In need of vintage lead (pre WWII)

[cdreamer]

Hi all! I have a customer who needs 300 lbs of pre WWII lead.
Anyone have any that they want to unload? I realize it may be hard to
find, but if anyone has some ingots in the basement they want to convert
to cash -pm me.

 

[Gilldiver]

Looking to sell it as Low Alpha lead? Which can sell at about the same as silver?

BTW, it dosen't have to be pre-WWII, just pre July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb test code named Trinity.

But it does also need to have come from a mine with a natural low alpha background level.

Trinity was the first test of technology for a nuclear weapon. It was conducted by the United States on July 16, 1945, at a location 35 miles (56 km) southeast of Socorro, New Mexico, on what is now White Sands Missile Range, headquartered near Alamogordo. Trinity was a test of an implosion-design plutonium bomb. The Fat Man bomb, using the same conceptual design, was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9. The Trinity detonation was equivalent to the explosion of around 20 kilotons of TNT and is usually considered the beginning of the Atomic Age.

 

[din7]

that's really interesting. however, please help the uninformed a little: why is lead mined/cast before that date more desirable than that produced after?

 

[TravisD]

Not an expert by any means, but out of curiosity I google'd "Low Alpha Lead" and got some info that it's desirable/necessary for Semiconductor use (solder) where Alpha-ray emissions from the lead can cause random errors.

Lead that was still in the ground when Nuke testing started will emit more stray Alpha particles than lead that was mind before the first tests.

 

[Nemrod]

that's really interesting. however, please help the uninformed a little: why is lead mined/cast before that date more desirable than that produced after?

Perhaps before your time but once upon a time we liked to make snow ice cream and then we were told not to anymore. I was wondering why my neighbor kid, little Johnny had two heads and three feet.

N

 

[cdreamer]

I don't entirely understand - but the customer needs to melt it down to make a shield
and the lead post 1945 contains cesium something or other and it can interfere with
the tests he has to conduct. I've been informed that plumbers tend to
collect some of this stuff from old plumbing systems. Didn't know it was worth so much :shocked2: I may have found some but not enough.

 

[rstofer]

Perhaps before your time but once upon a time we liked to make snow ice cream and then we were told not to anymore. I was wondering why my neighbor kid, little Johnny had two heads and three feet.

N

I remember in the early '50s when the radio news reports contained background radiation levels. Every hour, on the hour, just how much we were exposed to.

Strontium 90 in milk was a big concern at the time. Google for 'strontium 90 milk' for more info.

Polio was a really big deal and when the Salk Vaccine came out, we were at the head of the line. My parents were seriously stressed over Polio.

We also had air raid warnings every Monday at 11:00 AM (I believe). Everybody was supposed to drive from San Diego to El Centro. Good luck with that!

Now, we are just supposed to die in place. Quietly, in complete ignorance of the causes.

Richard

 

[mikerault]

Cesium 137 contamination during the smelting and casting is what the concern is. We used to use steel from old battle ships for shields in the Nuclear labs at Nuclear Power Plants because of that, as well as the fact that many smelters now use Cobalt60 or other radioactive isotopes in the liners of the furnaces to be a wear indicator.