2000 lbs of lead!

[Dales66Ford]

I was gifted about 2000 pounds of pure lead.  While I am grateful, it seems I was given another man's headache.  The problem is that it is xray room lead sandwiched and glued between plywood sheets.  Anyone know of a cheap and easy way of getting the lead out of the plywood?  I have scrapped and melted down about 600 pounds of it so far.  Major PITA!  Any ideas are greatly appreciated.

[Defoe]

Stack it in the bed of your brothers pickup and set it on fire.

[Drilling Man]

  Start a bon fire and burn the sheets, when you are done, all the lead will be in the bottom of the hole...
 
  Burn as little or as much as you want at a time.
 
  DM

[Dales66Ford]

Wouldn't there be a concern about the lead getting too hot and boiling off to a gas--Bad Juju?

[Drilling Man]

Wouldn't there be a concern about the lead getting too hot and boiling off to a gas--Bad Juju?

  All i can tell you is, i've done what i described and a friend who cast MUCH more than i ever have, (he has now passed away) did it that way too.  In fact, in the winter he threw "what ever he found" into his woodstove, and once a week he let it go out and took the lead out.
 
  DM

[mcbammer]

If   your   not   pressed   for   time  ,  maybe   you   could   leave  it  out side  in  the  weather  and  let  the  plywood   get  wet  and  swell .  or   let  it  rot  off.

[mechanic]

Lead melts at about 600 degrees, vaporizes at 1600.  You would have to use oxy acetelyne or the like to vaporize it.  A normal fire will not.  If you can find some sheet metal to line a hole with, then burn it over the hole, I bet the plywood will burn with very little lead melted....
 
Or if you're not too far away, I could just come and haul it off for you........
 
Ben

[woods]

     Burning it in a pit would work but I'd give it a try with a sheet of steel corigated tin roofing. Maybe angle the tin enough for the lead to run off into a catch area. A stack of wood pallets on top of the tin then your sheets of plywood. Light it up with something flamable like charcoal lighter fluid, Don't think I'd stand in the smoke, vapors would be there. I've read about this being done long ago to recover lead bullets from range backstop dirt and wood.
 
woods

[Reverend Recoil]

 I think the best way to produce clean molten lead from lead cladded plywood would be with a small cupola furnace. Cupola furnaces are simple and are the most efficient producers of cast iron.  They were used at one time for melting brass and bronze as well.  Since lead melts at a much lower temperature than cast iron I think plain firewood could be used instead of coke or charcoal.  Search the web for home foundry sites and you are likely to find some good descriptions and fabrication plans.  One site I found is: http://www.oneinchrr.com/forum/foundry.htm.
 You will need a larger number of ingot molds because cupola furnaces produce a continuous stream of molten metal as they are fed fuel and scrap metal.
 You will have to decide if fabricating something like this is worth your while.  It will all depend on whether or not you have a steady supply of x-ray wall board.  One ton of this material may not be enough.
 
 

[Dales66Ford]

I may end up building one of those.  I actually have about 2000 lbs of the lead not including the plywood.  It is number 4 sheet lead,(4 lbs per square foot) and I easily have over 500 ft^2 of this stuff.  The ingot molds are easy for now.  I just cut the tops off of some aluminum cans with a can opener and fill about 90-95% full.  I can get 8 lbs per can.  Whenever I'm ready to use it again, I can just tear the can off of the lead.

[Drilling Man]

  I store my lead in 20 pound bars, i made the moulds to pour the lead in to make them...  (upper part of the pict.)
 

 
  I wouldn't even admit here how many i have stashed away!
 
  DM

[bulletstuffer]

Now that's what I call ingots!!!!!!!!!!!!!  You must have a heck of a pot to drop ingots that size in to


Nice job on the collection!


Bulletstuffer

[yukondog]

If you took the sheets of plywood and let them freeze this winter the glue that binds the lead to the wood may freeze and become brittle and allow you to pull it free?

[Reverend Recoil]

A cupola furnace used only for melting lead may not need any refractory material.

[Lloyd Smale]

ive done alot of it. Burning doesnt work because the material its sandwiched between is probably fireproof. What do is take an old chain saw and cut it into strips about 2 fee wide then leave it sit over the winter or out in the rain for about 6months  and it will start to delaminate and you can easily peal the wood or plaster off and end up with nice clean sheets of lead you can then roll up into pieces that will fit in your smelting pot.  can

If   your   not   pressed   for   time  ,  maybe   you   could   leave  it  out side  in  the  weather  and  let  the  plywood   get  wet  and  swell .  or   let  it  rot  off.

[Dales66Ford]

The original idea was to let the plywood just rot off.  It has been outside for over three years already.  The ones that have started to rot away are still cumbersome.  The plywood starts to fall away with a scraper but a thin sheet of wood remains on the lead bonded by the glue.  I have burnt some of it while in the pot with other lead, but that makes a terrible mess.  Although the burnt wood does seem to help clean up the lead from the burnt glue.