Here's my smelting breakdown

S

Swampman1

New member
Did my very first WWs about a week ago, and I just thought I'd post the cost analysis. WWs purchased at my local recycling center.

Purchased 65 lbs of wheel weights- $30
Netted 50 lbs of usable lead WWs. = (23% loss)
Netted 39.75 lbs of WW ingots. = (20.5% loss)
So my WW lead ingots cost me roughly 75 cents/lb.

Eliminating the middle man seems impossible in my area. So I end up paying more for WWs. Just curious how others compare, as far as finished product.
 
Do your clips still have quite a bit of lead stuck to them? If so run them through again and get everything you can off them.

Just looking at your numbers and thinking you should have had more lead than that.

Either way your just about $20 cheaper than what I pay for it shipped to my door already smelted into ingots. To be honest I figure that as the cost of not having to sort and then smelt down the raw weights myself.

That said, if I could find a reliable source close to the house here I would certainly stock up on them for what your paying as well. Might be a bit harder to find the Isotope core alloy I like so much, but the straight WW would work out just fine if I didn't have that stuff.
 
.75 a pound ain't bad!

If you can find lead, stock up on lead, for sure..... it is a dwindling supply that we have available from any private sources. I'm paying $1.05/lb shipped for clean smelted WW ingots, and I'm buying a box every month (60#) til I can have me a little pile of it saved up. Now if I could only find a source of my favorite powders to do the same with! ;)
 
Ordering these WW ingots may be in my future. But for now, considering I'm brand new to the casting part of reloading, I find it a bit enjoyable. What source do you guys use to order from?
 
@ Swampman1

Check with the mom and pop tire shop's in your area for wheel weight
lead, that's how I get all my lead.

And in passing...how did you get 15lbs of the rim clip ?
 
Check with the mom and pop tire shop's in your area for wheel weight lead, that's how I get all my lead.
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Those are the ones I've been checking. But from what I'm hearing... I'm not the only one hitting a brick wall. Not sure of the reason. Maybe commitments to the salvage facility? Who knows.

And in passing...how did you get 15lbs of the rim clip?
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Not sure I understand that question. Maybe you're talking about how I got from 65 lbs of WWs down to 50 lbs? Much of that 15 lbs was metal and zinc WWs. There were even a lot of value stems included that were part of the weight.
 
Yup, I remember now...zinc and valve stem's.
Are there any good-ole boy auto junk yards in your area who would
allow you to wander their place and pull wheel weights ?, they pop
off really easy...especially if you have the right plier/tong.
 
came across a lucky find today. stopped in on a whim to a recycling place that doesnt even deal with lead, he took me to th back of the lot and he had prolly 1k pds plus of these pure roffers lead thingys. he let me run off with 44 pds of them for 17 bucks. if i had more cash in my wallt woulda got a bunch more. this is pure lead so i will need to do some work, but happy nonetheless. i guess im just under 40c a pound with none of the slag and throw aways i get with ww's. ill be back for more in a few days for sure

http://s998.photobucket.com/user/nwalker73/media/IMG_20131219_221618_zps4651e8e7.jpg.html
 
when it comes to wheelweights i offer the tire shops 35$ for a full 5gal bucket, that weighs about 120pds, after i toss the irons and zinc and melt off the clips that usually yeilds me about 70-80 pounds of ingots. the lead vs iron ratio of your weights can greatly vary on where you live, i your in close proximity of the north of commifornia, your going tohave alot more iron/zinc and plastic weights, just from folks traveling through. i think there is a mild lead panic ensueing due to the lead ore place closing(although should have little effect on supply) t is still causing a bt more demand at the momnt. i expect a possible spike in cost comin soon, so get what you need until the hype blows over and parania desists. just my 75c, i could be totally ncorrect in that feeling

sorry bout typos....new tablet
 
Might be a bit harder to find the Isotope core alloy I like so much,
Click to expand...

A dude just posted 25 boxes of 96-3-1 cores, $68 for a 68# box, shipped, on CB forum. They went like hotcakes. I barely got my name on the last one before they were gone! :D:D
 
I am still shooting free WW and plumber's lead mix. But am down to the last of it and it looks like I will have to start paying for lead for the first time in about 35 years. For the longest time it never crossed my mind that anyone had to pay for lead, there was always someone with scrap they wanted hauled off.
 
I just made another trip to a not so local recycling center, and picked up 53 lbs of WWs for 35 cents/lb. I thought the price was reasonable. I noticed quite a few stick-ons, and FE's in the bucket, so time will tell just how good a pick up it was.
 
Become a freinds with someone in commercial construction / demolition. I once scored (free) almost 500 lbs. of shiny clean, pure lead sheet from a hospital remodel. Turns out the X-ray/MRI rooms are completely lined with lead under a layer of drywall. Also old buildings have abundant supplys of lead in the form of flashings and plumbers lead, the latter being a bit disgusting during the initial melt due to residual sewage but you get used to it!:eek:
 
I paid $75 for over 300lbs of clip ons, stick ons, valve stems and a lot of crap including zinc and ferrous. alloyed about 120lbs before scoring another 300lbs of very clean WW no valve stems or junk, but more zinc and steel but the price was right, $0.
 
I'm really jealous of you guys that get lead for donuts. ;)

Recyclers already got the tire places and scrapyards around here under contract.
 
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