lead from batteries

[Guest NickInTheNorth]

Is there any reason why I shouldn't make lead weights for sea fishing from the lead in old car/tractor batteries?

 

Any extra precautions I should take over and above the usual ones for dealing with molten lead?

[chesters1]

the lead isnt very pure nick as a battery charges the lead changes and slowly after a while its composed of lead sulphate ,lead and other lead compounds the buildup of the lead compounds is why the battery dies i expect with LOTS of batteries a usuable amount of lead is collected , my tips is use an IRON pot to melt the lead , put it on a well stoked barbicue and blast it with air from a leaf blower ,this gets it as hot as a blast furnace ( well a cool one ) and it being outside is safer any nasty vapours will be blasted away

this will melt lead VERY fast the drawback though is that the base of the barbie wont last long

whoops you do have trees on muck??? otherwise leafblowers will be rarer than hens teeth

 

[ 09. June 2003, 08:54 PM: Message edited by: chesters1 ]

[Guest NickInTheNorth]

Thanks Chesters

 

Fortunately I've got LOTS of batteries to play with, (counted 47 today, without digging!), and very few other easy sources of lead, but I'm looking.

 

Got a barbie with a base made of 1/4" steel, and just happen to own a leaf blower (from a previous life with trees).

 

Just have to order the moulds now. Oh and find a good iron pan to melt it in, sure I've seen one somewhere.

 

Anyone else with any thoughts please feel free to add them.

 

Cheers

 

Nick

[poledark]

Nick, I expect that Chesters is right re the quality of the lead, but if it free then why not give it a go.

I used to get the acid from batteries to make the "pickle" for descaling my copper/brass boilers. Everyone said it was dangerous but I am still here

 

I used to go to XXXXXXXX in Bromley and they let me pour the acid into a plastic bucket and then into a plastic screw top container (we are talking several gallons here). Of course in the interests of safety it was all done on the pavement in Homesdale Rd!!!

You should have seen the spillages sizzle

 

Smash em up, melt a little bit at a time and see if it is worth continuing, and if I see a mushroom shaped cloud heading south then I will know where it originated

 

Den

 

PS, don't pour the acid onto the ground or Muck may dissolve beneath your feet

[Colin Brett]

NickInTheNorth:

Thanks Chesters

 

and very few other easy sources of lead, but I'm looking.

 

Anyone else with any thoughts please feel free to add them.

 

Cheers

 

Nick

You could always remove the balance weights from car rims. I'm sure nobody travels fast enough on Muck to get serious wheel wobble!! and probably wouldn't notice the weights had gone.

 

Colin

[Alan Fawcett]

Colin Brett:

You could always remove the balance weights from car rims. I'm sure nobody travels fast enough on Muck to get serious wheel wobble!! and probably wouldn't notice the weights had gone.

 

Colin

I already use them, get loads from the scrapy everytime i go up there, just straighten out the "rim clip" as most of them have a small hole in them, then put a snap swivel on them.

 

The plus part is the odd shape helps them stay on the bottom

 

[ 09. June 2003, 11:54 PM: Message edited by: Alan Fawcett ]

[Guest NickInTheNorth]

Of the 5 "cars" on the island I think only one has ever had the luxury of balance weights on the rim, and they disappeared years ago.

 

I have got a couple of places in Fort William saving balance weights for me and will pick those up and use them next time I pass through. For now though I'll keep smashing the batteries.

 

Cheers guys.

 

Nick

[Alan Taylor]

NickInTheNorth:

 

Nick

No Churches up there then?

 

Any garage that does MOT's will keep lead for you in exchange for a few fillets

 

Alan(nl)

[Jim Roper]

I think the lead in wheel weights is alittle like that in printers' lino type. Pretty good for casting your own bullets!!

[Vagabond]

I once aquired over a hundredweight of sheet lead which fell off the back of a lorry

 

But this ACTUALLY DID FALL OFF A LORRY. It was in the Old Steine, Brighton and I saw it happen. The cop shop is only a few yards up the hill, so I picked up the roll of lead and took it in and booked it (knowing the law re finds).

 

What was funny is that I was careful not to show that what I was carrying was b****y heavy, so when I handed it to the desk officer he dropped it (missed his foot tho' )

 

A month later I was there on the dot to see if the lead had been claimed - it hadn't, so it became my legal property.