[Capflyer]

Ok, perhaps a silly question. I need to melt lead for the counterweights on my new RV4 elevators. I was made aware that there is a plumbing product called lead wool. Wondering if it is the same as lead shot and can be melted as easily. It is available at my local Aviation Depot.

 

[whiskeypapa]

I got lead wheel weights for free from an auto tire shop. You can melt them on the stove top in an old pan and skim off the impurities.

 

[walkman]

Second the wheel weights

They have some antimony in for hardness.

Some shops sell their weights, others might give you a bucket full. I struck out at ntb, pep boys but got lucky on my third try. Take a 6 pack on a Thursday or Friday afternoon and see if you can get a trade.

Recommend not melting in the stove. Do it outside with lots of ventilation and some safety goggles of course. I made a pot from a steel tomato can with some 1/2" ECM bolted to it for a handle and a pinch bent into the can for easy pouring.

 

[Neal@F14]

Some alloys of lead have arsenic in them... most notably old lead-acid car batteries. You definitely do not want to be melting those indoors. You really don't want to be trying to reclaim the lead from those at all since fumes from it could kill you.

Wheel weights used to be a great source of suitable lead, but now that a lot of shooters are casting their own bullets (and wheel weights make great hard-cast lead bullets, it's almost the perfect alloy), the availability of free or cheap old wheel weights has almost disappeared from tire shops around here.

Suppliers for the make-you-own-cast-bullets enthusiasts sell ingots of lead alloys of different hardness levels, that have already had the impurities removed, and are safer to melt indoors but still really you don't want to be inhaling any lead fumes at all. If you have a local gun shop that sells reloading supplies, they might have the ingots. You can order them over the web from various outfits too. Lead shotgun pellets are a good alloy too.

Melting the lead is best done outdoors on a propane or Coleman fuel camping stove where a breeze can blow the fumes away from you.