# Lead/Silver



## davycoppitt (Feb 14, 2008)

I heard a long time ago that some very old lead contained a significant amount of silver. I was told that this was because silver was so cheap back then and they didn't bother trying to get all of the silver out of the lead. I was wondering if anybody here knows if this is true. I have quite a bit of old lead pipes that are probably around 100 years old, should I keep this lead separate from my other lead or is it all just the same? I've tryed to look everywhere to find out the answer, but so far have come up with nothing. Thanks for your replies.


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## Lou (Feb 14, 2008)

Dissolve some in nitric acid, add table salt, mass the dry precipitate, then shake it with concentrated ammonia water. Filter, rinsing with plenty of water. Mass what's left behind (lead chloride, but this works for bromide, iodide). If it lost mass, that indicates that some silver halide was dissolved in the ammonia, forming a complex. The amount of mass loss corresponds to the amount of silver halide present. You can then mathematically determine how much silver per kilogram, ton, ounce or whatever is present in your lead.

If you have any questions on the math or why this works, just ask.
Lou


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## davycoppitt (Feb 14, 2008)

Oh ok awsome. Ill have to try that. However, It will take me quite a while to get it done. I want to read as much as possible before I start to dive into using chemicals and what not, but Ill copy that and keep it for when I have all the knowledge and tools. Thanks.


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## Harold_V (Feb 15, 2008)

davycoppitt said:


> I was told that this was because silver was so cheap back then and they didn't bother trying to get all of the silver out of the lead.


Lou has given you some great input as to verifying if your lead has values, or not, but I'm of the opinion that any lead you are likely to encounter most assuredly has the silver removed. There has never been a time in the history of the US that silver was not considered valuable, so it has always been recovered. Further, silver and lead were commonly found in the same ore body, so they became experts at extracting one from the other. 

Don't think of the relatively low value of silver back when coinage was struck (silver coinage was struck with the value of silver @ $1.29/ounce) in today's economy as being cheap. It was very valuable in its time, and was not left behind unnecessarily. You can rest assured that none of the major smelters and refiners would have left it behind in the process of purifying lead. Makes no sense. At best, you might hope for a trace, if that. Assuming you did have traces, the cost of recovery would far exceed any values you might gain. My money says sell the lead as scrap, or use it for your needs. You're not about to make any money with the notion it contains silver. 

Harold


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## Lino1406 (Feb 15, 2008)

After dissolving the two samples
in nitric, add bichromate solution
to each. If your assumption is
right, the "old" one will be redder.
If my assumption is right, they
will look same (yellow-orange).


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## Irons (Feb 15, 2008)

Good for killing Vampires.

Be sure to wear your garlic.


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## Shecker (May 31, 2008)

This is just a thought but lead chloride is soluble in very hot water, leaving the silver chloride behind. The solubility is about 180 degrees C. This makes for asn effective separation.

Randy in Gunnison


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## markqf1 (May 31, 2008)

Vampires and billfolds!  

Mark


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## peter i (Jun 5, 2008)

I cast these once, when a friend requested them:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1103/761167543_69166ff070.jpg?v=0


".357 werewolf"
8)


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## Oz (Jun 5, 2008)

Those are really nice castings! A nice finish with fine detail all the way down to the crimp. Did you make a mold or use a commercial bullet mold.


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## peter i (Jun 6, 2008)

Thanks!
 

I cast those in oilbonded jeweller's casting sand (a fine grained petrobond) and was happily surprised to even get the roll in the crimping groves.
It's a little slow, but great for casting a few items at a time.

An aluminium bullet mold would be ruined for sure, and I doubt that it would be possible to make the silver fill the mold if a steel mold was used (surface tension and temperature difference could make trouble)
I'm ot sure if it would damage a steel mold, but they are nastily expensive compared to the alu-molds.


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## Oz (Jun 6, 2008)

I used to cast my own maxi-ball and round ball bullets for my 50 caliber black powder rifle in steel molds. The first 3 or 4 were throw away quality until the mold warmed up.


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## markqf1 (Jun 6, 2008)

Not throw away, ... recycleable!


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## Oz (Jun 6, 2008)

Yes indeed Mark, I did recycle them by tossing them right back into the melt pot. We even used to screen the sand behind the targets at times for lead to use over.

If lead ever got real pricy somehow, I could fire up the cat and mine that hillside out on the farm.

That is if diesel to run the cat isn’t worth more than lead by then :wink:


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## peter i (Jun 9, 2008)

Lead has become rather pricey IMHO

[img:630:400]http://www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/base/spot-lead-5y-Large.gif[/img]

It would have been better to invest in lead than in gold (How's that for alchemy :shock: )


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