I have an Eastwood body solder kit. I need some opinions/answers before I start. It seems that lead bodywork knowledge is stashed away with how to build a pyramid. The video that came with the supplies says to apply tinning fluid to hot sheet metal & scrub it in good with a copper scour pad, then rinse with baking soda/water and then lacquer thinner before applying lead. Other info has said to wipe the tinning fluid reidue off with a clean old t-shirt & apply lead. I talked to an old guy who used to work with lead & he told me to be sure to use 60/40 lead/tin rather than the 70/30 that is available now. Any opinions or great lead work threads??
LOL "It seems that lead bodywork knowledge is stashed away with how to build the pyramid" Now that cracks me up.
Long lost customizing secrets of the ancients revealed! George Barris interviews Bill "Leadslinger" Hines on how to apply lead. George shoots his mouth off while Bill works, just like in the fifties. "I learned how to do this in 1941 George" Is that old school enough? Bill was a bus boy at the Last Supper.
I like to old high lead and acid /borax flux . as it did the cleaning and prep in one shot and you rinsed the flux off with hot water after you were done . this new stuff is hard ( physically ) due to the high tin low lead and takes a different cleaning process due to the tin level
Did a bit of lead work back in the 60s in the repair section of the body construction dept at the old Fisher Body Lakewood plant in ATL, and still have some 70/30 lead stashed away that I'll prolly never use. The lead joints were on every car coming down the line back then, not much at all nowadays, I'm told. The production joints were done with the 60/40 and repair work with 70/30. The regular joints were first wire brushed with a high speed electric straight shaft grinder with a regular wire wheel such as used on a bench grinder, except larger. The grinders were suspended by spring balancers and sort of bounced across the joints soas to get lots of cleaning action. The cleaned area was noticeably brighter after brushing. Then the joint area was painted with a sort of slurry of lead/tin powder and water plus a rosin mixture. When it got to the lead applicators, they used a large natural gas/ compressed air torch to melt the slurry, then wiped with cotton waste. result was a brightly tinned area to which 60/40 lead solder was applied with a paddle after being heated to a*****er like consistency in a steel tray heated by a gas flame. The solder was pressed into the tinned area, all the while keeping the heat just right with the big gas torch in the other hand. Still heating as you went, the lead was spread out evenly over the intended area smoothly and evenly till it was right. The guys that did this made it look easy, but it was touch and go. Too much heat and it fell off in the floor, and too little and it didn't spread smoothly, and could actually have flaws and cracks that required repair. I never worked these jobs, but worked in solder repair and metal finish, both of which required leadwork at times. Repair work was done using an acid, O/A torch heat and cotton waste to clean, and tinned by rubbing with a stick of 70/30 lead while heating with O/A torch till the metal was hot and melted the lead and created a tinned spot, again wiping it. Then you used a wood paddle, well oiled , a torch and stick 70/30 to fill the spot and smooth it over to allow for finishing. The 70/30 needed less heat due to a lower melting temp. The production joints were finished in a big grinding booth with a negative pressure and the grinder guys were wearing a sort of space suit hood with an air supply to it. This kept out the lead dust and they finish ground the joints there. In the repair areas, we couldn't use power grinders, as we weren't in a booth or wearing hoods to protect us from lead dust. So we had to hand file with a vixen blade body file, and finish with a long wooden bar with a 2" strip of emery cloth stretched down it. Quite labor intensive, but worked surprisingly well. But just remember , all this was done while the car moved down the line, at the time at a rate of 34.5 cars per hour. Sorry about the "novel', but I don't know any other way to tell you how it was done!
On the fence about using lead or all-Metal filler on my steel 32. I have no exp. with lead. I think I know the answer. How good is the all metal filler? Ago
Here is a tech chopolds did on using lead. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/tech-week-missed-it-again-leadwork.172583/
Don't know why, but here lately the "subscription" feature is intermittent about working or not, and it hasn't worked on this thread for me. I'm alwys open to newer methods and products on anything, but especially on something I haven't done in almost 50 years, so I'm back with another post in hopes this time the "subscribe" feature works.
Iffn you were to do lead work today, would you have to have your buddies push the car in circles around the garage as you laid the lead?
I used to lead the seams on the corvettes back in the day. A good lead man is really hard to find, a lot of us can do passable work, but to find someone that can actually say I am a lead man is like finding a snaggle toothed hen. I would listen to Barris flap his jaw everyday if I could watch Hines do lead work, its a real treat to watch the old guy.
I use LEAD often , on Motorcycles and Cars , when I built my 33 Fordor Vicky Convert , I took the rear of the orig. roof opening and attached it to the Rear of the body to create a trunk opening , then used LEAD to complete the Job , I use Eastwoods Tinning*****er , I Acid Wash and Flush the area with water to neutralize the acids.
I restore vintage British cars for a living (more than 20 years now) , so I am very well versed in leadslinging. When I do it, I apply the tinning*****er, then heat it till brown with a torch, and wipe it off as I go along. Once you're finished , then wash it with a baking soda and water solution. Then you're ready to start leading. This of course depends on what type of stuff you use . If you're using Eastwood stuff, like me, that's what ya do. I liked the old style lead sticks, personally. The new stuff doesn't flow as nicely, but it is still workable. It's all in how much you practice, as to how well it turns out, and how much filler is needed over it. For years I have threatened to shoot a how-to video on lead slinging, but haven't found the time, plus does the net really need another one ? I don't really like to the sound of my own voice, so that doesn't give me inspiration either , lol !
I first did lead work with flux (like as in wire solder) and an old Ill. Bell Telephone lead stick. I didn't have nobody to tell me how hard it was supposed to be. Point is, get in there and DO it. Practice IS what makes perfect, talking about it won't accomplish anything. Cosmo
My dads friend Bob used to work at a Rolls Royce dealership as the bodyman 1950s-70s. Then he had a shop of his own. A couple years ago I watched him do the lead work on one of dads Pierce Arrows. I thought "hell, that doesn't look hard at all.." Posted using the uh, er, whatever. Who cares app
Bee's wax on the paddle and not a lot of heat makes it work. I have not done it it years as I switched to All-Metal. It is like glue and sticks to metal and primer. Feathers good and takes Bondo and spot putty.
I use the Eastwood lead kit on 2 cars now and I like it I get the new style lead from them you can grind and have not had any trouble.Their video is not to good on their stuff at all.Tin metal and wipe off let cool down and wipe off with thinner and go for it.I did get the tool for the torch from them that you just use only acetylene only works great give s you a soft blue flame not so hot.
O/A torch works fine if you set it right, with a "feather" in the flame, which indicates a slightly acetylene rich mixture. Not so rich you get soot, just a long feathered cone. I've often wondered if a handheld propane torch would work.
Hi Chris, just recently got into leading myself, over here in the UK I used a starter kit from Frost`s autoproducts. It came with 2x wood paddles, lead sticks pot of tallow (lard fat ) and pot of tin past/flux, I found it quite easy to do, first the metal has to be very clean then brush on the paste heat with hand held butane blowlamp until the paste bubbles then wipe off with a clean cloth, heat the stick until it goes soft like*****er lightly warm the wood paddle and wipe it in the tallow then warm and spread the lead like*****er. The art is not letting the lead get too runny , now I have got the hang of it I can lead in all positions, all the repair work I have done on my truck cab/ holed roof/fenders has been done with lead. Good luck and keep practising . Dave
Baking soda cleans acid from tin off and makes paint not go bad at latter date . Get out in your shop and play with it just make sure metal is clean .
Don't know for sure but I do know that the Buddy Alcorn '51 Merc had the dog leg on the doors completely filled by lead to give a full fadeaway to the fender when it was first built.
Hot glue. I just wanted to see if anyone was paying attention. A friends father taught several of us to lead when I was in high school. That was back in the day of Black Diamond ( horrible stuff). It is a skill that takes some practice, and some men have actually made it a trade/art. Back then we were able to buy everything at the auto parts. The tinning compound had acid and borax as I recall, a lot like old solder flux.
Make sure that if you ever order the lead from other than Eastwood that you ask for 30/70 NOT 70/30. Tin content first then lead.
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