Lead (Pb) price continues to skyrocket

My scrapper gives me 1-1.20 per lb. I recently scrapped a large quantity of taps.It is the same guy whose hinge I welded.

colbalt M42 cutters have a high scrap value because of the colbalt in the metal. Any alloy steel will bring more money than 10xx series because of the added alloys. Thats why 300 series brings high scrap prices. 316 series is the highest since it contains more nickel than the rest.

John

and what is wrong with using a rock for a sinker? they are still free

I can't help but notice how the value of the dollar is more closely related to the price of crude than anything.

I agree----we're in for a lumpy ride in the near future.

This is the time to own "things", not money. I used to refine precious metals. Sold my platinum WAY too soon. Who'd have ever thought it would reach $1,400? sigh!

Harold

Oh, contraire! It is a huge one. In my lifetime, I can recall 1st class postage costing 3¢ (three cents, in the 50's and earlier), and a post card only 1¢ (one cent). You don't think that's a huge devaluation? Increases come regularly now, each of which is often as much as one used to pay for posting a letter.

That's the point, however. All those other things do is present more examples of what I'm talking about. The fact is, the dollar is worthless-----so everyone demands more of them to stay even. I simply used an ounce of gold as an example. Could have just as easily used the house I bought in '63 for $18,750. I sold it long ago, bit it would be "worth" around $250,000 today. The dollar is worthless, there's no polite way to say it. Nothing displays that better than the price of commodities today.

Surely, you remember when a barrel of crude was three dollars?

Harold

There are plans to replace the US dollar with a regional currency. If that actually comes to pass it will be the time to own things. I understand that some of the new currency has already been minted. The plan calls for a common currency for the US, Canada and Mexico. It will be intresting to see what the exchange rate will be when US dollars are converted to the new currency. Forgien investors may be in for real shock if they are banking on the US dollar. It appears there would be a massive devaluation of the greenback if this happens. BTW the pics i have seen of the AMERO appear to be gold coinage.

Nope! I guess I'm just a pup. :-)

Best I can give you for a reference point, is that I can vagely recall being kept home from school and shown the moon landing on TV (fuzzy black and white), but not having a real idea of the signifigance. 25 cent was about what it cost me to get into a movie, about what I made on a lawn, if I did a decent job of it. From what I have heard lately, tha reference point seems to work, currently, if one is not hiring a pro.

Back when you were paying 3 cent postage, you were being paid how much in wages?

Sure prices have gone up. Proportianately, the real cost of living has gone down, compared to what we earn. We have luxuries and conveniences in our lives that were unimagined back in the days when a couple bucks a day was a living wage.

I would be quite upset if I were to see my standard of living backslide, while I made more money (and spent it) but I am not seeing that.

At the end of the accounting, the devaluation of the dollar, due to inflation, makes an interesting academic point, but if we wish to see the prices of that day, we must also accept the wages of that day. he numbers are meaningless, unless held in perspective, with meaningful reference points.

Going back to the old numbers won't make anyone any happier except the accountants, 'cause they will get to use smaller numbers. The well off, will still be, and the less well off, will also.

I think it will come as a shock to many Americans, to get used to being part of the world economy, rather than being a controlling interest in it.

As a Canadaian, we have been also-rans in the scheme of things for quite a while, much due to concious decisions made by our government (trade emphasis on export of raw materials, esp.), and it is a bit of a shocker to see the dollar at or above par with the US. The last time that happened, was in my lifetime, but before my awareness of same. I am certain that the high Canadian dollar is causing howls of consternation from several sectors, mostly in the export industries, as they are dependant upon the difference to profit(more) in their trade.

We're not going to see a $2500 family sedan at the carlot anytime soon, but we are not going to see wages back to the levels they were then either.

Cheers Trevor Jones

On Fri, 19 Oct 2007 07:36:25 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, "Harold and Susan Vordos" quickly quoth:

Unfortunately, it's an inverse relationship. The higher the crude, the lower the dollar.

Agreed.

This is the time to be as self-sufficient as possible. Those "crazy survivalists" weren't so crazy after all, were they? ;)

It's time to update my bug-out bag, too, ah reckon.

-- History is often stranger than fiction. Fiction has to be plausible. History is what happens when people don't follow the script. --pete flip, RCM

You are correct.

I'm not on the same page, thinking a sudden, catastrophic drop in the dollar would be a good thing. Unless you're considering the viewpoint of countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran, which would be just as valid as any other.

:-)

Well, tungsten carbide is of course much less dense than pure tungsten, but still denser than lead I believe. I guess it would depend on the ratio. My guess is that they would not be economical--due to the much higher price of tungsten scrap vs. lead scrap.

Agreed.

However, something odd has happened with the prices of aluminum, tin, zinc, nickel, copper, lead, silver, gold and platinum. Over the past five years the price increase of all these has averaged way more than 100%; however, if you look at the prices on a graph, the increase was more gradual up to fall of 2005, then the rate of increase took a sharp upturn.

What happened in the fall of 2005 to account for this?

The biggest problem you'd face is fabricating. How would you propose it be fashioned? Tungsten melts at such a high temperature that it is not feasible to melt the stuff. It's generally handled via powder metallurgy. It's clearly beyond the ability of the average home type individual. Damned expensive, too.

Harold

My opinion?

The perceived "success" of China. They're busy selling goods made by wages that are considerably lower than those in other countries. Needless to say, demand is high, even with questionable quality, and in order to provide, they must have raw materials. There's nothing better than a shortage of any substance to create an unreasonable market.

My thoughts on this entire matter are that those of us that have had things good---have lost our perspective. We are used to unearned money, and continue to demand ever more. Along comes China, a country that is willing to work for little, and floods the world with goods at low prices. Pretty soon, the guy that's been building widgets, earning his $30/hr wages is no longer in demand, for the guy in China, that's being paid far less, is willing to make widgets. That concept cascades, and soon the only products that are made here are those that are proprietary, if even them.

Our unquenched greed is coming home to roost.

Everyone is in for one hell of a shock as we come to realize we are no longer an island, that we are, indeed, part of the balance of the world, and in order for us to exist, we must be competitive with the average. The day of unearned money is gone----and many will suffer the consequences of having demanded pay beyond their worth.

None of this is news, is it? Didn't this get started back in the 70's? Weren't the majority of machine tool builders gone by the mid 90's-----no longer able to compete? Any of this surprises you?

Harold

OSB prices went nuts after start of the war and are back to normal or at least close to it.

Casting lead isn't that boring. Since you apparently reload already you have some tolerance for repeated manual opperations. For pistol work cast lead works just fine. I tend to watch tv (cspan) while casting so it isn't totally dead time.

I gotta rebuild my 50 yard backstop next year. I made it out of 4' x 4' panels of scrap osb from work a few years ago built into a box filled with sand. The OSB has failed on one side. I'm going to use pressure treated this time and it think it is time to sift the sand that fills it to get my lead back.

Cast is good stuff for many applications.

If you are sold on jacketed, have you considerd swaging aka corbin?

Wes

David Harmon wrote in article ...

I was, actually, referring to the "toys" of a much younger age group...........

So how do they get along now?

Yeah... Though an acetylene/oxy torch can get slightly hotter than the temperature it takes to melt tungsten, what do you melt the tungsten *in*? A crucible made of any other material would melt before the tungsten, right? Plus, you'd have to be able to concentrate the heat *really* well or radiant and convective cooling would prevent the W from ever getting anywhere near as hot as the torch... Yeah, I can see where it would be very difficult.

NO! Fortunately one lives in London UK while the other lives just outside this London. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

A lot of carbide inserts come with a hole molded in them to help when attaching to the line :-)

Mark Rand RTFM