I'm a bullet caster. For flux, try a hardwood dowel. Scrape the bottom and sides when you stir. Not as stinky as wax or messy as sawdust and gets all the way through the melt. A 1" oak dowel from lowes/home depot last a long time and does a great job ive found without all the downsides
*This is my second set of weight discs and I also have the 2 ounce and **enjoyable.fishing** recommend they work great and fit into the tackle box perfectly. the quality is there so I'm happy with them.*
I do this all the time because I cast my own bullets. The harder you make your lead the more you can charge. A 9mm round doesn't have to be that hard, so you could mix a 1 to 3 clip on to stick on ratio for low velocity, low pressure application. Now, rifle rounds--high velocity rounds--need to be much harder. A little info on the Brinell hardness scale, and you can really get the most bang for your buck from your lead. You could even cast hard and soft separately, but be aware that the pure lead (the stick ons) melt at a higher temp than the clip ons. You may need to flux just to get them to melt. Final comment: please please please never do this indoors. Not even with the garage door cracked open. Stick on weights contain rubber and toxic adhesives that you don't want wafting into your home. And while we are nowhere near the boiling point of lead at melting point, lead fumes (though heavy) are released at only 900 f. The candle you are adding burns at 1100-1200 f, so some fumes from the surface lead could be released. These will settle into dust, which will contaminate your work area. Best to do this outside where the work space can be doused in water and then swept to prevent airborne poison. The dust from your buckets is actually not a threat (too heavy to float up), but the very fine dust from fluxing can be serious business!
It is better for Thub to keep all the materials separate (Clip on WW, Stick on WW, range lead, etc) and let the bullet casters control their mix as needed.
I've enjoyed seeing the progression of your channel over the last couple of years. Everything has improved, and in videos like these you're like the Mr. Rogers of scrapping.
Interesting vid, as usual. Here in the UK, clip-on lead wheel weights haven't been sold for years. I still collect lead scraps, but don't sell it. I melt it on a much smaller scale on my workshop woodburner (which was a gas bottle, see the vid on the link below if interested: Thubprint, boot it off if it offends). I use a crucible made from the bottom 2/3 of an old mig gas bottle with 3 blobs of weld on the bottom and cast into a moulds made from the bottom of another. A crucible load melts in about 10 minutes, any fumes are exhausted from your workspace (up the chimney) and it uses zero sequestered carbon - wood fired. I don't flux and don't stir, just pour and the lead runs out clean from under the skin of impurities, leaving the steel behind too. Very little supervision required, get on with other scrapping. Great for the winter as the wood burner keeps things nice and cosy. Just don't get it too hot - wood firing on low draught is ideal. Every once in a blue moon I get the dripper out and make lead shot and sell at mates rates to scuba diving friends. The shot is not perfectly round, but is plenty good enough and 'hardness' impurities don't matter. There you go, a little wrinkle from over the Pond. Here's the link. th-cam.com/video/De1LbSrsZrc/w-d-xo.html 'Channel' isn't deliberately monetised - YT have recently started adding ads off their own bat - most of it's ecological bollocks, so pretty niche.
I've been researching the process of melting lead. And tbh I'm a stickler for safety. You're the only youtuber so far that doesn't make me cringe bc the lack of safety precautions. Bare minimum gloves and a respirator right? Wrong. So good on you for being different
Thanks! I was worried I was leaving something out, and I should have had better ventilation still. I’m aiming to make content for beginners and up, so I really need to include safety. I’d hate to think someone could get hurt because I forgot something simple.
Every video is literally a guide to make a little bit of extra money and I love it, Keep producing great work Thub! Now its time for me to start emailing local Tire shops!
As a bullet and sinker caster I appreciate this video! I got about a lifetime supply of lead and tin. Clip on wheel weights make good bullets. That soft lead makes good musket balls or sinkers as is. I always smelt them seperate as soft. Def more money selling ingots. No need to buy expensive molds. Use cast scone or corn cob molds from thrift stores. Muffin tins work also but break easy.
Heck yeah! It’s a valuable resource and really easy for any diy interested folk to work with. I’ve started keeping the soft/pure lead separate as well, I just wouldn’t bother spending all afternoon sorting through a tire shop bucket for it
Thank you for this post. Today I celebrated the anniversary of my 21st BD and I found this extremely informative. Long time follower and feel like I am getting closer to graduation with honors from Thubprint University
Love it! I have a lead melter for this reason, got it at an estate sale. Check your eBay sold listings and if you live in the U.S. you can make a bullet casting bundle and ship flat rate.... food for thought! Doing this with copper bars and aluminum works well too. Now that i learned about zinc i am intrigued. Thanks so much
I was an automotive jobber in the 90s. one thing I sold was wheel weights. I had about a half ton that I never liquidated odd and unusual sizes etc. I have a rocket stove I made out of brick and used a cat iron pot someone gave me. I used junk wood so the fuel was free. I sold off about 800lbs but will hang onto about 200 lbs.
For sorting wheel weights, use a pair of wire cutters to see if it is lead or zinc. You will not be able to cut or dent the zinc. Use a magnet to see if it is lead or steel (obviously test away from the clip). I stick a hard drive magnet to the back of my wire cutters for easy access. Cast all of your "alloys" separately. By that mean that you should not mix clip-on WW's and Stick-on WW's since they are different alloys (Stick-on WW's are softer). Bullet casters will trust you more if you let them know where the lead came from.
Really cool. When I was a kid, my stepdad used to make jig heads for fishing and we melted a lot of pails of wheel weights with a propane torch and a ladle in the vice. It was a good deal for him. The weights were free and he had free child labour to hold the torch on the ladle. Thanks for the tips. I am trying to figure out how to maximize my scrapping as there are no decent yards within hours of me.
invest in a steel cauldron. you can find them sometimes at yard sales. put the cauldron over a rocket stove made of bricks. you wont need to worry about the cold weather...
First time seeing your videos. These are excellent tips. I’m very intrigued. I’m looking forward to trying this technique as soon as I get a camping gas stove.
I got several pounds of pure lead from scraping 4 cast nets I found in a junked boat. I melted them down using regular brick in a gravel driveway, burning charcoal briquettes, melted them in a stainless steel mixing bowl from a yard sale (25c) and poured into muffin tins from the same yard sale (10c)
I don’t understand where people keep finding all these scrap boats!! 😂 Sounds like a great setup that gets the job done. Can’t wait for garage sale season, whenever we get it back lol
That’s because some diving company made them expensive . Put them in a special shape and package and we buy them because they are “for diving” so they must be special. They are just ripping you off.
Hmmm...... So would you or anyone you know be interested in some lead weights for your diving suit? I've got a mess I'm lookin to make into something. 😂 lol
It's great to tune in to your videos very informational keeps me going thanks for your hard work much appreciated, watched you and your little daughter yesterday on a video lovely see the bond yous have best of luck buddy all the best to you and your family, keep up the good work ✌
Im def gonna be keeping an eye out for the wheel weights from now on. Im gonna check out some of my local car mechanics n junk yards because in my area they really dont think about scraping the scraps or saving stuff like that to sell. especially the ones that specialize in tire changing n balancing ive seen buckets outside of their shops next to the dumpsters. Im gonna start a led smelting empire lol. Especially with the way America's economy is goin in the toilet its only a matter of time before the olds days n obsolete ways are teaching us how to make a living n survive.
Oh no I watched the vid i wasnt thinkin about selling it to a scrap yard im really interested in casting it into ingots like you did cuz i actually have a buddy of mine that makes swords who melted down some silver i had been collecting for like 5 years into ingots. So i was thinking about what you said and tryin to make the ingots to sell locally because where i live if theres 2 things the people here love its fishing and shooting guns in the woods n at ranges lol. Im sure i can find some people that make their own fishing weights or cast bullets especially around here. But either way its def something im gonna look into n see if it would be worth doin because in times like these every penny makes a difference.
Neat! Good advice and I didn't know you could use a camp stove to cast any metals at all. I know aluminum has to be much hotter than that, but it's still really cool seeing lead on a camp stove. Great video!
@@thubprint a cool hat helps, a name like Paracelsus or Nicholas Flamel even more so. You can also make black powder from every day items from a hardware store
try magnet fishing in the warmer weather along with cleaning up the river you can get serious metal out of it including fishing weights if you go to the right area, some places have a community cleaning group that cleans the rivers but with the virus some places are neglected, best places to try would be city canals or if there is a river that flows near or through the city that works too
I DEFinitely want to try magnet fishing 👌👌 I’m having a hard time finding a good magnet though, the Amazon ones all have reviews that make them sound kinda weak
@@thubprint go look up the magnet fishing uk they have a website with way stronger magnets and you can see how bad the english canals are they might have links to the magnets too
I have a dump truck load full Of wheel weights , literally. My dad has a tire shop as did my grandfather before him. We have over 100 five gallon buckets in our warehouse. My family has been hoarding for many years . Nearly forty we are looking to scrap it . We need the space and it’s in our way.
Loved the video man. Keep up the good work. The amount of time you spend researching and preparing really shows. Keep doing the thing. From Sacramento, CA. Oh yeah I made the short video on cleaning pressure relief valves, hope it helped you or anyone and I changed the name to Jadrew Scrapper just in case I ever post anymore. Deuces!
I was really glad when Brunswick Smelter closed down. I hauled truckloads of lead out of there quite often and every time was a huge hassle with the shipping staff. You should look into a Devil Forge furnace and make ingots to make you dollar on all your scrap.
Not a great operation huh? Yea, the devil forge looks like a good one for sure. I’ve been comparing it to the smaller tabletop electric ones, I think they both have their place depending on a person’s intended useage
pretty nice project. whas up tothis melting thing, dont know if you know, but "street copper" is good in that, maybe you can get some ideas there. thank you for this vid and stay healthy. you your family and everybody out there. greets from good old germany
@@thubprint you cupel them. The cupel cup soaks in the lead leaves the precious metals. Results will vary but I thought that'd interest you some. Make that dollar stretch even more
Sort the Zn by sound, on a metal bench there is a tone difference. Try not to melt for bullet casters is that is your final customer. Fish weight is another good source to sell to. Some down riggers use 10 pounds
5:25 Yeah, no, just because you are below the boiling point doesnt mean it doesnt produce fumes. All liquids evaporate, just like water in an open glass does.
I make fishing lures. I melt it down in my wood plugs, as ballast weight. Any lead I come across I save it. Someday I am going to get a melting pot or a ladle for melting led into plug bodies, and actual molds.
I poured lead in to molds that was Han Solo in carbon just for fun lol and if you're looking for a lot of lead Believe It or Not sailboats have alot in it and I have a video up showing a chunk of lead in the back of the truck it was heavy it was a big pay day
Fantastic thinking my friend! I haven’t come across or had the opportunity to even consider what to do with lead wheel weights. Just recently i brought about 10 pounds of lead i peeled from a bunch of weird coated wire i found by the superior water front near my work... i found it walking on my lunch break. It was either some kind of fishing or net weight, or old electrical wire? But i digress, now im questioning wether i should have saved it for future smelting and private selling🤔 it was very corroded tho and kind of made me nervous having around... in fact when i first started peeling it off the wire inside I wasn’t wearing a respirator and quickly realized what an idiot rookie mistake that was
I don’t have one for light ballasts yet, or not exactly. I did one awhile back where I found a bin full of light fixtures, I called it “how much can you make in one day scrapping” or something. I was surprised at how little I got for the ballasts so I’ve never thought about them again.
Great video as ythe comments agree! I le in cornwall UK here Ti. Ws mined heavily. I spoke to a gravity miner and he asked if I could bring a sample in for him. I never knew the price 15000 a ton
It’s interesting to find out where all the metal comes from! I had no idea until I researched this that one of the main supplies of lead for NA is in a little town not far from where I grew up! (Trail BC)
I have found that there are 3 kinds of wheel weights...pure lead, Antimony and steel. Out of a bucket of the latest weights, I'll bet I threw away over 25% of the newer non-lead weights
Hey Thub you are really impressing me with the always increasing quality of your videos ;) Just a. Quick trick if you want 3 to 4$ a pound for your ingots :) sell them on ebay!!!! If you look at sold comps there is loads of castings ingots being sold for that price everyday. Even unmelted lead scraps can fetch that price on ebay. Customers are happy to pay the shipping to save the hassle of finding good lead.
Hadn’t thought of that! Kinda figured if they were going to pay the shipping cost they would just order from the premium suppliers? But if they’re selling on eBay, someone is buying ig!
While pondering what my next income stream should be I happened across your videos and I must say that you have inspired me to include scrapping as one of those streams. I found I like taking things apart especially if they don’t need to go back together and I like your teaching style immensely. Keep the great videos coming I’ll be tuning in for sure. 😊
Thanks so much! I’ve got a handful more planned and a bit of an expansion in the works, so hopefully it’s all helpful to you 😊 Just take care not to let it pile up too badly, my yard got really out of hand when I first started 😂
I've been collecting scrap lead for a significant number of years and processed it on my kitchen stove🤣 However, I never thought of trying to sell it as I always thought the price was too low, it's just fun to do. Here in the UK, we have stringent gun control and I'm unaware if there are people who make they're own bullets unlike Canada and the US!! Definitely one to think about finding a market to sell it on, thanks 😁 LIAYFI...
Fishing weights. Or make your own dripper and make lead shot for scuba diving. It won't be perfectly round, but plenty good enough - just pick out any sharp bits. I melt on a wood burner in the shed, does it perfectly, exhausted/extracted to the open air and quick if done on a gentle bed of embers on low draught - just don't get it too hot. Heard of charcoal? The old colliers also used to make white coal (small chips of very dry wood) for sale to lead/pewter founders as charcoal used as fuel burned too hot (as did coal). Here's a link to the wood burner as it's a very simple jobby made out of a butane cylinder. th-cam.com/video/De1LbSrsZrc/w-d-xo.html
join a range for as much lead as you can collect. the fun is actually in the copper. the copper and brass jackets are no2 copper. most jackets are ruptured on impact and the molten lead flows out. the lead fill jackets just go in the no2 copper lot. I use a deep fry steel basket and shake it a little bit to turn them around in a nice pool of molten lead I heat with scrap wood from my wood shop. free fuel too.
Decent process you have there. May I contribute a few fine points ? Today, too many wheel weights are made steel or Zinc, Those can't be put in your melt, zinc is oatmeal lumps in molten lead. So be watchful of what you add to your pot. The fumes are harmful from this process. Melting lead or worse zinc. Work outside or under a fume hood. You cant rush the melting & fluxing process.. Pick off any floating steel clips carefully . But Before you try to scoop them or the "Dross" from the melt : You should do the wax flux thing/flame up the fumes, TWICE. & before you scoop the junk out Wax, Flux again with hardwood sawdust, ignite while stirring. This step insures you won't be skimming off the valuable antimony from in wheel weights. If you know the weight of your working pots content you can add pewter to the mixture at 1 or 2 % And stamp that Sn content right on your ingots. That is my preferred mixture for pistol 1% or for rifle bullets 2% Tin.. Sorry for the long post..keep up the good work & be careful. uncle mike in ct.
Excellent tips from a fella who sounds like he’s done it before! 😉 I wasn’t too worried about the zinc but I kept the temperature down with all the fresh new material I was feeding in. All the same I did catch one that broke in half, so I definitely see how it would be better to keep them out from the beginning.
have you seen the devil forge furnace models? They seem to be serious professional melters. Not used one personally but a handful of casting channels I watch use them.
Hi, I hope you read my comment, I found some lead metal detecting, a handful of fishing weights, two tire weights with the iron bit, and a few chunks from an old house built in the 1900s or something, I have no idea what they were they are just big chunks of lead, total weight is a kilogram give or take a little Should I just cast ingots like you did? I was planing to try and take a chisel to the two iron bits on the tire weights so I just have lead left over, and take it to the scrapper like that
Nice video and great idea! Just a heads up I don’t believe that respirator fully works unless you are a clean shave. Worth looking into to protect your health if you’re continuing to melt
I'm a bullet caster. For flux, try a hardwood dowel. Scrape the bottom and sides when you stir. Not as stinky as wax or messy as sawdust and gets all the way through the melt. A 1" oak dowel from lowes/home depot last a long time and does a great job ive found without all the downsides
That’s an excellent idea, thanks for telling me! 👌👌
Thank you for the tip
Lol the good old poking stick it works....
You can use salt too I believe
*This is my second set of weight discs and I also have the 2 ounce and **enjoyable.fishing** recommend they work great and fit into the tackle box perfectly. the quality is there so I'm happy with them.*
The slow progression of a scrapper into a refinery
😅👍 getting there!
Hahahahahahaha
Want a furnace myself
I do this all the time because I cast my own bullets. The harder you make your lead the more you can charge. A 9mm round doesn't have to be that hard, so you could mix a 1 to 3 clip on to stick on ratio for low velocity, low pressure application. Now, rifle rounds--high velocity rounds--need to be much harder. A little info on the Brinell hardness scale, and you can really get the most bang for your buck from your lead. You could even cast hard and soft separately, but be aware that the pure lead (the stick ons) melt at a higher temp than the clip ons. You may need to flux just to get them to melt.
Final comment: please please please never do this indoors. Not even with the garage door cracked open. Stick on weights contain rubber and toxic adhesives that you don't want wafting into your home. And while we are nowhere near the boiling point of lead at melting point, lead fumes (though heavy) are released at only 900 f. The candle you are adding burns at 1100-1200 f, so some fumes from the surface lead could be released. These will settle into dust, which will contaminate your work area. Best to do this outside where the work space can be doused in water and then swept to prevent airborne poison. The dust from your buckets is actually not a threat (too heavy to float up), but the very fine dust from fluxing can be serious business!
It is better for Thub to keep all the materials separate (Clip on WW, Stick on WW, range lead, etc) and let the bullet casters control their mix as needed.
I've enjoyed seeing the progression of your channel over the last couple of years. Everything has improved, and in videos like these you're like the Mr. Rogers of scrapping.
Thank you so much! It’s been a bit slow but I have been trying to get better all the time
Interesting vid, as usual. Here in the UK, clip-on lead wheel weights haven't been sold for years. I still collect lead scraps, but don't sell it. I melt it on a much smaller scale on my workshop woodburner (which was a gas bottle, see the vid on the link below if interested: Thubprint, boot it off if it offends). I use a crucible made from the bottom 2/3 of an old mig gas bottle with 3 blobs of weld on the bottom and cast into a moulds made from the bottom of another. A crucible load melts in about 10 minutes, any fumes are exhausted from your workspace (up the chimney) and it uses zero sequestered carbon - wood fired. I don't flux and don't stir, just pour and the lead runs out clean from under the skin of impurities, leaving the steel behind too. Very little supervision required, get on with other scrapping. Great for the winter as the wood burner keeps things nice and cosy. Just don't get it too hot - wood firing on low draught is ideal. Every once in a blue moon I get the dripper out and make lead shot and sell at mates rates to scuba diving friends. The shot is not perfectly round, but is plenty good enough and 'hardness' impurities don't matter. There you go, a little wrinkle from over the Pond. Here's the link. th-cam.com/video/De1LbSrsZrc/w-d-xo.html 'Channel' isn't deliberately monetised - YT have recently started adding ads off their own bat - most of it's ecological bollocks, so pretty niche.
You have an excellent sense of humor
Why is it relaxing to learn about scrapping? But it is!
I've been researching the process of melting lead. And tbh I'm a stickler for safety. You're the only youtuber so far that doesn't make me cringe bc the lack of safety precautions. Bare minimum gloves and a respirator right? Wrong. So good on you for being different
Thanks! I was worried I was leaving something out, and I should have had better ventilation still. I’m aiming to make content for beginners and up, so I really need to include safety. I’d hate to think someone could get hurt because I forgot something simple.
Used to melt lead fishing weights for fun as a kid. I'd really like to do this now
Well now you can do it for fun AND profit! 😁
Every video is literally a guide to make a little bit of extra money and I love it, Keep producing great work Thub! Now its time for me to start emailing local Tire shops!
Well thank you for the support! I’ll keep doing my best over here 👌
local stained glass artists may have scrap lead also
As a bullet and sinker caster I appreciate this video! I got about a lifetime supply of lead and tin. Clip on wheel weights make good bullets. That soft lead makes good musket balls or sinkers as is. I always smelt them seperate as soft. Def more money selling ingots. No need to buy expensive molds. Use cast scone or corn cob molds from thrift stores. Muffin tins work also but break easy.
Heck yeah! It’s a valuable resource and really easy for any diy interested folk to work with. I’ve started keeping the soft/pure lead separate as well, I just wouldn’t bother spending all afternoon sorting through a tire shop bucket for it
Dang, Thubbie! You are right. I had no idea I needed to know all this, and learned SO much. Thanks!
Finally! Something you didn’t know! 😂
@@thubprint - ROFL!
Your demeanor and content has led you to a new subscriber. Cheers
I'm not sure how feasible this is here in Brasil, but this tutorial definitely earned my subscription to your channel. Thanks for all your tips.
Well I’m glad you found it, and thanks for saying hi!
Good job. Always nice to see someone making something out of not much.
Thank you for this post. Today I celebrated the anniversary of my 21st BD and I found this extremely informative. Long time follower and feel like I am getting closer to graduation with honors from Thubprint University
Well a very happy bday to you! And congratulations on the diploma, we’d better see you at the reunions!😆
Love it! I have a lead melter for this reason, got it at an estate sale. Check your eBay sold listings and if you live in the U.S. you can make a bullet casting bundle and ship flat rate.... food for thought! Doing this with copper bars and aluminum works well too. Now that i learned about zinc i am intrigued. Thanks so much
Oh, that’s a good idea! Just weigh the bars and add a correctly weight coin of pewter to go with each. Could work really well!
Wow, my mind is blown away once again on your knowledge of how to make some extra cash on every day items. Thanks for the video.
It’s how I live! 😆
My god my mind has been blown away, this is such an original and out of the box idea! I freaking love it, great work man!
Thanks! I had to say thanks to my buddy who helped me with it, but I’m probably going to be doing it a lot now lol
Never thought about those for that. I need some for some new 50 cal round ball so that maybe the supply chain I need for that thanks for the idea.
@@thubprint m
I was an automotive jobber in the 90s. one thing I sold was wheel weights. I had about a half ton that I never liquidated odd and unusual sizes etc. I have a rocket stove I made out of brick and used a cat iron pot someone gave me. I used junk wood so the fuel was free. I sold off about 800lbs but will hang onto about 200 lbs.
Top stuff mate keep BBQ the numbers
For sorting wheel weights, use a pair of wire cutters to see if it is lead or zinc. You will not be able to cut or dent the zinc. Use a magnet to see if it is lead or steel (obviously test away from the clip). I stick a hard drive magnet to the back of my wire cutters for easy access.
Cast all of your "alloys" separately. By that mean that you should not mix clip-on WW's and Stick-on WW's since they are different alloys (Stick-on WW's are softer). Bullet casters will trust you more if you let them know where the lead came from.
I really enjoyed this vid, thanks. I've just done my first car battery lead recovery and I'll deffo use some of the advice here for my second run :)
Really cool. When I was a kid, my stepdad used to make jig heads for fishing and we melted a lot of pails of wheel weights with a propane torch and a ladle in the vice. It was a good deal for him. The weights were free and he had free child labour to hold the torch on the ladle. Thanks for the tips. I am trying to figure out how to maximize my scrapping as there are no decent yards within hours of me.
invest in a steel cauldron. you can find them sometimes at yard sales. put the cauldron over a rocket stove made of bricks. you wont need to worry about the cold weather...
I would LOVE to have that setup! I could use it to heat the garage too..
First time seeing your videos. These are excellent tips. I’m very intrigued. I’m looking forward to trying this technique as soon as I get a camping gas stove.
I got several pounds of pure lead from scraping 4 cast nets I found in a junked boat. I melted them down using regular brick in a gravel driveway, burning charcoal briquettes, melted them in a stainless steel mixing bowl from a yard sale (25c) and poured into muffin tins from the same yard sale (10c)
I don’t understand where people keep finding all these scrap boats!! 😂
Sounds like a great setup that gets the job done. Can’t wait for garage sale season, whenever we get it back lol
Your video series is awesome
Thank you so much! I’m really enjoying doing these 😊
As a diver, I use lead for my body weights to help myself sink. Something for you to think about. Because dive weights are expensive af
That’s because some diving company made them expensive . Put them in a special shape and package and we buy them because they are “for diving” so they must be special. They are just ripping you off.
My grandfather used to run a junkyard. He loved scuba diving and melted his own weights in the 80's!
Hmmm...... So would you or anyone you know be interested in some lead weights for your diving suit? I've got a mess I'm lookin to make into something. 😂 lol
getting a little more sophisticated Thub.
And having fun doing it!
Really enjoyed the editing on this one. Voice description over video was 👌👌
Thank you! I want to come up with plenty more projects like this one, it was fun to get it all put together 👍
Spend $5 on propane to make $4 more. This summarises the metal scapper TH-cam space so, so well.
you were right, I love this weeks video! Cheers!
Nice, thank you!
Great video man. Its nice to see the progress of your channel. Your da man!!
Keep it ip.
ladies and gentlemen may I present the man, the legend, the OG himself.....Sir Thubs!
🤣
It's great to tune in to your videos very informational keeps me going thanks for your hard work much appreciated, watched you and your little daughter yesterday on a video lovely see the bond yous have best of luck buddy all the best to you and your family, keep up the good work ✌
Should heat the molds up to prevent steam explosions.
Ohh, yea fair point
As long as they're kept in a dry place I don't bother.
I found this out with a pour it made a mess and bubbled up over my mold
Always good to leave it better then when you found it. Good Advice from a Good Video.
What a great - and fun - idea! Thanks, Thub.
It was so much fun!
Im def gonna be keeping an eye out for the wheel weights from now on. Im gonna check out some of my local car mechanics n junk yards because in my area they really dont think about scraping the scraps or saving stuff like that to sell. especially the ones that specialize in tire changing n balancing ive seen buckets outside of their shops next to the dumpsters. Im gonna start a led smelting empire lol. Especially with the way America's economy is goin in the toilet its only a matter of time before the olds days n obsolete ways are teaching us how to make a living n survive.
😂 I think you missed the part about scaling problems!! But all the power to ya bud 👍
Oh no I watched the vid i wasnt thinkin about selling it to a scrap yard im really interested in casting it into ingots like you did cuz i actually have a buddy of mine that makes swords who melted down some silver i had been collecting for like 5 years into ingots. So i was thinking about what you said and tryin to make the ingots to sell locally because where i live if theres 2 things the people here love its fishing and shooting guns in the woods n at ranges lol. Im sure i can find some people that make their own fishing weights or cast bullets especially around here. But either way its def something im gonna look into n see if it would be worth doin because in times like these every penny makes a difference.
Neat! Good advice and I didn't know you could use a camp stove to cast any metals at all. I know aluminum has to be much hotter than that, but it's still really cool seeing lead on a camp stove. Great video!
It was great fun 😆
No problem for lead. To save on costs i melted lead with a homemade rocket stove. So the fuel cost me nothing.
Thub, what a great, interesting and fun video! You are an Alchemist...
I’ve always WANTED to be an alchemist! Do I get to pick a cool hat though?
@@thubprint a cool hat helps, a name like Paracelsus or Nicholas Flamel even more so. You can also make black powder from every day items from a hardware store
try magnet fishing in the warmer weather along with cleaning up the river you can get serious metal out of it including fishing weights if you go to the right area, some places have a community cleaning group that cleans the rivers but with the virus some places are neglected, best places to try would be city canals or if there is a river that flows near or through the city that works too
I DEFinitely want to try magnet fishing 👌👌
I’m having a hard time finding a good magnet though, the Amazon ones all have reviews that make them sound kinda weak
@@thubprint go look up the magnet fishing uk they have a website with way stronger magnets and you can see how bad the english canals are they might have links to the magnets too
ive done stained glass for many years and use the lead off cuts to make sinkers. cheers Thub
I have a dump truck load full
Of wheel weights , literally. My dad has a tire shop as did my grandfather before him. We have over 100 five gallon buckets in our warehouse. My family has been hoarding for many years . Nearly forty we are looking to scrap it . We need the space and it’s in our way.
Where are you located? I’d come pick some up if you needed to remove them.
@@lancebuttermore5973 central Ohio, a little town called circleville.
Loved the video man. Keep up the good work. The amount of time you spend researching and preparing really shows. Keep doing the thing. From Sacramento, CA. Oh yeah I made the short video on cleaning pressure relief valves, hope it helped you or anyone and I changed the name to Jadrew Scrapper just in case I ever post anymore. Deuces!
I will check it out, and thanks for putting it together! And thanks for saying hi 😊
Love the channel so far! You're a wealth of information!
I am doing my best 😌
Good advice my friend. Greetings from Greece😃
Well kalispera from Canada! Island or mainland?
@@thubprint mainland... From Athens 😁
You had my subscription at antiquated lead/acid car batteries.
Candle wax, that's a new one. That was freaking awesome!
I was really glad when Brunswick Smelter closed down. I hauled truckloads of lead out of there quite often and every time was a huge hassle with the shipping staff. You should look into a Devil Forge furnace and make ingots to make you dollar on all your scrap.
Not a great operation huh? Yea, the devil forge looks like a good one for sure. I’ve been comparing it to the smaller tabletop electric ones, I think they both have their place depending on a person’s intended useage
pretty nice project. whas up tothis melting thing, dont know if you know, but "street copper" is good in that, maybe you can get some ideas there. thank you for this vid and stay healthy. you your family and everybody out there. greets from good old germany
Well I wouldn’t want to be straight up grabbing ideas from other people’s channels! I’ll check it out though 👍
@@thubprint dont wanna do an advertisment, its just caus hes nearly only melting stuff. thougt it might be interesting. its no shoutout or that
Thanks for posting
This was one of your best videos. Very interesting and nice presentation. Kudos to you sir up there in the great white north!
Thank you! It was fun to put together 🙂
That was a genius video!
And so much fun to make 😁
ive melted zinc with charcoal and a steel "crucible" mix drink shaker. used a bunch of diecast car castings i didnt want and got a 5lb ingot
I used to pour lead as a child with my dad out in our back garage. I'd also weigh out the gunpowder too.
That sounds cool! I’ve never been hunting, would definitely like to
@@thubprint Same here. Whenever we went, the only kills I'd clean was the beer cans.
I heat up old projectiles from old army camp that metal detect. Get lead & copper/ brass from jackets. Win/win
I gotta get me a kiln and then I can melt the good stuff!
Thank you of another information 👍👍
Happy to be able to share it 👍
Great info!
Awesome stuff
Thanks!
i like the format
Thank you! I’ve been really enjoying it
big fan keep doing the thing
Ohhhh that car battery bit was point on. Also don't forget you can get silver from those weights aswell
Fr? How do you get silver out of them?
@@thubprint you cupel them. The cupel cup soaks in the lead leaves the precious metals. Results will vary but I thought that'd interest you some. Make that dollar stretch even more
Even two years ago a 10 dollar bucket of wheel weights was a unicorn. More likely 50-100 at a dealership.
Hell yeah, dude!
Outstanding!👍👍👍
Nice my work has buckets of these lol
See how many you can get!
That was quite interesting, cheers Thub :)
Thanks!
Very nice ideas idol
And fun!
Sort the Zn by sound, on a metal bench there is a tone difference. Try not to melt for bullet casters is that is your final customer. Fish weight is another good source to sell to. Some down riggers use 10 pounds
Another interesting video
Thanks!
5:25 Yeah, no, just because you are below the boiling point doesnt mean it doesnt produce fumes.
All liquids evaporate, just like water in an open glass does.
I actually have a melter for lead. My father used to make lead balls for muzzle loaders.
Thanks for sharing
I make fishing lures. I melt it down in my wood plugs, as ballast weight. Any lead I come across I save it. Someday I am going to get a melting pot or a ladle for melting led into plug bodies, and actual molds.
That would be the next tricky part, getting it into those tiny molds.
I poured lead in to molds that was Han Solo in carbon just for fun lol and if you're looking for a lot of lead Believe It or Not sailboats have alot in it and I have a video up showing a chunk of lead in the back of the truck it was heavy it was a big pay day
Nice! How did you come across a boat to scrap out?
The guy was moving and he had to get rid of it so he paid me and I dismantled it and burned the wood that I could and sold off what I could
Fantastic thinking my friend! I haven’t come across or had the opportunity to even consider what to do with lead wheel weights. Just recently i brought about 10 pounds of lead i peeled from a bunch of weird coated wire i found by the superior water front near my work... i found it walking on my lunch break. It was either some kind of fishing or net weight, or old electrical wire? But i digress, now im questioning wether i should have saved it for future smelting and private selling🤔 it was very corroded tho and kind of made me nervous having around... in fact when i first started peeling it off the wire inside I wasn’t wearing a respirator and quickly realized what an idiot rookie mistake that was
That’s wild, I’ve never seen anything like that!
I didn't realize that stick-on weights were lead, i thought they were zinc. Thanks for the info!
I've a bucket of weights & other dirty lead that I may try this with. Thanks. Do you have a video about light ballasts?
I don’t have one for light ballasts yet, or not exactly. I did one awhile back where I found a bin full of light fixtures, I called it “how much can you make in one day scrapping” or something. I was surprised at how little I got for the ballasts so I’ve never thought about them again.
Great video as ythe comments agree! I le in cornwall UK here Ti. Ws mined heavily. I spoke to a gravity miner and he asked if I could bring a sample in for him. I never knew the price 15000 a ton
It’s interesting to find out where all the metal comes from! I had no idea until I researched this that one of the main supplies of lead for NA is in a little town not far from where I grew up! (Trail BC)
8:58 tin can tops work for making bullets ?
I smelt my own lead a lot for my freedom seeds for my bigger boom sticks
I have found that there are 3 kinds of wheel weights...pure lead, Antimony and steel. Out of a bucket of the latest weights, I'll bet I threw away over 25% of the newer non-lead weights
Genius
Hey Thub you are really impressing me with the always increasing quality of your videos ;) Just a. Quick trick if you want 3 to 4$ a pound for your ingots :) sell them on ebay!!!! If you look at sold comps there is loads of castings ingots being sold for that price everyday. Even unmelted lead scraps can fetch that price on ebay. Customers are happy to pay the shipping to save the hassle of finding good lead.
Hadn’t thought of that! Kinda figured if they were going to pay the shipping cost they would just order from the premium suppliers? But if they’re selling on eBay, someone is buying ig!
While pondering what my next income stream should be I happened across your videos and I must say that you have inspired me to include scrapping as one of those streams. I found I like taking things apart especially if they don’t need to go back together and I like your teaching style immensely. Keep the great videos coming I’ll be tuning in for sure. 😊
Thanks so much! I’ve got a handful more planned and a bit of an expansion in the works, so hopefully it’s all helpful to you 😊
Just take care not to let it pile up too badly, my yard got really out of hand when I first started 😂
Brandy, Great comment we are here to party with Brandy and Beer or Whisky and Wine and Not to hide
You’re the man
😁👍
I've been collecting scrap lead for a significant number of years and processed it on my kitchen stove🤣 However, I never thought of trying to sell it as I always thought the price was too low, it's just fun to do. Here in the UK, we have stringent gun control and I'm unaware if there are people who make they're own bullets unlike Canada and the US!! Definitely one to think about finding a market to sell it on, thanks 😁 LIAYFI...
Fishing weights. Or make your own dripper and make lead shot for scuba diving. It won't be perfectly round, but plenty good enough - just pick out any sharp bits. I melt on a wood burner in the shed, does it perfectly, exhausted/extracted to the open air and quick if done on a gentle bed of embers on low draught - just don't get it too hot. Heard of charcoal? The old colliers also used to make white coal (small chips of very dry wood) for sale to lead/pewter founders as charcoal used as fuel burned too hot (as did coal). Here's a link to the wood burner as it's a very simple jobby made out of a butane cylinder. th-cam.com/video/De1LbSrsZrc/w-d-xo.html
Another great vid
😊
Very interesting video.... Any ideas what can be done with the metal cans from Chef Boyardee?
Oh those just go in as tin shred/light steel, they haven’t had any real tin in a long long time lol. You could always make a string+can telephone!
join a range for as much lead as you can collect. the fun is actually in the copper. the copper and brass jackets are no2 copper. most jackets are ruptured on impact and the molten lead flows out. the lead fill jackets just go in the no2 copper lot. I use a deep fry steel basket and shake it a little bit to turn them around in a nice pool of molten lead I heat with scrap wood from my wood shop. free fuel too.
I really wanna do a day searching at a range! Probably much easier with a metal detector though.
Cheap suggestion to help:
Buy and use Ceramic insulation for your pot.
Decent process you have there. May I contribute a few fine points ? Today, too many wheel weights are made steel or Zinc, Those can't be put in your melt, zinc is oatmeal lumps in molten lead. So be watchful of what you add to your pot. The fumes are harmful from this process. Melting lead or worse zinc. Work outside or under a fume hood. You cant rush the melting & fluxing process.. Pick off any floating steel clips carefully . But Before you try to scoop them or the "Dross" from the melt : You should do the wax flux thing/flame up the fumes, TWICE. & before you scoop the junk out Wax, Flux again with hardwood sawdust, ignite while stirring. This step insures you won't be skimming off the valuable antimony from in wheel weights. If you know the weight of your working pots content you can add pewter to the mixture at 1 or 2 % And stamp that Sn content right on your ingots. That is my preferred mixture for pistol 1% or for rifle bullets 2% Tin.. Sorry for the long post..keep up the good work & be careful. uncle mike in ct.
Excellent tips from a fella who sounds like he’s done it before! 😉
I wasn’t too worried about the zinc but I kept the temperature down with all the fresh new material I was feeding in. All the same I did catch one that broke in half, so I definitely see how it would be better to keep them out from the beginning.
how was I not subscribed to this channel?
I don’t know but I’m glad you are now! 😁
GREAT JOB.....
Very cool video Thub! Have you thought about melting down copper into ingots as well?
Oh absolutely I’ve thought about it! Just don’t have the equipment right now lol
have you seen the devil forge furnace models? They seem to be serious professional melters. Not used one personally but a handful of casting channels I watch use them.
Hi, I hope you read my comment, I found some lead metal detecting, a handful of fishing weights, two tire weights with the iron bit, and a few chunks from an old house built in the 1900s or something, I have no idea what they were they are just big chunks of lead, total weight is a kilogram give or take a little
Should I just cast ingots like you did?
I was planing to try and take a chisel to the two iron bits on the tire weights so I just have lead left over, and take it to the scrapper like that
Nice
I work at a tire shop and I pocket every lead weight so Im winning especially now that I know about this fuckin awesome shit!
Nice video and great idea! Just a heads up I don’t believe that respirator fully works unless you are a clean shave. Worth looking into to protect your health if you’re continuing to melt
That is a fair point.
@@thubprint You need a vapor respirator or ventilated mask, not just a particulate filter. Lead is extremely damaging to the brain.