Church Organ Pipes

[Buzz]

During my search for a bit of Lead to make a cathode for my deplating cell,
i was offered some squashed 19th Century church organ pipes.

From the weight of them and also the way you can bend the metal so easily,
i believe them to be at least part Lead.
They are not grey in colour on the outside though, they have greenish/brownish sheen to them.
Does anyone know what these are likley to be made of and whether the colour tint is just paint?

 

[g_axelsson]

I think they are made from pure tin and soldered with a tin-led solder.
Last year I sold 40 kilos of tin-led solder to an organ maker.

Test it by putting a piece of it in HCl to see if it is tin-led or pure tin.

/Göran

 

[Irons]

Lead would be the last thing I would use in an acoustic system unless I wanted to damp the sound for some reason. It's commonly used for that purpose.

If it's Tin, buy it. It's worth good money.

 

[cheese]

pulled from http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Pipe-Organ.html


Sheets made of alloys of tin and lead are usually made by the pipe organ manufacturer. This is because small changes in the exact amounts of tin and lead present may cause large changes in the sound of the pipe. More tin tends to produce a brighter sound. More lead tends to produce a heavier sound.
3 Tin and lead are carefully weighed on accurate scales and mixed together in the desired amounts. The mixture is heated in an oven until it melts into a liquid. The molten alloy is poured into a large, shallow cooling tray. The metal cools into a sheet, which is removed from the tray. The exact amount of liquid that is poured into the tray determines the thickness of the sheet, which will affect the sound of the pipe.
4 The metal sheet is cut to the proper size. It is then bent around a wooden mandrel in the shape of the pipe being made. The sheet is hammered and rolled around the mandrel until it is shaped into a pipe. The seam, where one edge of the sheet meets the other edge, is smoothed and soldered. The pipe is then cut to the proper length.
5 For flue pipes, an opening of the proper size, shape, and location is cut into the side of the pipe. For reed pipes, a strip of brass is installed in the correct position. Small adjustments in the opening or the reed are often needed when the pipe organ is completed.


Read more: How pipe organ is made - manufacture, making, history, used, parts, components, dimensions, procedure, Raw Materials, Design, The Manufacturing Process of pipe organ, http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Pipe-Organ.html

 

[Buzz]

Well, a small piece completely dissolved in hot HCl.

Does that mean pure tin?

If so, i guess i'm good for stannous for the next 1000 years or so. :lol:
There's about 15Kg in that box.

Buzz

 

[g_axelsson]

It's a good sign. If you don't get a white precipitate when it cools down then there isn't a lot of led in it at least. You can force all the led out with sulphuric acid. That should detect any lead in it.
I would guess that the seams is made of a led-tin alloy though, that would make it so much easier to solder without melting the pipe.