Good Lead Supplier In OC, California

I have been looking for a good place to buy lead in Orange County, or So Cal for the matter. Did a search on Yahoo and came up with this place, just got off the phone with them and they have 2" by 6" by 12" bricks for 40 cents a pound. I am heading down there today to get 5 or 6 hundred pounds so I can do away with the bow Phat Sac. I will let you all know what I find out when I see them in person, but this sounds like a great deal, he even said the bricks interlink with each other.

Here is the link to their site.

http://www.sackinmetals.com

They are in Huntington Beach, CA.

Thanks for the tip. Let us know. Ive been collection tire weights but would rather just buy a couple hundred pounds already in bricks.

How much weight per brick does that work out to?

I believe that is where I got some last year. I know is was in HB. They were shaped more like a large gold bar with lip on each end. I just glued some carpet on them and they work great. I believe mine were about 50 lbs each.

Those sound like the exact same bricks I have. 40 lbs and they interlock. Yep. They are pretty cool, but I'm working on something right now for v-drive boats that will awesome for ballast. It involves lead, water, a box, and more cool stuff. I will have a prototype made by the end of November. If you guys are lucky down there in California you might see it soon too.

Nice....I use the same setup, since I have a closed-bow boat. Can easily put 500 lbs in the bow, and it doesn't take up much room. Lead is definetely the way to go.

Clint - lead, water, box, and "cool stuff" what kind of "cool stuff?"

I found the best place to get lead is from tire shops. The old weights they take off for balancing tires. They will sell you a bucket for $10.00, weighs about 150lbs. Melt them down, put in mold,there you have it.

A few questions about the weights from tire shops: What do you melt them down with?
What do you use for a mold?
Do you melt the weights in the mold?

I did some tire weight blocks, and it was a bit of a bitch (for me, at least) but I guess still better than paying 50 cents a pound (which was the best I found). I drove around to several tire shops before I found one that had a bunch of leftover weights and was willing to sell it to me. They sold me about 1 3/4 five gallon buckets for $40. I bought a couple steel bread pans at the supermarket. One thing that kind of sucks is that unless you can make your mold yourself, you're limited in the dimensions you can use (mine are a little smaller than I'd like). I lined the pans with tin foil, dumped a bunch of weights in them, and started heating them over a coleman outdoor stove. The stuff absolutely reaks (don't know if it's the lead, the brake dust, or the grease on it) and I was a little worried my neighbors would complain. As it melted I'd add more weights to the pan. The little clips on the weights are not lead and won't melt, so I used a slotted spoon to scoop them out. If you don't do this, the bricks will have sort of jagged metal pieces sticking out of the top. I'd guess it took about over an hour to melt down two bricks (I've got a two burner stove). Took them off the stove, let them cool down for a long time, and then they popped right out of the pans. I wasn't real sure how to coat them, I ended up using spray-paint like stuff and then just duct taping over that. Turned out pretty good, like I said I would have liked them to be a little bigger. I made about seven blocks, but I wouldn't be real thrilled about doing it again. If I didn't have neighbors, or maybe if I had a better setup for it, I wouldn't mind.

I have melted some lead bricks also. You can make your own molds out of wood. Believe me, the wood won't burn. Make them any size you want and then use screws to put them together. All you have to do is remove the screws when you are done and the lead pops right out. What I did is melted the lead in a pan on top of a gas camping stove first and then poured the melted lead into the wood molds. I made 4 25-pound bricks and they work pretty good. I covered them with "dip-it" to keep the lead from being exposed. It did take some time, but it was a lot cheaper than buying pre-made bricks.

That is cool, but for me anyway, 40 cents a pound and not having to melt it down is well worth it. You mentioned the smell, who knows what is in the smoke. I would not want to be breathing lead smoke, or whatever is in it. For $240 I can get 600 pounds of lead bricks and the only thing I have to do is coat them, that is well worth the price to me anyway, it also sounded like if you bought more than that the price per pound would go down. So get some people together and buy 2000 pounds, might get them down to 30 cents a pound.

This may be a stupid question but do you tow the boat with the lead in it or do you put it in your boat at the ramp?

I move mine over the trailer axle while towing.