Also try your steel supplier. My guy used to sell lead from printers which is the best because it has less shrinkage. He had a big barrel of it but that was a few years ago. Now with EPA restrictions he may not be carrying it.
Melting lead for weights
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Stimw
Elite Member
The problem with old batteries is the lead is sulfated and can't be melted down. I was told that it had to be smelted to reclaim it. I tried years ago and got very little and a big mess.
At one time a friend brought me about 500 lbs of lead. He was installing drywall that had 1/8" lead on one side for X-ray rooms in a hospital. When they cut it to fit he grabbed the scrap pieces. It was pure lead too. I made sinkers, diving weights and anything else I could think of.
I use a coleman stove and an old aluminum sauce pan to melt it. A cast iron skillet works too. The trick is to get a puddle melted and then add to it. It melts quicker than just heating. Also never breathe the fumes and be sure it is dry before putting in the puddle or it will explode, sort of, from the water.
At one time a friend brought me about 500 lbs of lead. He was installing drywall that had 1/8" lead on one side for X-ray rooms in a hospital. When they cut it to fit he grabbed the scrap pieces. It was pure lead too. I made sinkers, diving weights and anything else I could think of.
I use a coleman stove and an old aluminum sauce pan to melt it. A cast iron skillet works too. The trick is to get a puddle melted and then add to it. It melts quicker than just heating. Also never breathe the fumes and be sure it is dry before putting in the puddle or it will explode, sort of, from the water.
Defective
Platinum Member
Something to think about...
If you have a good scrap metal dealer in your area, they'll buy the batteries from you & sell you clean lead.
This way you don't have to deal with the dangers to yourself and the environment.
Around here, I get $4.50 per battery and the last time I bought lead I spent 20 cents a pound.
Sometimes it's worth spending a little bit.
If you have a good scrap metal dealer in your area, they'll buy the batteries from you & sell you clean lead.
This way you don't have to deal with the dangers to yourself and the environment.
Around here, I get $4.50 per battery and the last time I bought lead I spent 20 cents a pound.
Sometimes it's worth spending a little bit.
Rara Avis
Veteran Member
sandman2234 said:
Your neighbor has established an illegal dump...and is in violation of the law...you might refer him to the following sample of cases...
LEON COUNTY MAN ARRESTED A SECOND TIME FOR ILLEGAL DISPOSAL OF HAZARDOUS WASTE
DEP Agents Investigate Illegal Disposal and Storage of Hazardous Waste - 04/27/07
Miami-Dade County - Miami-Dade Police
In terms of the plant...I'm suprised that it didn't end up on the EPA's superfund site list...
Hazardous Material Laws are very specific and draconian...
We had to oversee the digging up of all dirt contaminated by a diesel truck spill as the result of ruptured side tank as the result of a 10-50...until the State Officials showed up and relieved us...
From what I understood the trucking company had to pay for all cleanup and restoration activities to the side of the road...and that was for less than 30 gallons of diesel...
sandman2234
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Fuel cleanup from trucks loosing fuel happens all the time. Paying for it is just part of doing business, but it isn't cheap.
I punched a 1/8" hole in a tank late one night on my way North. Unknowing, I stopped for fuel and filled up, before seeing the leak. I was still sitting at the fuel island when my dispatcher asked me if I had a bar of soap. I told him I would clean up later, after I got the leak stopped. He told me to grab a bar of soap and rub it back and forth across the hole rapidly. I couldn't believe it when the leak stopped. Pulled over to the side, called the local fire dept to get them to boot the tank. They refused to do it, since the tank wasn't leaking. I drove a hundred miles to get to a dealership that had closed, then turned around and drove back south 50 miles past where I started to one still open. They were talking about a 3 day wait, so I got my company to let me buy some trailer repair tape and I temporary patched it over the soap. I suggested burning up some fuel rather than having to pump it out. Drove up to New Bedford, Ma and then back thru Tn, over to Tallahasse before coming back to Jax. I was getting nervous about the fuel level, but made it to our shop. The didn't even have to drain any fuel out of the tanks, just pulled the front wheels up on a ramp. When coming back thru DC, I ran into a full blown DOT inspection site, but got lucky as they were checking every other truck for everything, and log books on the others. I got the log book check. I can just imagine what paying for a fuel tank repair on the side of the road would cost.
David from jax
I punched a 1/8" hole in a tank late one night on my way North. Unknowing, I stopped for fuel and filled up, before seeing the leak. I was still sitting at the fuel island when my dispatcher asked me if I had a bar of soap. I told him I would clean up later, after I got the leak stopped. He told me to grab a bar of soap and rub it back and forth across the hole rapidly. I couldn't believe it when the leak stopped. Pulled over to the side, called the local fire dept to get them to boot the tank. They refused to do it, since the tank wasn't leaking. I drove a hundred miles to get to a dealership that had closed, then turned around and drove back south 50 miles past where I started to one still open. They were talking about a 3 day wait, so I got my company to let me buy some trailer repair tape and I temporary patched it over the soap. I suggested burning up some fuel rather than having to pump it out. Drove up to New Bedford, Ma and then back thru Tn, over to Tallahasse before coming back to Jax. I was getting nervous about the fuel level, but made it to our shop. The didn't even have to drain any fuel out of the tanks, just pulled the front wheels up on a ramp. When coming back thru DC, I ran into a full blown DOT inspection site, but got lucky as they were checking every other truck for everything, and log books on the others. I got the log book check. I can just imagine what paying for a fuel tank repair on the side of the road would cost.
David from jax
MossRoad
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Egon said:If you want lead go to a local shooting range and start digging. That is if no one is shooting.
When I was a kid, there was an abandoned police shooting range two blocks from my house. My friends and I would dig slugs out of the hill with a stick. It only took about 5 minutes for us to fill a large coffee can. Then we'd lug it over to one of my friends house, where his dad would melt it down and make fishing sinkers and sling shot ammo. We did that a couple times a summer, every summer, for about 5 years. Never ran out of lead.
Also found lots of live ammo! That was kind of scary.
Deerlope
Veteran Member
Chuck the lead and use concrete. Find some old rims that will bolt to yours and them them for the forms.
Stimw
Elite Member
Around here when they clean up a fuel spill they take the contaminated soil to the local asphalt plant and add it to the fresh mix then they spread it back on the highway!!! So much for clean up.
