Tool Talk
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Neals on January 05, 2012, 08:49:39 PM
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A bit off topic but I am unable to learn anything about this. Some kind of white metal. To hard to be lead based. Very little patina so may not be old. Rather crudely trimmed so probably not expensive. Marked Hudson Bay Special Made in Canada with a logo? foundry mark?. Could be product of Hudson bay company or more likely Hudson Bay mining and smelting. Size is 1 1/2 X 2 3/4 by 3/16 to 7/32 thick. Weight 4 oz or 100 grms on a cheap kitchen scale. Came from a farm auction box with contents from 1928 to about 2000.
Anyone have any ideas of what it is or where to look for info.
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Babbit alright.
lazyassforge is probably our resident expert on its use- http://www.papawswrench.com/vboard/index.php?topic=362.msg3480#msg3480
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Neals,
Babbitt is a cast-in-place bulk bearing material. There are many different babbitt alloys, but the more common ones are mixtures of tin, antimony, copper, and lead. In the old days, before insert bearings, bearings were poured in place in automotive engines (i.e. rod journals, main journals, cam journals, etc), then hand scraped to final size. Model T's had babbitt bearings and my 1952 Chevrolet truck has some babbitt bearings. But, by the mid 1950's babbit had been replaced by insert bearings in the auto industry.
For more information see wikipedia... search babbitt. Much to read...
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I use to rebuild windmill motors. I used wheel weights for babbit. One i did over 30 years ago is still pumping water.
EvilDr235
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Weight 4 oz
Babbit was generally sold in pound ingots, 4oz divisible into 6 parts is kinda small, unless it is something valuable like silver, or some alloying metal......
hmmm
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The only other thing that I could think of was pewter. Pewter seems to be sold in 1 lb and up ingots also. The ingot is pretty crude. Its been trimmed with a grinder or course file to clean up the edges. Some variation in thickness. There are no fineness stamps so that should rule out silver or platinum. I was in hopes someone would recognize the stampings on it. Doubt that I will ever use it anyway so it can be babbit till someone tells me different.