Lead from "lead water pipe"

[BIG SKY TRAPPER]

My new job I started working a small town, water and sewer.  As we fix leaks ect acroos the main lines and such, If we find Lead  Water Line, we are required to dig it up and replace to the property line with plastic.  

So I have an almost endless supply of this stuff.

It is dead soft (can dig it out with a finger nail) aproximatly 3/4 dia, less than an 1/8 wall thickness.  But seems a little light in the weight dept for being "lead".  It melts right down as fast as lead.  

Ive googled it, and can come up with any composition, just lots of lead poisioning articles from the gov on how to get it out of your drinking lines ect...

Your thoughts on using this for round balls??
I still have plenty of plumbers lead, wheel weights and linotype to mix it up if needed...

[jbullard1]

Ship all you dig up to ME  

Melt it down, pour it and then SHOOT IT

[Sean McKown]

No kiddin,  I would take all the lead pipe i could find.

[Trois Castors]

It is dead soft (can dig it out with a finger nail)

That sounds good!

Regards,

[Uncle Russ]

Back in the 70's and early 80's, Lead "Pipe" was very sought after for casting dead soft projectiles. I have, from time to time, seen an honest BHN of 5 with pipe. It is hard to find that nowadays, even with the high dollar stuff!

I haven't seen any for a long time, and I'm actually surprised to hear there is still some in the ground.

Good stuff, for sure.

If I recall, back when lead pipe was readily available, it created a tremendous amount of dross in the pot from the chemicals used in water treatment processes....best thing to flux the stuff with was a simple birthday cake candle, or a green stick.
When she flared up, you just light the smoke and it quickly settled down. Clean all the ugly off the top and it looked like a pot full of nice clean silver....ahhh, the good old days!

Congratulations on your find!

Uncle Russ...

[BIG SKY TRAPPER]

good deal for me! then. Today I pulled nearly 40 feet of the stuff, tommorrow will pull another 40 feet, almost a 100 pounds worth!  

WOOOHHHHOOOO!

[BEAVERMAN]

BST Ill send Fletcher over to get all you want to get rid of, he and I will hook up somewhere down the line, plumbers lead and lead water pipe is the best you can find in a scrap yard! Used to know an old plumber here in town that had 4000 lbs of lead ingots from retro fitting all the old mill houses here, could have picked it up for free, I went over and got 200 lbs once, next time I went over to see Floyd, he had passed and the house was sold and the lead was long gone!! didnt have anywhere to put the 4000 else id still be running ball with it! lucky boy you are!

[KHickam]

Big Sky Trapper - Sounds great I try to get all I can at the scrap yards - love it

[BIG SKY TRAPPER]

Beaverman....might cost ya one of fletcher bows hahahahah

[BEAVERMAN]

He might just go for that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[R.M.]

BST, be careful with that stuff. The moisture will remain in the scale for years, even when stored indoors. You don't want to know what happens when you stick a piece of it into a pot of molten lead. It ain't pretty. Well it actually is, shiny lead tinsel all over the place.
I cut it with an axe, and stand it up in an empty pot, then turn on the heat. All the moisture will evaporate by the time the lead melts.
Really good stuff for balls. Be safe.

[melsdad]

Looks like you hit the lead jackpot!!

[Gambia]

Your thoughts on using this for round balls??
I still have plenty of plumbers lead, wheel weights

You defenitly hit the jackpot. keep all you can get. I look for this stuff to be very hard to get in the future. as for the wheel weights....I would get rid of them. too much tin.
Just my opinion

[Stryker]

When I got out of the service in 1987, I worked for a few months in a lead factory until I got situated. We made all sorts of stuff, including lead pipe. The stuff we made was very soft. Very little antimony. Not as soft as came lead, but it was the same stuff we made into wire and sold to ammunition companies who cold pressed their ammo.

[Fletcher]

BST - been there done that also.

As RM said there is a lot of trapped water and some WAY NASTY scale inside the pipes.

I boiled down about 50 feet of the stuff about 12 years ago.

I have a large Plmbers cast iron pot.  I set it up on a couple concrete blocks with a metal tray over them outside on the concrete patio.  I used a camping fry pan screen over the pot to keep the scatter down.  Some of that noxious crap will literally try to explode out of the pot.

I sawed the pipe into 4" chunks with a sawsall so they would fit the pot.  I have a single burner propane stove that I use only for lead casting.

I know that is a lot of special stuff - but I am a gadget freak and will go a long way to get FREE STUFF.

All in all it was a pretty easy go of it.  I just made sure the wind was away from the house and would flux the pot with wax after it boiled down.  I poured off the lead into my Lyman ingot mold that has 4 bars.  Worked out pretty well.  I must say the lead we stripped out of the Xray room was overall less work for the effort.

But soft lead is good wherever you can get it.