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ghost

How much do you pay for lead?

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Thats great stuff Ghost, I used to get it free from several local dentists until they were told they had to used a certified disposal agency. It's pure, very soft and you hardly have to scrape any junk off the top of your pot. I heard a quote yesterday of 40 cents a pound if you are selling it to a scrap dealer and 60 cents a pound if you are buying it. You can also see if they discard the old x-ray aprons and if you get really lucky you can tear down an old x-ray room, it's in the walls and the floor.

TJ

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I recently bought 300# of slaggy ballast lead and was glad to have got it for $.60 a lb. + shipping from another island. I'm surprised the dental lead has a price - my dentist saves his and I get it for free every six months at checkup time. Saves him the bother and shipping expense to a recycler.

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When you guys get lead from Dentists is it just 100% lead or is there other stuff with it?

It sure is pure. The lead pieces I get from my dentist are about 1" x 1-1/2" (rectangular) x .016 thick. When I take the whole bundle of lead from my dentist in my hands, and I squeeze it, it compresses together real easy, and it stays in that shape. However, a 5 lb chunk of lead, you will not be able to squeeze. Soft lead is very dense. Do a comparison test for yourself. Get yourself a chunk of really soft lead, and then take a tire weight. Take a sharp knife, and try to cut a sliver from both. You will see which is soft right away. The soft lead when cut with a knife will start to curl, as the blade attempts to cut it. You won't do that with hard lead

How does one inquire their dentist about obtaining lead? Lol. I think my dentist would look at me funny.

Believe it or not, it's not that un-common of a thing. I'm sure your dentist takes x-rays of people's teeth. Just ask him if they can save you the little x-ray packets. Odds are he will, if he isn't already saving them for someone else. My dentist even takes the lead out of the plastic seal for me. I pick up the lead every time I or my wife goes to the dentist. Then at Christmas time when my wife bakes cookies, I drop a tin off for the whole office, to show my appreciation.

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They're called "x-ray bite wings" and the alloy formulation isn't available on the internet. The approved recyclers require that the plastic and paper packing be removed from the lead film so in principal dental lead should be clean. Although my dentist is good about that with only a few smoking stinkers per batch another dentist office actually had a half dozen or so expensive looking stainless steel clips buried in the foils which I didn't notice until they floated on the melt.

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Local recyclers often aren't aware of the world market price, or don't want to bother. Out my way pure lead gets shipped out and the leftover scrap is often in short supply and expensive. Here's a link to metals supply prices at I believe the industrial supply level showing lead at $1.20-1.30 per lb.

http://mineralprices.com/

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