Roof lead

[Timber Wolf]

A while back I posted an answer to one of the many “where do you get your lead” threads. I said to make friends with a roofer. A subsequent response to my post made by another member was “I have redone several roofs, and have never seen any lead”. Well just now, and just for the asking, I picked up three old lead boots off a re-roof job. Brought them home and they weigh almost 12 pounds total. There is a little shingle stuck to one so let’s say they clean up and melt to an even eleven pounds. At 7000 grains to the pound that is 77,000 grains. Or, over four hundred .50 caliber balls if my public-school math is correct (no guarantees).

I save them up and every few years when I feel like it I set up to melt them in a small round-bottom cast-iron pot on my turkey fryer burner. I pound them more or less flattish so I can fit them in the pot, stuck on trash and all. Skim the top and let cool. The next day I turn the pot over and have a pot sized ingot. I haven’t weighed any but they stack well, fit back in the pot, and keep FOREVER. When I recommend “finding” lead from roofing, I swear I am not making it up as I have done it, and continue to do so.

 

[1950DAVE]

Recently bought a 4" soft lead pope flashing , new from a bldg materials dealer going ou of business , for $1.00.
Wish he had more.
Dave

 

[George]

A few years ago I had my roof replaced and salvaged the lead jack flashing from around the vents. It had been there since 1961 and was very soft, I could cut it with a small pair of scissors. I got 23 pounds of first-class ingots from it.

Spence

 

[kemart17]

A few years ago I had my roof replaced and salvaged the lead jack flashing from around the vents. It had been there since 1961 and was very soft, I could cut it with a small pair of scissors. I got 23 pounds of first-class ingots from it.
View attachment 69277
Spence

nice mold, very cool

 

[Justin.44]

A while back I posted an answer to one of the many “where do you get your lead” threads. I said to make friends with a roofer. A subsequent response to my post made by another member was “I have redone several roofs, and have never seen any lead”. Well just now, and just for the asking, I picked up three old lead boots off a re-roof job. Brought them home and they weigh almost 12 pounds total. There is a little shingle stuck to one so let’s say they clean up and melt to an even eleven pounds. At 7000 grains to the pound that is 77,000 grains. Or, over four hundred .50 caliber balls if my public-school math is correct (no guarantees).

I save them up and every few years when I feel like it I set up to melt them in a small round-bottom cast-iron pot on my turkey fryer burner. I pound them more or less flattish so I can fit them in the pot, stuck on trash and all. Skim the top and let cool. The next day I turn the pot over and have a pot sized ingot. I haven’t weighed any but they stack well, fit back in the pot, and keep FOREVER. When I recommend “finding” lead from roofing, I swear I am not making it up as I have done it, and continue to do so.

I worked a roofing job for a summer and encountered A LOT of lead so I can verify what you're saying! Also, I buy lots of lead and probably 70% of it comes from roofs, and it's good soft lead.

 

[Stony Broke]

I have a couple of friends that do construction work and occasionally they give me a few of those lead flashings. They work just fine for round balls...

 

[Don Steele]

I got some roof lead several years ago at a VERY good price from another shooter because it was kinda "nasty". There was a lot of some kind of brown paper stuck to it and what looked like some kind of black tar-like substance. After bringing it home I set up a "smelting/cleaning" operation OUTSIDE using a Coleman stove and an old cast iron skillet. Lots of cleaning of the melted lead in the skillet then pouring the clean lead into Lyman and SAECO ingot molds got me a BUNCH of excellent ingots I could put in my LEE pot without issues. Couple of things I learned along the way:
1. TIGHTLY clamping a set of Vice Grips on the lip of the skillet really helped steady things when pouring the cleaned molten lead into the molds.
2. Using an old lid on the skillet ( one that would never again be used for food purposes) helped hold in the heat and melt the material in the skillet significantly faster. As a result of that experience I have fashioned a field expedient cover for my LEE pot that I use when casting. I believe it helps with the initial heating, as well as assisting in holding a steady temperature better during a casting session.

 

[Okie Hog]

My son is a Houston area contractor. His roofing sub re-claims huge quantities of lead from jobs at apartment complexes.

This is a new lead roof stack:

Master Flow 3 in. Lead Roof Boot No Caulk Vent Pipe Flashing-LRF3 - The Home Depot

 

[gvandersluis]

My builder son has provided me with large quantities of salvaged lead roof flashing. The condition varies from nearly clean to horrible, lots and lots of skimming and I end up with very nice lead ingots from a Lyman mold as I am mostly casting 20 to 1 lead tin mix for bpcr bullets. I also use both cookie moulds and sinker moulds for the pure lead so that I can get a get my mix accurate

 

[Semisane]

When you make friends with a roofer you're never short of lead.

The mold is home made from an old piece of angle iron and a short section of galvanized water pipe. The ingots average about 1 ½ lbs.

 

[shorthair]

A while back I posted an answer to one of the many “where do you get your lead” threads. I said to make friends with a roofer. A subsequent response to my post made by another member was “I have redone several roofs, and have never seen any lead”. Well just now, and just for the asking, I picked up three old lead boots off a re-roof job. Brought them home and they weigh almost 12 pounds total. There is a little shingle stuck to one so let’s say they clean up and melt to an even eleven pounds. At 7000 grains to the pound that is 77,000 grains. Or, over four hundred .50 caliber balls if my public-school math is correct (no guarantees).

I save them up and every few years when I feel like it I set up to melt them in a small round-bottom cast-iron pot on my turkey fryer burner. I pound them more or less flattish so I can fit them in the pot, stuck on trash and all. Skim the top and let cool. The next day I turn the pot over and have a pot sized ingot. I haven’t weighed any but they stack well, fit back in the pot, and keep FOREVER. When I recommend “finding” lead from roofing, I swear I am not making it up as I have done it, and continue to do so.

Roofed for a couple of years and collected two 55 gallon barrels of roof lead in assorted styles, enough that it took a few weekends to melt and clean it into muffin molds.

 

[shorthair]

When you make friends with a roofer you're never short of lead.

The mold is home made from an old piece of angle iron and a short section of galvanized water pipe. The ingots average about 1 ½ lbs.

Nice mine were caked with gobbie.

 

[B P Maniac Shooter]

Yep...I cut them down & throw them in the pot. I get them for FREE all year around. The summer months is especially good. I probably have 500-600 pounds still to pour. Here's a sample:

 

[Eterry]

My local plumber has been bringing me the out clean out pots almost every bathroom had 60 years ago. Each one is about 10 lbs.

 

[TFoley]

As I once mentioned, hereabouts we get it off church roofs that are having their 'easy-steal' lead replaced with a sub that just looks like lead but is utterly useless for anything except using it on roofs.

The travelling thieves always leave some behind that is just too hard to get to, so the shapes can often be a little challenging to get to fit in a melting pot, however, I have a roofer's handsaw, especially made for cutting lead.

 

[Bill Bryan]

I grew up helping my father repair old plumbing and roofing in the old homes of Charleston South Carolina. Huge quantities of lead were used in drain pipes, vent pipes and cast iron joint seals. You don't see it much any more in newer construction. I find lead more in architectural salvage yards. Lots of times they will give it away for free thinking it toxic (which it can be). Bill

 

[old ugly]

i had to tell my roofer friend to stop collecting them for me, i have so many.

 

[Forester]

Oh to have such a problem.

 

[ord sgt]

In my past life, I worked for the local telco. Many of the old cables had lead sheath and access closures were lead. When access to one of the closures was needed, the old closure was removed and discarded. These were usually 1/4" thick and most were 2 feet long and 1 1/2 feet wide. Weight was maybe forty pounds. Several of the old closures came home with me, instead of going back to the company recycle centre. I bought a Lyman ingot mould and used my 10 pound Lee bottom pour pot to melt and cast ingots. Still have over 100 pounds of ingots of pure lead. I don't know how many hundreds of .44, .45, .50 round ball and .58 minies that have been cast and shot over all these years.