Thread: who sells lead body solder for bodywork????

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I was wanting to know who sells "lead" and supplies for doing body work??? I know eastwood sell it, but I was wanting to know of anyone else. And if anyone knows of a direct supplier for buying the lead in large amounts? thanks

You should be able to get it from a plumbing supply house. They still use lead for iron drains.

Seeing as how lead is a carcinogen, I doubt many places will even handle it anymore. Why lead? The good quality fillers--I prefer Rage Gold, and other Evercoat product, are so much easier to use and work better then lead IMO.

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Seeing as how lead is a carcinogen, I doubt many places will even handle it anymore. Why lead? The good quality fillers--I prefer Rage Gold, and other Evercoat product, are so much easier to use and work better then lead IMO.

you drank enough of that stuff and it will mess you up. I had a radiator shop in the 80's and EPA lived at my door. I was working a guy who had lead poisoning, and he was suing the last shop he worked at, biggest mess I ever seen. i don't believe you can buy leaded solder.

you "could" prosess the lead out of a hardware store variaty, leadded solder. you might have the lead laying around, any old lead pipe will do, compleatly melt it, then skim the crap off the top.

I ran a bigger shop for a few years, and had two guys who had done lead. I had a few customers request it, but when I told them it would double the cost of the bodywork, due to the increased materials and labor, and also that I would guarantee the plastic filler for as long as they owned the car, I had no takers.

It's an antique process which is no longer a better choice.

Do you use just straight lead? The salvage yard here last time i went had about 1,000 lbs of old wheel weights melted down into 100 lb blocks. He was buying scap lead for about 10 cents a pound. no market for scrap lead so you can pick up old wheel weights cheap or free. Or can that not be used?

Originally Posted by chevydrivin

Do you use just straight lead? The salvage yard here last time i went had about 1,000 lbs of old wheel weights melted down into 100 lb blocks. He was buying scap lead for about 10 cents a pound. no market for scrap lead so you can pick up old wheel weights cheap or free. Or can that not be used?

You have to use lead with a much higher grade of purity then junk yard lead. As far as melting it and skimming it off the top, go ahead. The average bill for cancer treatment runs about $130,000.00, keep your insurance paid up it should cover about $40,000.00 worth of the treatment and you would only have to kick in $90,000.00 out of pocket. Make sure no one sees you doing it. I would imagine the EPA, the local cops, and a bunch of others will do their best to lock you up and throw away the key. The stuff is DANGEROUS and is not as good a filler as the new body fillers...... The "no bondo, lead only" hype is nothing but hype...... Ever watched anyone die from lead poisioning or cancer????

There is only one reason to use lead.............so you can brag to your buddies that your car was done that way. Otherwise, modern lightweight fillers have surpassed this old school way of doing things in almost every respect.

I know you see guys like Bill Hines doing it on Monster Garage and it seems so traditional, and all. But with the health related issues and difficulty in working it, there is no real valid reason in 2006 to use the stuff.

When my Kid chopped the top in his '29 Fordor, there was a lot of lead he had to cut through, and he didn't feel really good for a couple of months after, and he wondered about the dust he may have come in contact with.


Don

The crap is LETHAL !!!!! As Don said, absolutely no good reason for using it other then some ridiculous macho thing...... Melting it for purity will waste more money on propane then you should have spent on a good filler, and melting it outside not only endangers you but anyone else who breathes the air in the vicinity...... Melt it indoors and it becomes a part of your indoor environment forever. Why make your home a toxic dump????

Originally Posted by Matt167

you "could" prosess the lead out of a hardware store variaty, leadded solder. you might have the lead laying around, any old lead pipe will do, compleatly melt it, then skim the crap off the top.

Great Idea!!! Maybe next should be a beginner's guide to Russian Roulette!!!

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Great Idea!!! Maybe next should be a beginner's guide to Russian Roulette!!!

Yeah, I know. I haven't done it, my uncle has leadded cars using this method, he was going to use lead in my car when he was helping me with the body, but the previouse owner had used cheap plastic filler in spots that needed repair and melted out when the hot lead and torch hit it, so we bought a gallon of bondo for the car. Really the way I look at lead bodywork, it is about equal to plastic body fillers, but it is hard to work with, takes talent to work with it, and is becoming a lost procedure. People still cast there own lead fishing sinkers, even tho as of May 2005 no store bought sinkers have any lead content, they are steel, you can still buy the lead and molds at many tackle shops.

I'm in the prosess of sanding my '51 Chevy to get ready for paint. the paint I know has lead in it, I was sanding for about 1/2 hr without a mask, stopped for a day, and didn't feel so well after, so the next time I used a respirator to stop me from breathing the dust and it's working great so far. there are proper ways to deal with lead, it's not dangerouse if you protect yourself from it. Lead is all around us, has a small content in some softer drawing penciles, lead sinkers, wheel weights, old paint, old car body's at the seams. There a lot more hazerdous materials than lead. I guess I look at the bigger picture

Yup, lead is all around us. But why compound the problem by breathing the vapors when you melt it????? The guy who taught me body work died from lead poisioning and lung cancer when I was about 25. Even counting 2 years in country, it was the most gruesome death I ever witnessed. I hope you never have to be the one with it, or the one watching. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.........

I'm with the majority. Lead isn't worth the effort any more. If you haven't used it before, it has a very steep learning curve. It ain't easy.


It made my skin crawl to see Bill Hines working that lead right under his nose with no protection at all. There are easier and quicker ways to kill yourself. I haven't used it since '59.

the guy that worked for me that had it, carried it home on his shoes out of the radiator shop and both of his kids got it. it will kill you.