What follows is an account of yet another fools errand I embarked on involving the melting of lead.  Like most entries in the blog today's goes down some unusual paths.  If you are reading solely for Marty content please be aware there might not be any.

Anyway so what happened?  While in Miami I became infatuated with the fact that they had some regulation sized 50 kg bells.  Not that I can really do all that much with them aside from swings and low numbers of one arm jerks, but what the heck they were there and I wanted one.  I already have some heavier bells, a couple DD 40s and a muscledriver 48 kg bell.  The problem with those is the grip is a bit big for my little girlish hands.   Plus they rest uncomfortably on the arm during one arm jerks.  So sad, isn't it.  Instead of sucking it up or just using the 32s or 36s which I haven't mastered to my satisfaction I had to push the envelope.  Idle hands do the devil's work they say.  Well I am off work this week and the weather sucks so I am either training, playing with my son, or doing something stupid.  Sometimes I combine training with doing something stupid like I did a couple weeks ago. 

I had a bunch of lead tire weights, about 60 lb worth, sitting in my garage.  I got the lead from a tire store.  They gave it to me last summer.  I have a device to melt the lead and I detailed how I did this in a post a few months back. blog.rationalfitnesspractice.com/2007/07/01/im-a-leadhead.aspx
 The problem with the tire weights is that they have a steel clip affixed to them.  This comes off when the lead melts and you have to pick it out of the molten lead with a pair of pliers.  I know, it is dangerous.  Don't try it at home.  I used most of the bigger pieces of lead to make my 36 kg bells so I was left with an unfavorable clip to lead ratio.  That equals too much work. 

I knew I would need more weight.  I drilled out at 1.2 inch hole in the bottom of one of my 12 kg bells (they are still brand new)  so I would need probably at least another 20 lbs of lead.  That on top of my 60 lbs should get me to about 48 kg with the weight of the bell itself.  I went back to the tire store.  I asked if they had any old lead laying around.... REJECTED...  The gentleman told me the recyclers were giving him 60 cents per lb.  WTF???   So I went to 2 more places, same story.  Then I thought what the heck I'll just pick up some lead shot.  That way I wouldn't have to deal with picking out all those clips.  I was aware that lead was getting more expensive but it is now up to $2 per pound.  This is surprising given the fact that most people hold lead in pretty low regard, kind of like how parents are looking at Aquadots right about now.  By this time I was ready to forget the whole thing.  Only problem was I already drilled the hole.  You know, ready...fire....aim.  So I figured I would make the best out of it and get rid of the lead in my garage.  I jammed the individual lead weights into the bell and used a breaker bar as a tamping rod to pound the lead flat and I crammed as much as I could in there.  Once I couldn't fit any more I poured sand in to pack the gaps so it won't rattle.  The result... a nice 65 lb bell (29.5 kg for my new Latvian friends) which will ease my transition from the 24 to the 32 kg bell for snatches.  I patched the bottom hole with my new favorite substance...  Quiksteel.  $4 at Walmart and it cures steel hard in less than 1 hour.  Probably faster than Cialis.



The logical question is what is the deal with lead?  Here is a schematic of the price over the last few years.




The main use of lead is in batteries.  Consumption has been pretty steady but production has declined probably due to the fact that the toxicity limits peoples desire to use this metal.  It is most likely that the explosive growth of markets in India and China are driving the demand for lead.  Supply will catch up but there is always a lag.  About half of the supply is from recycling so there is little incentive to do this when lead is cheap.  Now it looks like the pendulum is swinging and the recyclers are paying 60 cents per lb.  Didn't there used to be an abbreviation for cents?  I haven't seen it in a while.  It was a "c" with a line thru it.  Probably it was a victim of inflation.