learned 4 yrs late

For 3 1/2 to 4 yrs I had found a short steel component of the electric company They are a steel shaft that has a ceramic bell shaped piece that wires would be twisted on I have found in the last bunch of years I bet 300 of them if not more .
All I ever did was toss em as short , till last week the yard guy rejects them as short . I go ho-there thats short if ever their was short
He says to me yes but look at the threaded part THATS LEAD !! LEAD ??
I said to my self lead !!!! man lead darn !! DARN IT !!!
I said to the yard guy THANK YOU
He must of saw my brain percolating and he says just don't breath in the fumes
I melted 6 ends to day it turned in to 2 pounds of lead



I figure I lost out on 100 lbs of lead at least

Yes quality of lead is fine very clean melt, all I did was put the 6 shafts in a cast iron pot lead at bottom . I made a fire of cardboard and wood and it melted off fast
poured into a mold and 2 lbs.

A better description
They are called Glazed Porcelain / ceramic Tel - Electrical Insulator ,but the steel shaft with lead threaded end is whats important. . Many years ago they screwed onto a wood shaft with threads . Now the shafts are made of steel and bolt on to the polls, the Porcelain / ceramic spins on .

I am still getting really irked as to how much lead i passed up on .
SO is it possible all the TV boards i toss @ .15 could also be heated and the silver lead tin solder will fall off
into the pot.

SO is it possible all the TV boards i toss @ .15 could also be heated and the silver lead tin solder will fall off
into the pot.

From personal experience I really don't think you want to be breathing any of the misc. fumes that would be coming off of that mess.
That's a quick way to ruin your lungs. I have COPD and emphysema and some of that could have possibly came from me repairing radios
and doing soldering for the past 20 years. Even tho I tried to use an exhaust fan while soldering.

Originally Posted by Copper Head

SO is it possible all the TV boards i toss @ .15 could also be heated and the silver lead tin solder will fall off
into the pot.

You will not get get enough quantity to make it worth your time much less recover the expense involved.

What I see now with reclaiming lead or lead type is it's very up close personal work ,
your gonna pour off the melt so your gonna breath in some thing,
I bet boards will deliver a lead type but your also gonna deal with many pounds of chard board that will kill you in time .

But I am rethinking battery's here is why
First I find Bats free
Well cleaned lead is worth $ 1.70 lb to people & they will pay
forget about the yard only paying .40 cents LB
I feel lead will increase in value over the years
So do you want to hoard Bats ? not really for me

Recently I had about 6 of those small Lead Acid Bats used for safety lamps
I figured lets give it a try once more .
Bottom line I got 1 pound of clean lead from 6 little Bats
so yes it's worth not much at the .40 at the yard and $1.70 to gun people which is not really a real gain BUT it's free except for my time
So it's a good investment
,I feel lead will have more value in the years to come, so if I can
build a lead stash thats a winner.
For sure Bats can deliver great lead but you get a lot of char
If you believe Wickapidia lead will run out in the years to come,
so recycling of lead is very important now and that is not gonna change.

AL is findable as is CU
But Lead is hard to find and when you find it you gotta work it ,
thats sign of truth

everything about lead you might want to know. Happy learning
The metallurgy of lead: including desilverisartion and cupellation - John Percy - Google Books

page 524 has the answers to the lead poisoning

Re-loaders of ammunition will not buy the lead possibly when they find out it is from batteries. I have forgotten why but when we reloaded and cast out own slugs one rule was not to use lead from batteries.

I did not give the acid much thought but these were little bats, If I ever go for a larger bat I'll have to give it some consideration but I live in the country so if I was to put it on the road there are no street drains . so it's just gonna disperse . I could flush in to my septic for what harm will it cause in that cud .

ammo people
might not like the loss , once you have all the lead from the Bat out it's a good amount you could go the the yard with it. Now when you put all those plates to melt it seems to me the loss is 50% to 75% of the lead from those plates . It chars up big time . Once lead is molten it flows like water so you can pour into a mold and the heavy char stays behind in the melting pot .
The first clean melt looks like nice lead , Its lead-- Once a person was to have say 10 15 pounds of those first melts then you can remelt and really clean it
using wax in the Multan lead and removing Dross.
As to what I see and research I see lead can be worked but yes you will lose some weight as you purify .There may be some other elements in bat lead that I am unaware of .Still the one pound blob, I used a small sand box and scooped out a long hole as my mold, sure looks nice ,feels heavy for it's size it's lead for sure.

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As to lead poison I don't take it lightly but I am out side . Also the paint work i did in my life I can tell you was worse than this
I must have some lead in my system just from the homes i worked on in my life , sanding scrapping absolutely , Oil paints , Moisture cure clear coats , my eyes used to burn . I sand walls and that buds is hay there .
I seem healthy for all I did so this is what I do & I do it - it's my lot in life.

I did not give the acid much thought but these were little bats, If I ever go for a larger bat I'll have to give it some consideration but I live in the country so if I was to put it on the road there are no street drains . so it's just gonna disperse . I could flush in to my septic for what harm will it cause in that cud

It's not really a good idea to dispose of the acid by pouring it on the ground, this can contaminate your water supply system. This solution can have traces of lead in it. It would be better to neutralize it to a PH of about 7 at that point anything in the solution should drop out. You can use ash from hard wood fire to neutralize the solution.

Might as well use this thread
OK first a system has to be developed as to getting at the plates efficiently
NEXT
one 24 pound batteries @ a local value by me = $5.75
first batch of lead ( clean) is 4 pounds = $ 1.60 value at yard
Next i have a charred up rock with lead from the first melting
I see the lead there BUT
I have to pound that out to a fine mix then re melt
I might be able to pull out another 3 to 4 pounds
But I see even if I pull 8 pounds total thats only a local scrap yard price of $3.20
yet e bay might go $10 to $12
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My feeling is the mouton lead that pours is lead &
as lead becomes molten it burns off impurities .
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For me as I feel lead will increase in value,
I feel it's work that will pay off
BUT is not a necessity to melt all your Batteries to get lead
but a few here and there might build a nice lead stash
wile you cash in on some of the Batteries as is

I started this post on 07-11-2013, & today is the 21 of July
from the Bats and the electric company items I am at 9 LBS lead
time will tell

might as well tell what i have been learning
I am doing this on a fire pit , & wood
I use a cast iron pot about 10 inches by 12 inches tall
I find cast iron holds heat well so during the pour all comes out
a stainless steel pot works but cools to fast so some lead can stay in pot

The pour skill is key as you can have floating char that will stay put during the pour
just go very slow , My years as a painter actually helps here as pouring paint from buckets is the same feel

In reference to batteries , Take apart as well as you can lead oxide will not melt well - nor will some noticeably damaged lead from some of the cells
So before the melt look for very VERY brittle portions - if it snaps like a potato chip,that is not turning into lead so remove as much as practical .it's OK to have some but if you have to much of the non melt type , it is to much weight - the weight of that mass can absorb some of the molten lead like a sponge & make it pretty much gone - - it sinks into the molten lead.
The lead oxide can melt to form a rock like sponge & it still has decent weight so it will pull the good lead into it .
Since this sponge lead can be busted with a hammer I doubt it could be sold .
Still i wonder if there is a way to treat the lead oxide first to separate the bond . I am hearing hints that charcoal might do the trick
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I can see ,if us scrappers want to act like we recycle & do good .
Batteries are some thing we really can't do proper
The plastic I can recycle , The acid I cant & the lead oxide I cant (as of yet) It's a real concern this lead oxide ,
as it is converted to metallic lead at facilities .
So I guess I took the challenge but I am not going to start contributing 100 of pounds of lead oxide to land fills ,as it is poison - even I can see might be worse then metallic lead,
as it's soluble into a powdery muck.
There are more then enough other source of lead to avoid this type of gluttony .

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The quality of the Batteries lead is usable by experts - - as they know what it takes to sweeten up the not 100% pure lead
most lead is not 100% pure . Roofing lead is the jewel most wanted .
If your looking to have what is needed for future value in reference to lead , stock pile some pewter (97% tin) & and some zinc on hand , thats what is used to adjust lead to the liking of different applications.

Next

When you have a pot of molten lead NEVER put water on it ,it will react POSITIVELY and fly all over never use water to speed up the initial cool down ( wile still liquid)
After the pour leave alone , let get good and hard .Then turn mold over they will fall out. CAUTION those bars are still very hot . It's up to you but I give it another 5 min then plop em in water
Also if you have a pot of molten lead up and running . Putting in non melted lead will cause a reaction like putting water on it .
Best bet is to melt the amount from start and thats the batch.
THERE is no room for mistakes THATS ALL .Once you are committed and holding that pot you better be focused You have a tiger by the tail.

NO WATER
DON"T DO IN THE RAIN.
I can guarantee
it will react explosive to water

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