soldering lead

[Iky]

I ' am a sheetmetal worker in KC ,Mo and I need some help. I 'am working on a building downtown that has lead guttering in it. The lead has been there for about 80 or 90 years so the oxidation not to mention the pigeon droppings is thick. I need to fix several cracks , holes and old seams. The old lead dose not seem to want to solder to the new lead patch material. I have cleaned it and tinned it and tried everthing that I know. Can someone else give me some information that can help? Scot

 

[Will52100]

Only thing I can think of is too try to "weld" it with a soldering iron. I've seen my grandfather take an industrial soldering iron and weave it into the crack. Looked almost like a weld bead. It's probably pure lead and I can tell you from bullet casting experiance pure lead's melting point is a lot higher than solder and other leads, by a couple hundred degree's. One other posibility is to solder it with pure lead. Melt a small pot of it and try pouring it into the crack and ironing/soldering it with the iron. If that doesn't work I'd caulk the sucker!

 

[Mike Hull]

You might try lead bar as a solder, like body shops used to and custom shops still do.
You'll have to wire brush the old stuff down and wear a respirator as I believe the old stuff has turned into lead phosphate by now, the lead dust. It's highly toxic if breathed(the pidgeon sh1t is really toxic too, no joke!).
Run flux over the area and a propane torch to melt the lead bar onto it and a smoothing stick to mold it.

Good luck!.

 

[Iky]

Thanks guys I will try to solder it with some pure lead tomorrow. The way I solder is old school style( with soldering irons and a solder pot) But I am always open to new ideas when it comes to learning about anything that will make me a better sheetmetal worker or knife maker. Scot