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?

Chuck

It is a bearing metal, some type of Babbit metal.

How in the hell do I know that you say?

Well thanks to the internet, you met a person who in the basement or the previous house he owned found an extremely old wooden ruler given away as a promotion by, you guessed it- The Magnolia Metal Company, New York! "Makers of Fine Engine Bearings" with a list of companies that used their metals. Sorry I can't find where I packed that damn ruler, otherwise I'd post a pic of it too.

Thanks Mark;
I have cast a lot of bullets & ingots in the past, but I guess this stuff is way to hard for bullets! The melting temp. of this stuff is 900 degrees, according to the info stamped into the back of the ingots!
Probably the only thing this could be used for is a door-stop!
I have seen flat strips of babbit used in bearing surfaces on some of the old farm machinery, so I do know what that is!

Thanks Mark
Chuck

Chuck, babbit is mostly tin is what it is. Smelt one of those five pound bars in with about 200 pounds of WW and you will be in tall cotton.

If I read your post right, the POURING temp is 900 degrees. The temp at which it will melt and alloy with the WW is well under that.

If you still have doubts, you could just go ahead and sell it to me.

[ 10-06-2003, 02:17: Message edited by: Leftoverdj ]

I remember when I was a kid and my Dad worked for the railroad. He had brought some babbitt home to make fishing sinkers. What was funny is he had a hard time cutting off the sprues then when he made the sinkers from lead. Many years my best friend got a bunch of babbitt. He cast some bullets from it but noticed when the bullets hit something hard they more or less shattered. Like the other poster said babbitt has a high percentage of tin. Some babbitt has copper in it too, along with altimony. You could mix some with some wheelweight, just a little batch so that if's not suitable you don't lose alot of material, then try it out.

Joe

Gentlemen,

Back on the good old days before ball and roller bearings, EVERYTHING was a sleeve bearing of some sort or other. Needless to say, there were a gazillion different proprietary blends of babbit material, with all sorts of exotic (and secret) ingredients. Kinda like how it is today with motor oil or gasoline.

Anyway, I wouldn't know where to start to find out what alloy this is, maybe it's tin (probably is) or could be some bizarre zinc-copper amalgam for all I know. Sometimes old tool catalogs from the turn of the century up to the 20's sometimes have compositions of babbit. I have a couple but I already looked a while ago when I found that ruler and I don't have any listings for Magnolia Metals.

I'd spray them with a clear spraypaint and do your door-stop idea, they are a unique piece of history.

Just posted something about this on the other thread. My antique engine hobbyist buddies are always looking for babbitt. Heck, I may need some myself one of these days! If you want to sell it to someone who'll put it to proper use, a good place to advertise it is: http://enginads.com/

Well, I always thought that wheel weights were about the right alloy for cast bullets!

Wouldn't adding this metal to it make them too hard?
I have the newer style of Production Pot and it holds a little over 10 LB of lead alloy!

Probably wouldn't want to put much over a table spoon of this metal with the ww metal! Probably be so hard ya couldn't shove it through the luber-sizer!

Thanks for the insight guys; Chuck

Chuck, got me a thinkin and broke open my machinist handbook. If I had to guess, it is or close to No. 3 bearing alloy. pouring temp of 915 degrees, brinell at 68 degrees 27, composition: copper 8.33%, tin 83.33%, antimony 8.33%. With a melting temp of 462 degrees. It is the only babbit alloy with that high of a pour temp in my book. I hope that helps a little.

Shane

Magnolia Metal Company
6161 Abbott Drive
P.O. Box 19110
Omaha,Nebraska 68119

ph.{402} 455-8760
fax {402} 455-8762

WC