ominousone Posted March 31, 2006 Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 The local recycling plant that has lead says that I can look through the big drum of lead and pick out what I want. My question is this, what does soft lead look like? What is the most perferable lead to find? Is the most perferable for jigs soft lead? Help please, I am ignorant of alloy compostion, and whathaveyou. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LedHed Posted March 31, 2006 Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 At the local recycling plant look for lead sheets (flashing) or lead tubing ? this is usually plumbers lead and it is soft. You can tell by scratching it ? soft lead scratches easily. Stay away from car batteries ? not worth the hassle and health risks. The best lead is probably the sheets they use for X-ray rooms or lab grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WidowMaker Posted March 31, 2006 Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 When you go hrough the lead you need to have a pair of cutters on hand so you can "test cut" each piece of lead before you buy it. Thats how i check lead before buying it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ominousone Posted March 31, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 o.k. I will test cut it, but what am I looking for when I test cut it? What would be a good result, and what would be bad? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwendt1978 Posted March 31, 2006 Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 All you have to do is take a chunk and hit it on the corner of something hard. Don't hit to hard, but a decent whack and if it leaves a mark it's soft. The soft lead I got are strange looking machine parts that are in fact very shiny. Really nice lead. It's gonna be hard to find stuff in sheets. So take what you can get. The guy at the scrap yard should know also. Hard Lead like wheel weights, once in an ingot, is hard to put a dent in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nova Posted March 31, 2006 Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 The best way is always the easiest. If you can scratch it fairly easy with your thumbnail, it's probably soft lead. Also, as was said earlier, if it's in sheets or pipes, then it is soft lead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ominousone Posted April 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 O.k. thanks to all, I think I get it. Sheets, or pipes and the more scratchable the better. Soft lead feels soft. I guess it all makes sense. thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kman Posted April 1, 2006 Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 What they said. Also, when in ingot form, hard lead "clinks" when you bang them against each other or drop them on concrete. The soft stuff just goes thud. Good luck, Kurt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbor Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Kman is right. I just read thay somewhere else and I went out and clanged togather two ingots I made from wheel weights and the really ring. The deader the sound the softer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
