Tips on storing lead?

[Psychbiker]

I don't have much room in my 2 car garage. The perimeter is taken by cabinets and a reloading bench. I have a set of base cabinets empty but no room to stack 1000+ lbs of lead.

Was thinking of a weather proof small box for the yard. Have a spot I don't use, no sun. The guy I bought 600lbs from said think carefully cuz you ain't gonna move it.

I was thinking milk crates or some boxes on casters.

[stranded1980]

Not sure you need to build a weather proof box, other than for cosmetic reasons. As a basic element, lead won't break down in any weather, or sunlight.

Is the lead already in stackable ingots? Any chance you can post a pic? Would be cool to see that kind of an accumulation.

[TKM]

Depending on how pure the lead is when casting the ingots, they can be somewhat porous. Stored outside they can be exciting when dropped in the pot.

I later stashed them in buckets in a deck box. Now I have a deck box full of lead and plastic fragments.

[SonofWWIIDI]

I wouldn't mind seeing that much lead in one place either.

And some info about your melting/casting process would be cool too. Always nice to add info into my brain pan for future reference.

And as note above, lead is resilient stuff even in adverse weather.

Good luck.

[Magilla26]

Lead is a very stable element. I would try to keep it dry.

[Divernhunter]

Be careful about storing in a larger box. I had a metal box what was about 2' cube and when I filled it with lead ingots I could not lift it to move it. I had another 5 gal bucket fill and it split all apart. A metal 5 gal bucket was ok but could not hardly be moved when full. Do not store outside where it will fill with rain/sprinkler water.

[Psychbiker]

I have a spot in my small yard I'd like to make this but make the benches open for storage. Stack them all in there and grab as I need them.

[Abenaki]

If you do decide to stack you lead where it can get wet, or even cold.
The way to avoid the tinsel fairy is to pre-heat your lead before you put it in the pot. This will drive out any moisture, and keep it from forming on cold lead as it heats up in your pot.


Take care
Abenaki

[stilly]

Is that a DECK?

NO. Do NOT store your lead on a deck. Concrete pad only and with weather protection. You can store maybe a few hundred lbs of it on a deck in something but you are potentially asking for trouble if you put 1k lbs of it on a deck.

I still have several 16lb boxes left over with wheel weights. I got like, a lot and melted a lot of them down (yeah the cardboard was the flux...) and I stored my ingots in a metal ammo can. It is a HEAVY DUTY MEGA MOTHER****ER OF AN AMMO CAN. It is sitting on a 4 wheel furniture mover from Harbor Freight and it prolly weighs north of 300 lbs. But it can roll around on the garage floor when I need to move it. I wish I had more of these cans but oh well. I find that it is good to store lead in ammo cans and if you have heavy duty free standing shelving then put small cans of it on the shelves.

But lead seems to magically make all things sag a bit. It is WORSE on wood or in buckets if you have to move them around.

Take a trip to Major Surplus and look for some big *** ammo cans, then buy some castors that swivel and put them on and then you got yourself a rolling lead container. Done properly and melted into ingots you can store several hundred lbs in each ammo can. I now have two cans, one that contains Linotype (24mm rocket can- kinda tall) and one that contains all my ingots (I dunno what it is, but it is bumpy.).

I think THIS is my ammo can that I use for lead: http://www.majorsurplus.com/30-mm-HD...7287C1943.aspx

Good luck.

[bruce381]

how about 5 gallon plastic pails with a snap on lid stacked out side on cement pad next to house

[prob]

how about 5 gallon plastic pails with a snap on lid stacked out side on cement pad next to house

This is what I do. Put a reasonable amount in each bucket so that you can move them around when you need to. I try to keep a lid on the buckets at all times to prevent them from filling with water and to keep the hands of small children away from the lead.

[stilly]

how about 5 gallon plastic pails with a snap on lid stacked out side on cement pad next to house

5 gallon buckets are easily over filled. But the worst thing is that if they are NOT uv protected/coated they will become brittle if they get any sun. Give them a few months or a year and if you go to pick them up, they will shatter and you will have various plastic pieces.

Newer buckets are not as bad, but older paint buckets or untreated white buckets SUCK.

All of my 5 gallon buckets are stored inside the garage.

Expect a good bucket to run you about $12.00

Go to Lowes or Home Depot and buy their BRANDED bucket and then buy a GAMMA LID for it. The bucket is usually under $3.00 and the Gamma Lid is around $7.50.

Gamma lids make all 5 gallon buckets useable for just about anything as long as you take care of them. I have about 8 of them for various things in the garage.

[Eljay]

If you do decide to stack you lead where it can get wet, or even cold.
The way to avoid the tinsel fairy is to pre-heat your lead before you put it in the pot. This will drive out any moisture, and keep it from forming on cold lead as it heats up in your pot.

Just to reinforce this - it's really handy to have a beater hot plate as part of your reloading setup. I pre-heat my molds so it takes less time to get them up to temp, and if I'm going to add lead mid-session I stick them on there as well. It doesn't have to be super hot to drive out all the moisture.

[Psychbiker]

Really like to build that L shaped bench storage. Have a 90x50 section. Dad, 30+ year contractor, said with the price in pressure treated wood to get something like the pic below.

[stilly]

Perhaps storing them in a dehydrator turned on is also good? To warm up I mean...


Psychbiker and everyone: I am just a guy on the internet. Please remember that. I like to screw around and have fun while I spend time here but there are a few things that I have learned as well.

My universal message to you is Lead has NOTHING better to do then to try to make its way to the center of the earth. Whatever you store it on just keep in mind that if it is soft or porus or not a certain amount thick, the lead will do its BEST to squash it. Anything to get out and go straight down. That is why I suggest concrete pads and metal for holding lead. Metal does not smoosh like wood and plastic do. I have a Rubbermaid deck box and it holds all of my BBQ extras and my oilless turkey fryer, but I would not put lead in it for the exact reason that I mentioned. Well, I might consider SOME lead, but not enough to weigh it down and smoosh the plastic floor or wooden floors.

Wooded base crate/box on a concrete pad- I think that would work, wooden base in the grass or dirt, I think that will not work as well. But give it a shot and see how you like it I guess. I do not know everything and maybe I am excessivle paranoid of how physics work.

"I tell you one thing I do know, I sure do get a kick outta watching that Beavis and Butthead show! Do do do do do..." -Primus