Melting Lead

[Oldman]

We had lead water pipes until I was 10yrs old and I always used to crimp lead split shot onto my fishing line with my teeth, handled old lead sheet, cut it up and melted it on a stove in an old pan indoors for pouring fishing leads. I am nearing 80 now and still don't have lead poisoning so unless I've been extremely lucky I think your chances of getting sick from the odd bit of lead work are pretty slim.

 

[Dabop]

We used to repair car battery posts when I was an apprentice (at the time, a new car battery was literally more than a weeks wages as a first year apprentice!!!) by charging the damaged battery up, then getting the carbon rod out of a D cell and filing that to a point...
Put a mold over the melted terminal, chuck in some lead fishing sinkers and connect the carbon rod to the other battery terminal via a car jumper lead, then 'stick the carbon into the mold' and start stirring- it works well lol
You can even still buy the molds amazingly enough

That's a flash one with a proper 'welders handle' and everything- we just stuck the carbon rod into the other end of the jumper lead lol

 

[Scruples]

Melting point of lead is 327 deg C
Please DO NOT DO IN KITCHEN lead is poisonous both short and long term
It will burn the wood as other suggested cut lead up and epoxy
If you really must melt and pour into the wood I wish you all the best

I would appreciate some advice.

I made a figurine/sculpture for which I turned a conical base from ABW. The figurine connects via a 2mm s/steel rod passing through the base through a 2mm hole drilled through at 5 degrees. Due of the centre of gravity, I feel I should weight the base a little.

I've got some lead (a reel of lead glazing lead) and I've got a pocket in the base into which I can pour it.

Question is, how do I melt the lead, bearing in mind I have no special equipment - other than the electric hob when the wife isn't looking!

Can anyone suggest a way to do it . . . . .

My other concern is will the wood stand up to molten lead being poured into it?

Thanks in advance.

For the odd occasion melting lead is best done on an outdoor camping stove in an old saucepan. A breezy day is useful but wearing a mask is recommended, I used to cast all my fishing weights this way when I was younger.

 

[redhunter350]

We had lead water pipes until I was 10yrs old and I always used to crimp lead split shot onto my fishing line with my teeth, handled old lead sheet, cut it up and melted it on a stove in an old pan indoors for pouring fishing leads. I am nearing 80 now and still don't have lead poisoning so unless I've been extremely lucky I think your chances of getting sick from the odd bit of lead work are pretty slim.

I could not agree more ! Yes there is an element of danger and we know lead is poisonous but no need to scaremonger ! Some sensible precautions yes but like Oldman I too am an Octogenarian and have been casting lead weights, bullets and lead vice jaws for decades and no ill effects -- still doing it.
Also worth considering much of the housing stock pre 1950, maybe 1960 is serviced by lead pipes, as far as I am aware there has been no program to replace these nationwide.
Sensible precautions, wear suitable protective clothing all skin covered, visor hat gloves, bucket of water to hand incase of skin contact and always ensure your mould is dry or you may have a steam "explosion"

 

[Steve Medlock]

Yes, likewise, been casting lead regularly for decades with no ill effects. Sensible precautions though - hand and eye protection, fresh air etc.

 

[RonnieI]

I do quite a bit of lead smelting to cast diving weights. I use an old aluminium pan on a camping stove to keep it molten but do the actual melting with a MAPP torch. Scrape the slag off the surface with an old spoon before you pour. It will pour fine into wood but does char a bit. I usually do it on my welding bench in the garage with the door open and wearing my air fed mask.
I do a bit of pewter casting as well which is nicer because it's lower temperature and not quite as noxious.

 

[Kayen]

Thanks guys for all your replies.

I was going to err on the side of caution and mix the lead with epoxy, as someone suggested I cut it up into small flakes (boring!) and poured them into the cavity - I didn't gain much weight so decided instead to go for a molton pour.

As many of you suggested, I grabbed a beans tin, masked up and melted it with my gas torch.

It was really easy, plenty of black smoke when I was melting it, but no wood smoke as I poured it. I had doubled the amount of dry flakes, but ended up probably using four times as much, so now have a nicely weighted base - mission accomplished.

Next time I won't over-pour it!

Thanks again

 

[BentonTool]

We had lead water pipes until I was 10yrs old and I always used to crimp lead split shot onto my fishing line with my teeth, handled old lead sheet, cut it up and melted it on a stove in an old pan indoors for pouring fishing leads. I am nearing 80 now and still don't have lead poisoning so unless I've been extremely lucky I think your chances of getting sick from the odd bit of lead work are pretty slim.

Agree...

 

[BentonTool]

For those of you who have salvaged or dirty lead to melt, add a little sawdust to the mix after melting. I am no expert, but it is my understanding that the sawdust carbonizes and thus helps to lift the impurities to the top, where they (the "slag") can be removed.
I am now nearly 70 y/o, have also been using fishing lead, reloading bullets, and all manner of shop lead applications most of my life... no ill effects thus far.

 

[Sideways]

Another who made a bunch of fishing weights with his dad back in the day. Old saucepan and a gas burner of the sort used to melt bitumen in our case. Outdoors but I still remember the stink, some of which came from the old lead sheathed wire he'd stripped out of the house while rewiring it. I wouldn't do it again without a fan blowing from behind me

 

[Jake]

As I understand it lower levels of lead exposure lead mostly to neurocognitive problems so one wouldn't necessarily be aware of the symptoms or their causality.

 

[TRITON]

Lead makers ladle
https://www.veals.co.uk/product/vmo-lead-making-ladle/?gad_source=1

 

[mwinfrance]

Gave Jake a like because that is precisely what happens, so all those posting "never harmed me" or similar, wouldn't know. I didn't say to be careful further up for no reason. People younger than us read here, would anyone tell them smoking never harmed anyone, because the ads did, and leaded petrol was considered OK, right up until the truth came out . I recently got diagnosed with COPD, I did my share of working in assorted dust types ( wood, stone, fibre glass, paints of all kinds, resins etc ) with no masks when I was younger, turns out that it was a really bad idea.

 

[Doris]

Please DO NOT DO IN KITCHEN lead is poisonous both short and long term

My Dad used to melt lead in the kitchen in an old milk pan in the kitchen to make lead weights for his model boats.
He died nearly a year ago of complications relating to Acute Myloid Leukemia and have always wondered if it was something to do with this

 

[imageel]

The issue with lead is that it's absorption is cumulative -once it is bound into the body very little will cause it to be expelled, the most common method in acute cases is to use chelating agents that form strong bonds with the metal and allow it to be defecated. Children are more susceptible to it because their gut more readily absorbs it.
Since there is no officially 'safe' level in humans due care when using it is advisable, particularly as others have stated, you won't know you've poisoned yourself until you suffer symptoms, at which point the damage is done and that may or may not be reversible.
Similar warnings apply to other metals e.g. mercury - which readily fumes at room temps and whose vapour is invisible unless viewed under U/V...

 

[RonnieI]

Thanks guys for all your replies.

I was going to err on the side of caution and mix the lead with epoxy, as someone suggested I cut it up into small flakes (boring!) and poured them into the cavity - I didn't gain much weight so decided instead to go for a molton pour.

As many of you suggested, I grabbed a beans tin, masked up and melted it with my gas torch.

It was really easy, plenty of black smoke when I was melting it, but no wood smoke as I poured it. I had doubled the amount of dry flakes, but ended up probably using four times as much, so now have a nicely weighted base - mission accomplished.

Next time I won't over-pour it!

Thanks again

That'll work. My technique for lamp bases is to drill a piece of scrap with a dozen or so holes with a 30mm forstner bit to the top of the bit. Pour lead into the holes and once set pick the lead 'coins' out of the holes. Drill a corresponding hole in the base of whatever you want to weight and stick a coin in with a dab of CA.

 

[BC'er]

You could have just bored a hole and poured in lead shot (shotguns etc.) and then plugged hole.

 

[Spectric]

Lets not forget all the plumbers who have worked lead piping such as waste and downpipes before PVC came along and of course roofers, lead flashing used to be solderd and before fibreglass like isopon body shops would repair car bodywork with lead filler. Then how many people across the country are still getting there water through lead pipes.

 

[Fitzroy]

Plenty of survivorship bias in this forum dead men don’t talk, of woodwork nor the frequent lead melting they did all their lives.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m reading this forum as I think lead melting may be on my agenda in the future, and the water in my house is served by a lead pipe (1875 Victorian heritage), so I think lead poisoning is a low risk activity.

However as a process safety professional for much of my career I can’t help but call out such things.