A friend offer me part of a sailboat's lead ballast. It has a strange
shape. He told me it's about 500 lbs. It's soft enough to scratch with
my fingernail. I'm wondering how I can cut it into manageable pieces.
OK, don't laugh but my first thought is a chain saw. Any better ideas?
Then I have to figure out how to get enough Tin and Antimony to make
the lead hard enough to use.

Tom Gardner mars@tacks writes:

A friend offer me part of a sailboat's lead ballast. It has a strange
shape. He told me it's about 500 lbs. It's soft enough to scratch with
my fingernail. I'm wondering how I can cut it into manageable pieces.
OK, don't laugh but my first thought is a chain saw. Any better ideas?
Then I have to figure out how to get enough Tin and Antimony to make
the lead hard enough to use.

An axe?

(Depends on the shape, I guess. I'm thinking of a longish keel kind
of thing..)

--
Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada

"Tom Gardner" mars@tacks wrote in message
...
A friend offer me part of a sailboat's lead ballast. It has a strange
shape. He told me it's about 500 lbs. It's soft enough to scratch with my
fingernail. I'm wondering how I can cut it into manageable pieces. OK,
don't laugh but my first thought is a chain saw. Any better ideas? Then I
have to figure out how to get enough Tin and Antimony to make the lead hard
enough to use.


OA torch? Propane torch?

Melt & run off into usable "ingots"

On 2011-10-21, Tom Gardner mars@tacks wrote:
A friend offer me part of a sailboat's lead ballast. It has a strange
shape. He told me it's about 500 lbs. It's soft enough to scratch with
my fingernail. I'm wondering how I can cut it into manageable pieces.
OK, don't laugh but my first thought is a chain saw. Any better ideas?
Then I have to figure out how to get enough Tin and Antimony to make
the lead hard enough to use.

I also vote for an axe.

i

Tom Gardner mars@tacks fired this volley in
:

A friend offer me part of a sailboat's lead ballast. It has a strange
shape. He told me it's about 500 lbs. It's soft enough to scratch with
my fingernail. I'm wondering how I can cut it into manageable pieces.
OK, don't laugh but my first thought is a chain saw. Any better ideas?
Then I have to figure out how to get enough Tin and Antimony to make
the lead hard enough to use.


You've probably already surmised that an ordinary saw won't work.

Depending upon the dimensions, a pair of "jaws of life" shears may be the
way to go. I published a booklet once that included how to make lead
balls for ball milling media, and the best way to cut the 3/4" rods of
lead turned out to be lever-action lopping shears.

A chain saw might work, but make sure it's got a safety-cut style of
chain that limits the depth of cut per tooth, and POUR cutting oil all
over the work -- otherwise, as you probably know, lead will gall on and
smear over almost any other metal.

LLoyd

Tom Gardner mars@tacks wrote in
:

A friend offer me part of a sailboat's lead ballast. It has a strange
shape. He told me it's about 500 lbs. It's soft enough to scratch with
my fingernail. I'm wondering how I can cut it into manageable pieces.
OK, don't laugh but my first thought is a chain saw. Any better ideas?
Then I have to figure out how to get enough Tin and Antimony to make
the lead hard enough to use.

I do NOT recommend a cold chisel. I grew up in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and
my dad was a reloader. He got some lead shielding bricks (no, they were
not radioactive) at the lab's surplus yard. They were about the size of
normal house bricks, and were too big to go into his lead pot in one piece,
so he paid my brothers & me a nickel an hour to cut them up with a cold
chisel. Unless you are both very strong and have a lot of time on your
hands, (or have some young boys who will work cheap), cutting up a 500
pound keel weight that way is gonna be a problem.

Splitting wedges & a maul might do it. Lot's of ventilation & a cutting
torch would be faster.

Doug White

On Fri, 21 Oct 2011 01:46:58 -0400, Tom Gardner mars@tacks wrote:

A friend offer me part of a sailboat's lead ballast. It has a strange
shape. He told me it's about 500 lbs. It's soft enough to scratch with
my fingernail.

Probably almost pure lead.


I'm wondering how I can cut it into manageable pieces.
OK, don't laugh but my first thought is a chain saw. Any better ideas?
Then I have to figure out how to get enough Tin and Antimony to make
the lead hard enough to use.

A regular handsaw or axe might work better/create less mess. Remember
that you'll have to clean up after it, too, so put down a tarp.

OR

You could use a blowtorch and hold your flintlock bullet casting dies
under it while you work. wink

--
Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.
-- Franklin D. Roosevelt

On Oct 21, 1:46*am, Tom Gardner mars@tacks wrote:
A friend offer me part of a sailboat's lead ballast. *It has a strange
shape. *He told me it's about 500 lbs. It's soft enough to scratch with
my fingernail. *I'm wondering how I can cut it into manageable pieces.
OK, don't laugh but my first thought is a chain saw. *Any better ideas?
* Then I have to figure out how to get enough Tin and Antimony to make
the lead hard enough to use.

Big hot fire, suspend lead on a pipe frame, catchpan, sluices to a
molds (or just holes in the ground).

Or a big sluice into a big vat of water, just make little lead chunks.

Could use a pavement-slicing tip on the end of a jackhammer.

Drill the living heck out of it until you can pry/drag/carve slices
off it.

Dave

"Dave__67" wrote in message
...

On Oct 21, 1:46 am, Tom Gardner mars@tacks wrote:
A friend offer me part of a sailboat's lead ballast. It has a strange
shape. He told me it's about 500 lbs. It's soft enough to scratch with
my fingernail. I'm wondering how I can cut it into manageable pieces.
OK, don't laugh but my first thought is a chain saw. Any better ideas?
Then I have to figure out how to get enough Tin and Antimony to make
the lead hard enough to use.

Big hot fire, suspend lead on a pipe frame, catchpan, sluices to a
molds (or just holes in the ground).

Or a big sluice into a big vat of water, just make little lead chunks.

Could use a pavement-slicing tip on the end of a jackhammer.

Drill the living heck out of it until you can pry/drag/carve slices
off it.

Dave

Ripsaw, and go very easy. Don't try using a crosscut, it will just bind and
go nowhere.

--
Ed Huntress

In article , mars@tacks
says...
A friend offer me part of a sailboat's lead ballast. It has a strange
shape. He told me it's about 500 lbs. It's soft enough to scratch with
my fingernail. I'm wondering how I can cut it into manageable pieces.
OK, don't laugh but my first thought is a chain saw. Any better ideas?
Then I have to figure out how to get enough Tin and Antimony to make
the lead hard enough to use.


Take it down to Reserve Trading on W 140th St, they specialize in lead
for the reloading industry. That's where we sell reclaimed bullets from
the range. Trade it for some of their hard cast. They make it for Lyman
and others.

--
DT

On Fri, 21 Oct 2011 06:06:57 -0500, "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh"
lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:

Tom Gardner mars@tacks fired this volley in
m:

A friend offer me part of a sailboat's lead ballast. It has a strange
shape. He told me it's about 500 lbs. It's soft enough to scratch with
my fingernail. I'm wondering how I can cut it into manageable pieces.
OK, don't laugh but my first thought is a chain saw. Any better ideas?
Then I have to figure out how to get enough Tin and Antimony to make
the lead hard enough to use.


You've probably already surmised that an ordinary saw won't work.

Depending upon the dimensions, a pair of "jaws of life" shears may be the
way to go. I published a booklet once that included how to make lead
balls for ball milling media, and the best way to cut the 3/4" rods of
lead turned out to be lever-action lopping shears.

A chain saw might work, but make sure it's got a safety-cut style of
chain that limits the depth of cut per tooth, and POUR cutting oil all
over the work -- otherwise, as you probably know, lead will gall on and
smear over almost any other metal.

LLoyd

A chain saw does work, and kerosene makes a good lube. It might be
worth filing a tiny flat on the leading edge of the teeth, like
dubbing a drill for brass, to minimize self-feeding.

I've also cut a chunk off a keel with a bow saw, but wouldn't if I had
a chain saw available.

--
Ned Simmons

On 10/20/2011 10:46 PM, Tom Gardner wrote:
A friend offer me part of a sailboat's lead ballast. It has a strange
shape. He told me it's about 500 lbs. It's soft enough to scratch with
my fingernail. I'm wondering how I can cut it into manageable pieces.
OK, don't laugh but my first thought is a chain saw. Any better ideas?
Then I have to figure out how to get enough Tin and Antimony to make the
lead hard enough to use.
You have lots of interesting suggestions. I would like to suggest you
use a power wood splitter. Some of them are designed to operate without
having to lift the wood up onto the splitter. Your 500 lb. piece could
just stay on the ground and be slid onto the bottom of the splitter.

Paul

On 10/21/2011 9:11 AM, DT wrote:
In articlezeqdnXxhSKTJmjzTnZ2dnUVZ_hGdnZ2d@giganews. com, mars@tacks
says...
A friend offer me part of a sailboat's lead ballast. It has a strange
shape. He told me it's about 500 lbs. It's soft enough to scratch with
my fingernail. I'm wondering how I can cut it into manageable pieces.
OK, don't laugh but my first thought is a chain saw. Any better ideas?
Then I have to figure out how to get enough Tin and Antimony to make
the lead hard enough to use.


Take it down to Reserve Trading on W 140th St, they specialize in lead
for the reloading industry. That's where we sell reclaimed bullets from
the range. Trade it for some of their hard cast. They make it for Lyman
and others.


Cool! What range are you talking about?

In article , mars@tacks
says...
On 10/21/2011 9:11 AM, DT wrote:
In articlezeqdnXxhSKTJmjzTnZ2dnUVZ_hGdnZ2d@giganews. com, mars@tacks
says...
A friend offer me part of a sailboat's lead ballast. It has a
strange
shape. He told me it's about 500 lbs. It's soft enough to scratch
with
my fingernail. I'm wondering how I can cut it into manageable
pieces.
OK, don't laugh but my first thought is a chain saw. Any better
ideas?
Then I have to figure out how to get enough Tin and Antimony to
make
the lead hard enough to use.


Take it down to Reserve Trading on W 140th St, they specialize in lead
for the reloading industry. That's where we sell reclaimed bullets
from the range. Trade it for some of their hard cast. They make it for
Lyman and others.


Cool! What range are you talking about?


I am currently reclaiming the lead from our outdoor range at Beaver
Creek Sportsman's Club, near Oberlin, to meet the EPA's best management
practices for outdoor ranges. We expect to get well in excess of 10,000
lbs.

I had to design and build the machinery that takes in tough clumps of
clay and processes it and separates it into fine dirt to put back on the
berm, and the bullets. Plus lots of gravel, unfortunately.

That's the hardest part, separating the bullets from gravel and small
lumps of clay, everything is the same size and can't be sorted by
screening. So it's into a gold mining sluice for the final stage.

We have three stages of machinery, 30 horsepower total, plus 3 electric
conveyor belts to link everything. The front end loader drops everything
onto the feed conveyor, and I turn around and ten feet away, it's
raining bullets into our cart. The cleaned dirt travels up a farm
conveyor (grain elevator) and back on the berm. It's amazing.

I also have a another process to separate bullets from shredded rubber
from indoor ranges. Still perfecting that one. It's coming along well, I
just have to make it more continous, right now it is a small batch at a
time. I just picked up a small conveyor belt from HGR, it's all aluminum
and plastic so it won't rust (this is a wet separation process).

--
DT

In article ,
Tom Gardner mars@tacks wrote:

A friend offer me part of a sailboat's lead ballast. It has a strange
shape. He told me it's about 500 lbs. It's soft enough to scratch with
my fingernail. I'm wondering how I can cut it into manageable pieces.
OK, don't laugh but my first thought is a chain saw. Any better ideas?
Then I have to figure out how to get enough Tin and Antimony to make
the lead hard enough to use.

Mallet and chisel. No messy "sawdust" to deal with, and if all you are
trying to do is get it into manageable chunks, works fine. Figure out
how big a bite you can take, take it, and then take the next one, gen
that you are dealing with an odd-shaped lump.

With sheet lead, chisel-cutting can do fairly precise work (I spent a
while lead-armoring photomultiplier tubes when I was a lab technician -
cutting and then forming sheet lead.)

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by
Please don't feed the trolls. Killfile and ignore them so they will go away.

DT wrote:

(...)

That's the hardest part, separating the bullets from gravel and small
lumps of clay, everything is the same size and can't be sorted by
screening. So it's into a gold mining sluice for the final stage.

Eddy current sorter!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GC5--8ff3E

--Winston

In article ,
says...
DT wrote:

(...)

That's the hardest part, separating the bullets from gravel and small
lumps of clay, everything is the same size and can't be sorted by
screening. So it's into a gold mining sluice for the final stage.

Eddy current sorter!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GC5--8ff3E


Now that's what I'm talking about! That setup in the video looks almost
like our operation, with close-coupled machines linked by conveyors. Not
much explanation, I'll have to start reading.

--
DT

Sawzall comes to mind. Dust mask, and high filtration vacuum
cleaner near the blade.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Tom Gardner" mars@tacks wrote in message
...
A friend offer me part of a sailboat's lead ballast. It has
a strange
shape. He told me it's about 500 lbs. It's soft enough to
scratch with
my fingernail. I'm wondering how I can cut it into
manageable pieces.
OK, don't laugh but my first thought is a chain saw. Any
better ideas?
Then I have to figure out how to get enough Tin and
Antimony to make
the lead hard enough to use.

DT wrote:
In ,
says...

(...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GC5--8ff3E


Now that's what I'm talking about! That setup in the video looks almost
like our operation, with close-coupled machines linked by conveyors. Not
much explanation, I'll have to start reading.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_current#Repulsive_effects_and_levitation

I guess the bullets and gravel should be funneled on
to a narrow conveyor to limit the size of the
electromagnet needed to induce the current.
Perhaps an air curtain of some sort to cause the
levitated bullets to divert?

Alternatively:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coilgun

Anyway it sounds like a really fun project!

--Winston

I wish I lived closer. I'd gladly trade you some ingots of wheel
weight lead for your dead soft lead. I'd like to have some dead soft
lead for black powder shooting.

RWL



On Fri, 21 Oct 2011 01:46:58 -0400, Tom Gardner mars@tacks wrote:

A friend offer me part of a sailboat's lead ballast. It has a strange
shape. He told me it's about 500 lbs. It's soft enough to scratch with
my fingernail. I'm wondering how I can cut it into manageable pieces.
OK, don't laugh but my first thought is a chain saw. Any better ideas?
Then I have to figure out how to get enough Tin and Antimony to make
the lead hard enough to use.

UPS is out there.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


GeoLane at PTD dot NET wrote in message
...

I wish I lived closer. I'd gladly trade you some ingots of
wheel
weight lead for your dead soft lead. I'd like to have some
dead soft
lead for black powder shooting.

RWL



On Fri, 21 Oct 2011 01:46:58 -0400, Tom Gardner mars@tacks
wrote:

A friend offer me part of a sailboat's lead ballast. It
has a strange
shape. He told me it's about 500 lbs. It's soft enough to
scratch with
my fingernail. I'm wondering how I can cut it into
manageable pieces.
OK, don't laugh but my first thought is a chain saw. Any
better ideas?
Then I have to figure out how to get enough Tin and
Antimony to make
the lead hard enough to use.

An air chisel, sharpened to an acute angle, like for wood.
Whittle off shavings.

The shavings can be pot-melted afterward, to make
handy size cast slugs.

You can also turn lead into shavings fairly quickly with a
drill (but the metal is grabby).

On 10/21/2011 1:05 PM, DT wrote:
In articlelIqdnfVRbbyQBjzTnZ2dnUVZ_gGdnZ2d@giganews. com, mars@tacks
says...
On 10/21/2011 9:11 AM, DT wrote:
In articlezeqdnXxhSKTJmjzTnZ2dnUVZ_hGdnZ2d@giganews. com, mars@tacks
says...
A friend offer me part of a sailboat's lead ballast. It has a
strange
shape. He told me it's about 500 lbs. It's soft enough to scratch
with
my fingernail. I'm wondering how I can cut it into manageable
pieces.
OK, don't laugh but my first thought is a chain saw. Any better
ideas?
Then I have to figure out how to get enough Tin and Antimony to
make
the lead hard enough to use.


Take it down to Reserve Trading on W 140th St, they specialize in lead
for the reloading industry. That's where we sell reclaimed bullets
from the range. Trade it for some of their hard cast. They make it for
Lyman and others.


Cool! What range are you talking about?


I am currently reclaiming the lead from our outdoor range at Beaver
Creek Sportsman's Club, near Oberlin, to meet the EPA's best management
practices for outdoor ranges. We expect to get well in excess of 10,000
lbs.

I had to design and build the machinery that takes in tough clumps of
clay and processes it and separates it into fine dirt to put back on the
berm, and the bullets. Plus lots of gravel, unfortunately.

That's the hardest part, separating the bullets from gravel and small
lumps of clay, everything is the same size and can't be sorted by
screening. So it's into a gold mining sluice for the final stage.

We have three stages of machinery, 30 horsepower total, plus 3 electric
conveyor belts to link everything. The front end loader drops everything
onto the feed conveyor, and I turn around and ten feet away, it's
raining bullets into our cart. The cleaned dirt travels up a farm
conveyor (grain elevator) and back on the berm. It's amazing.

I also have a another process to separate bullets from shredded rubber
from indoor ranges. Still perfecting that one. It's coming along well, I
just have to make it more continous, right now it is a small batch at a
time. I just picked up a small conveyor belt from HGR, it's all aluminum
and plastic so it won't rust (this is a wet separation process).


We just refurbished our range in North Olmsted. It is ground rubber and
we found a company to take the material and return the rubber. They
said there was about 10k of metal in the rubber. We use conveyer belts
for the front, 10 feet of rubber then a steel wall.

Stormin Mormon wrote:
UPS is out there.

No no no. Not for _lead_! USPS Flat Rate Priority Mail. For example:
Small Flat Rate (8" x 5" x 2" +-) would hold a 31lb block & cost $5 to
mail (paid online & picked up at your house). Medium Flat Rate is $10 &
would hold 70lbs, the USPS max.

Bob

On Sat, 22 Oct 2011 02:27:18 -0400, Tom Gardner mars@tacks wrote:

We just refurbished our range in North Olmsted. It is ground rubber and
we found a company to take the material and return the rubber. They
said there was about 10k of metal in the rubber.

$10k or 10k pounds of metal?

--
....in order that a man may be happy, it is
necessary that he should not only be capable
of his work, but a good judge of his work.
-- John Ruskin

On Fri, 21 Oct 2011 01:46:58 -0400, Tom Gardner mars@tacks wrote:

A friend offer me part of a sailboat's lead ballast. It has a strange
shape. He told me it's about 500 lbs. It's soft enough to scratch with
my fingernail. I'm wondering how I can cut it into manageable pieces.
OK, don't laugh but my first thought is a chain saw. Any better ideas?
Then I have to figure out how to get enough Tin and Antimony to make
the lead hard enough to use.

Hmm... it's not as big as I visualized. 500 lb of lead is a bit more
than five gallons in volume. As has already been mentioned, I'd haul
an OA torch to the piece, place catchpans in strategic places to catch
the melt, and start melting. Actually, cutting. Cut in quarters
first. You might be able to manhandle the four 125 lb pieces into
your car or truck. Or just keep cutting. Once they're in eighths,
you may be able to drop a piece into a 4 or 5 quart cast iron kettle
and place it over a turkey-fryer burner to finish melting. Dip it
out, pour into ingots. Send me a couple for the great instruction.
:-)
--
Best -- Terry

On 10/22/2011 8:23 AM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Sat, 22 Oct 2011 02:27:18 -0400, Tom Gardnermars@tacks wrote:

We just refurbished our range in North Olmsted. It is ground rubber and
we found a company to take the material and return the rubber. They
said there was about 10k of metal in the rubber.

$10k or 10k pounds of metal?

--
...in order that a man may be happy, it is
necessary that he should not only be capable
of his work, but a good judge of his work.
-- John Ruskin


Well, lead's going for $1/lb (ingots) so, 10k lbs of metal (lots of
Copper jackets in there) is worth about 1/4 of $10k or less.

On Sun, 23 Oct 2011 03:58:26 -0400, Tom Gardner mars@tacks wrote:

On 10/22/2011 8:23 AM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Sat, 22 Oct 2011 02:27:18 -0400, Tom Gardnermars@tacks wrote:

We just refurbished our range in North Olmsted. It is ground rubber and
we found a company to take the material and return the rubber. They
said there was about 10k of metal in the rubber.

$10k or 10k pounds of metal?


Well, lead's going for $1/lb (ingots) so, 10k lbs of metal (lots of
Copper jackets in there) is worth about 1/4 of $10k or less.

Can the copper be salvaged/separated cleanly from the lead, or is it
tainted? (Maybe 'Arry will know this if you don't.)

In any case, I can see how processing it would be worth it to the
company.

--
....in order that a man may be happy, it is
necessary that he should not only be capable
of his work, but a good judge of his work.
-- John Ruskin

On 10/23/2011 9:19 AM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Sun, 23 Oct 2011 03:58:26 -0400, Tom Gardnermars@tacks wrote:

On 10/22/2011 8:23 AM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Sat, 22 Oct 2011 02:27:18 -0400, Tom Gardnermars@tacks wrote:

We just refurbished our range in North Olmsted. It is ground rubber and
we found a company to take the material and return the rubber. They
said there was about 10k of metal in the rubber.

$10k or 10k pounds of metal?


Well, lead's going for $1/lb (ingots) so, 10k lbs of metal (lots of
Copper jackets in there) is worth about 1/4 of $10k or less.

Can the copper be salvaged/separated cleanly from the lead, or is it
tainted? (Maybe 'Arry will know this if you don't.)

In any case, I can see how processing it would be worth it to the
company.

--
...in order that a man may be happy, it is
necessary that he should not only be capable
of his work, but a good judge of his work.
-- John Ruskin


I haven't found out what the club paid but we have a huge war chest,
we're very frugal. Great bunch of people and we have lots of programs
for the members, the ladies and the kids. We have a great commercial
kitchen and rent out the clubhouse for all sorts of events. The best
part is that it's four minutes away! I've learned more in the past
three years than I have all my life before I joined.

On Sun, 23 Oct 2011 19:46:35 -0400, Tom Gardner mars@tacks wrote:

On 10/23/2011 9:19 AM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Sun, 23 Oct 2011 03:58:26 -0400, Tom Gardnermars@tacks wrote:

On 10/22/2011 8:23 AM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Sat, 22 Oct 2011 02:27:18 -0400, Tom Gardnermars@tacks wrote:

We just refurbished our range in North Olmsted. It is ground rubber and
we found a company to take the material and return the rubber. They
said there was about 10k of metal in the rubber.

$10k or 10k pounds of metal?


Well, lead's going for $1/lb (ingots) so, 10k lbs of metal (lots of
Copper jackets in there) is worth about 1/4 of $10k or less.

Can the copper be salvaged/separated cleanly from the lead, or is it
tainted? (Maybe 'Arry will know this if you don't.)

In any case, I can see how processing it would be worth it to the
company.

I haven't found out what the club paid but we have a huge war chest,
we're very frugal.

Oh, I was under the assumption that the company did it for you in
return for the salvaged metal, but I forgot to ask.


Great bunch of people and we have lots of programs
for the members, the ladies and the kids. We have a great commercial
kitchen and rent out the clubhouse for all sorts of events. The best
part is that it's four minutes away! I've learned more in the past
three years than I have all my life before I joined.

Outstanding. You're an instructor there now, too, aren't you?

--
It is characteristic of all deep human problems that they are
not to be approached without some humor and some bewilderment.
-- Freeman Dyson