Everything but the Kitchen Zinc

To make a crows foot? I remember that my dad's drinking

You should be able to buy it from a building supply company like Lowes or home depot. THey sell Zinc to put on the ridge cap to kill fungus that destroys asphalt shingles.

Residential water heaters have sacrificial anodes... probably zinc. I think they screw in through a tapped hole on top.

Oh: here is one

They show their rods as being aluminum or alum/zinc/tin.

John

Yep, went by the local marine supply place in Alexandria VA and they have hundreds of pounds of zinc anodes in lots of different styles. Not too expensive either.

-Dan Barlow

In article , snipped-for-privacy@catskill.net mentioned...

Thanks for the info. I guess I shoulda kinda said where do I get zinc locally? There are welding supply shops locally, I wonder if they have zinc in bars or strips. Or could I use a cheap pewter toy or casting for a zinc source?

Sometimes I wonder why I come up with such silly ideas. On my way home I stopped off at the Big Orange Box hardware store and bought a few things, and I saw an 8-pack of AAA cells, with 2 extra cells, for under five bucks. So I bought the pack of ten for less than 50 cents a battery. And here I'm trying to build something that will give me less voltage and power, yet cost me lots more time and money. Duh.

Maybe it's the survivalist in me. The need to know how to create a battery from scratch, just in case the situation gets as bad as it did on the east coast before hurricane Isabel, where all the batteries had been bought up for the emergency and people were left with nothing but their wits.

Thanks, and I was there this afternoon and didn't think to go to that dept and check. Maybe I'll stop by again in the next few days.

(Psst..... pennies... 1983 and newer....)

Tim

-- In the immortal words of Ned Flanders: "No foot longs!" Website @

In article , snipped-for-privacy@highSNIPlandTHIStechPLEASEnology.com mentioned...

I found some good info there that I didn't know. Thanks.

On Tue, 23 Sep 2003 19:34:45 +0000, the highly esteemed Michael A. Terrell enlightened us with these pearls of wisdom:

Galvanized sreel will work as well - the galvanizing is zinc.

In article , snipped-for-privacy@nospam.com mentioned...

Two problems. The coating is thin, so it may last only a short time. And how to deal with the edges, where the steel is exposed and would corrode. Thanks.

(snips)

Been awhile since I did it, but I seem to remember nitric acid does a pretty fair number on the copper while leaving the zinc behind. And hydrochloric for the zinc leaving the copper behind (after filing away the edges, so the acid can react with the zinc).

Anyhow search on the net using

Probably just as easy to find zinc bars on line.

Then you'd have to melt them down and cast them. That takes 419 Degrees C. Charcoal and a blower with a crucible made from galvanized pipe would work.

I used the iron pipe nipple / end cap crucible to melt aluminum at ~700 degrees successfully. The trick is to keep the hot gases (carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide) around the crucible so the metal doesn't catch fire or oxidize. For molds I used dry hardened clay. I made some fishing lures.

Interesting project.

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Another source, from a building/appliance outlet, are the zincs they make for water heaters. Hard to find because people would rather change the heater than replace the zincs. (not many people know there are zincs in water heaters)

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Yeah, I guess I should replace the rods in my water heater every couple of years. The heater is in a closet in the basement and is a real pain to replace, not to mention the cold showers for a couple of days. I think hot water is the basis of civilization.

John

Meh. Fold some sheet metal into a shape that can hold something without leaking, then melt on the stove. It's not really hot enough to need much for insulation.

For a mold, a metal plate would work well. If you really want to get into it, a sand mold of a nice flat plate would allow very consistent results.

Tim

-- In the immortal words of Ned Flanders: "No foot longs!" Website @

On Wed, 24 Sep 2003 05:56:17 -0700, the highly esteemed Watson A. Name - "Watt Sun" enlightened us with these pearls of wisdom:

Eh, minor details ;-)

The fact that an aluminum pot will melt on a stove supports your assertion. I had no luck melting aluminum in a cast iron pot (on the stove) and had no luck melting aluminum in an iron crucible inside a

Have you done it? What did you use? and how did it work?

Any problems with oxidation?

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Don't know if you are in a likely area or not, but if you are in a major metropolitan area you may be able to get zinc from a pipe organ builder/repair firm. Many of the large pipes are made of zinc with a lacquer finish. Smaller pipes are various tin alloys, but most such places should have some old zinc sheet or old zinc pipes laying around.

Whatever you call the thing that makes you come up with what you call "silly" ideas - that's the very thing that drives the advancement of science.