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In USSR we didn't have much of all that, so we melted lead out of batteries and sea cables found at the dump and poured it into various hand shaped clay/sand mo
by trhway 4y ago
In USSR we didn't have much of all that, so we melted lead out of batteries and sea cables found at the dump and poured it into various hand shaped clay/sand molds thus making us toy cars, soldiers, etc. We didn't have guns, even airsoft weren't available, so we had to do it ourselves, and the first primitive fire handgun i made in the first grade. A bit later i made my first airsoft and crossbow. The explosives, handmade as well as various unexploded WWII munitions, was a fun period i went through in the 5th and 6th grade. That was the end of the toys period for me as other interests came in.
- pavel_lishin 4y agoYup, I did the same - except instead of pouring them into molds, I'd pour them into a cup of water, making "jewelry" as the lead solidified into droplet shapes. Never got into home-made explosives, as I'd moved to Texas by the time I was ten; we did try to make napalm and hydrogen, but never too successfully.
- skavi 4y agoWas lead really so fun? It seems everyone was playing with it before it started being regulated.
- trhway 4y agoLead is a kind of sweetspot - easily available, it is a metal at room temperature and has low melting temperature. Probably tin (less available) and aluminum (higher temperature) would be the close contenders.
- robocat 4y agoZinc? 420° Celsius. (Tin 232°) Japanese Repairman #9 (from a wonderful series) shows a man restoring one of his own vegetable (Daikon?) graters: he resurfaces the copper with a molten metal, any idea which? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mzOeKoYW6EQ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mzOeKoYW6EQ
- trhway 4y agoThat is ancient classic - it is naturally for bronze (copper + tin) to be resurfaced with tin.
- zafka 4y agoWhile a little pricey, Bismuth is relatively safe and can be melted stove top. Of course you can still by lead melting pots at some bait stores along with molds for heavy sinkers. I wish I still had the molds I was given when I was a kid to make lead soldiers.
- robocat 4y agoMelting lead in a can over a open coke fire: bliss! We did learn you shouldn’t pour lead into an old bullet casing/cartridge: some residual gunpowder or primer blew molten lead everywhere. The splatters lasted on the roof until the house was sold much later. Christchurch, New Zealand, so not rural or nothing.