in a matter of a week and I had to constantly flux it. So it may cost me a little more but the amount of time I save is great, now I spend time pouring baits rather than breaking down scrap like I use to do, and don't get me wrong, I had a source of free lead a while ago and it was soft plumbers lead and it was great but I still had to take a full day to break it down and clean it and then pour into ingots. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNOWMAN CUSTOM BAITS Posted July 29, 2015 Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 I get 100% pure scrap lead for free but it's pretty dirty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LimpNoodle Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 I can smelt 200 lbs of scrap lead in about an hour. I use a propane cooker with a dutch oven. Fill the dutch oven with scrap and keep adding scrap as it melts. Oven holds right at 100 lbs of lead. Once the oven is pretty full I flux it with the FA flux. Skim and then use my Rowell ladle to fill the muffin pan. Using the Rowell ladle keeps anything I missed during the skim out of my lead muffins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odinohi Posted July 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 I had a piece of 12" pipe made into a bottom pour smelter. It will hold over 200 lbs of molten lead. Had to replace the valve this year. Once melted I pour 100 lb of ingots in about 10 minutes. Then I let them cool a bit before dumping and refilling. They do leave a little dross on each ingot, about a half spoon full. What is this FA flux? Never heard of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odinohi Posted July 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 I had a piece of 12" pipe made into a bottom pour smelter. It will hold over 200 lbs of molten lead. Had to replace the valve this year. Once melted I pour 100 lb of ingots in about 10 minutes. Then I let them cool a bit before dumping and refilling. They do leave a little dross on each ingot, about a half spoon full. What is this FA flux? Never heard of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odinohi Posted July 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Sorry for the double post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LimpNoodle Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Frankford Arsenal Clean Cast. Uses 1/8th teaspoon for 10 lbs of lead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLT Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 I have close to 700# of w/w in the shed. All for free, that's why I use it. Have about 500 in soft lead also. My free ww source may be drying up, so may just order from roto metals also. W Weights are mostly for sinkers anyway, hate to use good lead for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odinohi Posted July 31, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2015 I traded 200 smaller sized wheel weights for a full bucket. The national chain tire shops can't really do any trading with because they send theirs back to their vendors (contracted), but that's ok. Gonna hit two mom and pop shops Monday. They have 6 full buckets between the 2. Also got a bucket for free today from Toyota dealer. Mostly steel and zinc. What do you want for free! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
