Soft ingots

Well it was car boot day. Got a big bag of stuff and at the bottom of it all were these white metal bars.

Is there a way to test what metals these are? All I know is they are very soft and not that heavy.

Tried to google the lettering on them but nothing much turned up. Someone on ebay was selling the Tyne Solder and Pirelli just makes tyres. Nothing on Gray and I know Fry made solering flux. Wondering if anyone recognised them.

Almost certainly TinMan's Solder ... General purpose Lead/Tin solder used for sheet-metal work.

Curious that you say they are 'not that heavy' though ... I suggest you check the density and the melting point.

MichaelG.

They look very like plumbers solder, or maybe body solder for wiping over dents. You say it's light so maybe not. Good start would be to get the SG and then you would know where to start. Get a measuring jug with some water in, put some of the sticks in and see how much is displaced, then weight the sticks.

Pirelli used to make cables, sold out to Prysmian, solder for cable jointing? how about material for wheel balance weights.

The four Pirelli bars weigh at about 1kg together. 300x22x7mm each. Puts density at about 5.4 g/cm^3. It did come with loads of solder reels though and some flux? I might try another scale if I can find one but assuming that my scales are right then it isn't dense enough to be solder.

Hi Rainbows, apparently the Tyne Solder bars are very collectable **LINK**

Regards Nick.

P.S. Another snippet of info http://www.ipernity.com/doc/288843/40435864.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 03/07/2016 14:15:25

As the listing says that solder on ebay looks very bright. One could almost imagine it was cast a few days ago...

Neil

Hi Neil, could be why the seller ended the sale, as it doesn't look quite the same.

Regards Nick.

Thanks for the info. I don't feel I could get through one of these bars in a lifetime. That said I ain't about to wire wheel it till it looks shiny like that ebay listing, would not be good for health I imagine. Also grade H solder appears to be a thing so I'm guessing Pirelli cabling made that stuff too.

The Pirelli bars are probably aluminium solder for sweating connectors onto aluminium cable cores. Not used now it's all compression fittings or shear off connectors.

John.

Grades of solder are defined here.

http://www.heapsarnold.com/products/industrial-solders/

Grade D would be appropriate for body work or for wiped joints on lead pipe. (30/70)

Grade H is 35/65, probably a little too fluid for body work and wiping but not fluid enough for use with a copper. I figure 40/60 or 50/50 solders are optimum for use with a copper.