Hey guys I need some help. I have found what I think is linotype but not sure, as I have never played with it before. It has letters that I can id as our local newspaper, however this stuff is brittle. It breaks when you try to bend it. It is shiny not dull like the ww that I am use to. Also, for a lack of better words it has hollow cavities running height wise toward the lettering. Along with this stuff is thin sheet lead the same height as the stuff with the letters and it is very bendable. Some of this sheet lead is fused to copper wires spaced just right for the lettered stuff to fit in kinda like spacers. I only picked up a 100 pounds there are two 55 gal drums of this stuff. I would post a picture but I have no idea as how but I can send some by e-mail if it will help to id this stuff. Any ideas? Shane

IMHO only it sounds like lino -- I have 80+ lbs. but with out seeing it or testing it -the letters in it and the decription sounds like Lino my .2

It's linotype...I got the same thing when I lived in Tulsa, including the thin sheets that were flexible.

Joe

Josh and Joe Thanks I went back and told them I will take one of the 55 gal drums (do not know how much it weighs so do not know if I can afford the second one) Tuesday I will pick it up. The guy there thought I should bring a trailer might be to much for my truck.

Heres anougher question, why do print shops get rid of it? Does lino change after being poured a few times? Does it matter to a bullet caster?

Thanks again Shane

5 gallon pales full of ww's run well over 100#'s, a full 55 gallon drum would be pushing 1500#'s. Mind your toes!

What you found might not necessarily be linotype metal. It could possibly be foundry type, which has a heavy amount of zinc along with the tin, antimony and lead of linotype metal. It would not be good for casting bullets.

The stuff with the "hollow" deals running from the bottom of the slug up to the type itself very probably is the real linotype metal, with type slugs cast on a linotype machine.

Print shops have gotten rid of linotype metal because it has become obsolete, along with the Linotype itself and all other hot-metal printing materials and machines.

Almost 100 per cent of all printing done nowadays is with the offset process, which doesn't need the smell, heat and hassle of casting type.

Paul yes the five gal bucket I picked up was 128 lbs hardly made a dent in the drum. I was hopeing not more than 1500 lbs (my truck can handle that) At 15 cents a pound may have to get both drums

Terry I melted forty pounds into ingots according to my thermometer I was casting at 525 or so degrees. This was in the lino range marking on my thermometer. What would a zinc alloy melt at? I do not have a hardness tester (i see that in the future now) my finger nail hardly puts a dent in it. After looking at it in the sun light and playing with it a little more it does bend a little before breaking. And I am guessing that it is from a print shop not the news paper that I first thought, after reading some of the words, and dates from late 80's.
I am learning something new every day thanks for the input. Shane

If you didn't have any trouble melting your mystery metal at about 525 degrees, you very probably have good linotype metal. Go ahead and cast bullets with it. If you fail to get well-formed bullets,with rounded edges and the like, chances could be good that some contaminant is present. You won't know until you try.

Incidentally, 15 cents a pound is very reasonable for linotype metal. Go for it.

That's a good find, especially at $.15/lb.

I thought I had some linotype, but you are talking about melting point around 525 degrees!

I have two bars of something! Moulded into ingots around 5 pounds! On the front it says ADAMANT Super-Genuine - Magnolia Metal Company, New York! On the back, it is stamped with a magnolia flower and PC 40, and Pouring Temperature 900 degrees, and REG. U.S. PAT. OFF.

I know it's quite hard, because it rings when you hit them together!

Anyone know what this is!

Hey Men a man on another forum posted He got a 55 gal full ,he said it weighed 3500lb be carefull,Sean

3500 lbs! WOW I think I will dig up a trailer just in case. These guys have no idea what it weighs. The scales are across the street, did not want to push to much about the weight as they were busy. They did show me a chunk of lead that the building forklift could not pick up had to use the yard forklift. That was a chunk of lead now.

Shane

Shane I don't often post but can't let this one get away. If you have lin-o-type it will be letters and words with an extension on the back that is like a bar. If you have foundry type which is also called hand set, it will be most likely individual letters and may or may not be solid on the back side. Foundry type never had zink in it as far as I know,it had a percentage of copper to make it harder than most type metals as it was used over and over.
If you have foundry type it won't cast very well because of the copper content. The copper will freeze out and plug up your pouring nozzle and do other weird things. It can be smelted out using the proper procedures and will make great bullets if added to ww or other lead combos.
Sorry this ran so long I have used foundry type for over 18 years to make all sorts of alloys and have had great luck with it if use properly. Wes

hammerhead do you have a ww linotype recipe for bullet lead? i have a bar of linotype lead too. my friend and casting guru said ya could use it straight but it would be light and hard. i suppose this bar weighs about 30#.

Tasco, straight lino is lovely stuff for high velocity rifle bullets. If you shoot mostly pistol and moderate rifle loads, one part lino to six parts WW will greatly improve the castablity and somewhat harden your alloy.

thanks for recipe leftoverdj! i took some time a few yrs back and cast up several thousand bullets. they were made from recovered indoor range lead. made great bullets.

I'll bet that Magnolia metal is babbitt for bearings. If so, you can resell it at a bit of a profit to old engine enthusiasts and use something else for your bullets. A place I'd suggest advertising it is: http://enginads.com/

Tasco and all, yes using 1lb of linotype to 5 or 6 lbs of clean ww will make good bullets for handguns I usually use 1 to 3 or 1 to 4 for magnum bullets. Hell in fact the 1 to 4 is about all I use anymore. Also I do have the procedures for smelting foundry type down and smelting off the copper to make it useful for bullet casting and adding the correct amounts of ww to make lino. From there one can go on to make what ever alloys they desire. Wes
Well maybe I'll get this right in a minute. If you have a bar and you think it is lino it should weight about 23 to 26 lbs depending on the mould it was cast in and it should have a hole with ears and a split where it would have been suspend on a lino feeder. I have seen bars that would have weighed 60 or 70 lbs or more and were not lino. Wes

[ 10-06-2003, 06:59: Message edited by: hammerhead ]

Hammerhead, Can you explain your method for using foundry type, especially how to remove the copper.I have a large box of foundry type and tried to mix it with wheeweight, but the mixtur would not cast well. culex

Fifteen cents a pound is DIRT CHEAP for real lino!!! Over the last 10 years I have bought out two print shops' whole supplies just to get their lino at $.55 per lb.

True lino actually melts at about 465 F. To test its purity, do a search for Bill Ferguson and ask him how to do a "cooling test" for pure lino....

Lino does lose tin and antimony due to oxidation as it is cast and re-cast, and then needs to be enriched to preserve its superb casting properties. But, it does not need to be enriched to make good bullets. Bill can also tell you about that, and give you formulas to restore it or to make into just about any bullet alloy you want.

If you can't find him any other way, go to JGBS@YahooGroups.com and look for him there.
(He is an MIT-trained metallurgist with many years of work experience....and one heck of a nice guy.)

AC

Ok I will try to tell how I use the foundry type to make Lino. First off I weigh up the ww's I intend to use then smelt it down and then flux and skim of the dross and clips subtract this from the amount of ww's to get the real amount of ww metal then with the temp stable at about 615 deg. add 55 percent of the amount of foundry type let this melt and then flux the alloy.for example 45 lbs of ww metal use 55 lbs of foundry type.When this is melted down turn down the thermostat to about 500 deg let the melt set until the burner comes back on then skim the surface of the melt with a slotted skimmer. Skim at this temp. 2 0r 3 times then turn the temp back up to about 615 or 625 and bring the entire melt up to temp. cast a sample and test it if it tests the same as lino then you can add more ww's to get the desired alloy or just pour up ingots and then alloy with other metal later. I hope this helps I probably didn't do a very good job of describing the process. If the melt tests out as lino one should be able to cast good bullets at about 535 deg. Wes

[ 10-15-2003, 20:33: Message edited by: hammerhead ]