davycrockett Posted February 4, 2010 Report Share Posted February 4, 2010 Gentlemen, At work we have a contractor doing demo work in a building. The demo area was a medical/rehab center and has an X- Ray room with lead - lined walls. The contractor said I could have all the lead after they demoed the area. The sheets are about 1/8" thick and are sandwiched between the metal studs and the drywall. The sheets should be easy to score with a utility knife and reduce down to more managable size for the melting pot. Have any of you used this type of lead? As I said it is mine for the taking and should give me more lead than I'll ever. Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks in advance guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boomer Posted February 4, 2010 Report Share Posted February 4, 2010 Gentlemen, At work we have a contractor doing demo work in a building. The demo area was a medical/rehab center and has an X- Ray room with lead - lined walls. The contractor said I could have all the lead after they demoed the area. The sheets are about 1/8" thick and are sandwiched between the metal studs and the drywall. The sheets should be easy to score with a utility knife and reduce down to more managable size for the melting pot. Have any of you used this type of lead? As I said it is mine for the taking and should give me more lead than I'll ever. Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks in advance guys! That's about the purest lead that you can get. Lucky you. Take as much as you can. What you can't use you can readily sell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davycrockett Posted February 4, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2010 As soon as I entered my post I noticed another post had just been posted concerning x-ray lead. What are the odds? Thanks Boomer. The room is roughly 12 x 12 so I should have plenty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Grump Posted February 4, 2010 Report Share Posted February 4, 2010 As soon as I entered my post I noticed another post had just been posted concerning x-ray lead. What are the odds? Thanks Boomer. The room is roughly 12 x 12 so I should have plenty. What Bommer said. I've been paying $.75/lb for that when I can get it. You anywhere close to SE Minnesota? UG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbonanny Posted February 4, 2010 Report Share Posted February 4, 2010 Gentlemen, At work we have a contractor doing demo work in a building. The demo area was a medical/rehab center and has an X- Ray room with lead - lined walls. The contractor said I could have all the lead after they demoed the area. The sheets are about 1/8" thick and are sandwiched between the metal studs and the drywall. The sheets should be easy to score with a utility knife and reduce down to more managable size for the melting pot. Have any of you used this type of lead? As I said it is mine for the taking and should give me more lead than I'll ever. Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks in advance guys! I aquired some of this years ago and haven't had too much trouble with it. The biggest pain is that it is paper backed, so you are going to need to flux your pot eveytim you add more, and than flux it again. It is pure lead as far as I was told, and pours well. I wound up giving a lot away as I had nowhere to store it all, but still have 30-40 lbs left. Kirk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jig Man Posted February 4, 2010 Report Share Posted February 4, 2010 (edited) I got a 4X8 sheet of that and about 100 # of radio active med. containers. I have been working on using them up for 10 years and have a lot left. Edited February 4, 2010 by Jig Man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hybrideye Posted February 4, 2010 Report Share Posted February 4, 2010 (edited) DC, I posted about it.....let me know what you think about it after you melt it. It does pour very nice but I am having an issue with a gold film even after fluxing multiple times. For free I ain't complaining!! I have around 400 lbs of it so I am in the same boat as you, as was said before the paper is a pain and I kinda freaked out when it caught fire and smoked up the shop!! Figured I'd grow a couple new appendages after inhaling that........ Edited February 4, 2010 by hybrideye Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davycrockett Posted February 6, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2010 Thanks for the responses guys! I got a little anxious at first but was told today they weren't going to demo the other 3 walls! Then a co-worker and I divied up the pile (he pours bullets) so I didn't end up with the obscene amount I was hoping for. I still have more than I can use for quite some time. I haven't weighed the pile but there must be a couple 100 pounds there. We are getting a snow storm and they are calling for nasty stuff for the next 24 hrs. so I decided to leave the lead in the back of my truck for traction! The gypsum paper backing looks to be the biggest chore to remove. I plan on cutting the pieces down to smaller stuff with tin snips and melting it down into ingots. I am going to use parrafin as flux. It ought to be interesting! Thanks again guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davycrockett Posted February 20, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2010 Just finished getting the lead worked up into smaller (12" x 12") pieces that I can work with. I ended up scoring the sheets with a utility knife. I removed as much drywall and paper that would come off easily as I went. In all I ended up with 485# It really added up. I figure I'll begin to melt 100# or so down into ingots and flux it so it can be used. I will probably sell most of it. What would be a fair asking price per# for the state that it is in?(small sheets) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jig Man Posted February 20, 2010 Report Share Posted February 20, 2010 If you have or can lay hands on a propane fish cooker, get a cast iron pot and melt the stuff down out doors. All the burning will go into the wind and you can dip off the gunk and ladle the lead into ingots. That is a lot easier than using the lead pot and only doing a few pounds at a time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davycrockett Posted February 20, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2010 If you have or can lay hands on a propane fish cooker, get a cast iron pot and melt the stuff down out doors. All the burning will go into the wind and you can dip off the gunk and ladle the lead into ingots. That is a lot easier than using the lead pot and only doing a few pounds at a time. Thanks Jigman. I planned on using my old cooker/burner (I bought a new one for feesh last spring ). I just need to locate a cast pot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBK Posted February 28, 2010 Report Share Posted February 28, 2010 If you can clean it and get it into ingots, I'd say $1 a pound is VERY reasonable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LedHed Posted March 1, 2010 Report Share Posted March 1, 2010 If you are taking the time to clean and pour the lead into ingots you are better of keeping the lead. It’s surprising, when you get into pouring, how fast you go through lead….. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
