Woodmans metal

Oct 20, 2023 Last reply: 2 years ago 8 Replies
P

Just popped into my mind after sitting dormant for almost 50 years>



My job was repairing industrial batteries and chargers.



Going back ages ago, I was in a factory replacing a battery cable using my lead burner. An old time carpenter saw me with lead and started talking about it and referred to lead was "woodmans metal."



I have no idea now, what the conversation was about and what a carpenter would have used lead for, maybe going back to the 1940's or before.


Anyone here (didn't think so) have a clue?


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H

There was a tin woodman - maybe his joints were lead-soldered ?

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John T.

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I

He probably meant Woods metal which is a lead alloy. I recall using it in the lab as a heating bath for higher temperature reaction. Sometimes using a bath would give more uniform heating than a heating mantle

"Wood's metal is a mixture of 50% bismuth, 25% lead, 12.5% tin, and

12.5% cadmium. It melts at a temperature of 158° Fahrenheit (70° Celcius)."
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P

Thank you so much I am sure my memory was faulty.

Wood's metal it has to be.

So glad I asked here!

Wow, what a low meeting point !

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C

He was likely thinking about the low melting point alloy called "woods metal" used for thermal release "fuses"

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P

Yep. That had to be it.

Reminds me that when I toured Alcatraz they told us that Al Capone lead a painting crew and they painted over all the fire sprinklers . Now I realized that when the Woods metal melted, it would not have mattered it they were painted over.

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C

Painting sprinkler heads can jam up the pivot joints of the mechanism causing the sprinklers to not epen even after the "fuse" is melted. NOT a good idea!!!!

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P

Al Capone purposely wanted to sabotage the place

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