From pig to panel
Four rooms, one bench, and a mill that remembers 1952.
Came is a patient material. Drawn too fast it pits; drawn too cold it splits at the heart of the H; drawn in humid August it'll grow a white bloom before it reaches your studio. Everything here is set up to keep the work slow enough to stay honest.
Assay & alloy
Every batch begins by logging the source — virgin pig (99.97% Pb, from a smelter I've used since 2013), reclaimed sheet, or sections removed from the panel being restored. Reclaimed lead is filed, sampled, and checked for tin and antimony with a handheld XRF borrowed from a conservator friend every quarter. A studio can request an alloy matched to the original within a stated tolerance — typically ±0.3% tin — and I'll note the published reference I'm matching against in the ledger.
Alloys below about 0.8% tin are often called "soft lead" and behave differently on the stretcher than the common 1.5–2% tin restoration alloy. Worth checking before the first draw.
Casting the slug
Molten lead is ladled into a cast-iron slug mold sized for the mill's throat (1-3/8" square, 11" long — call that "a Monday's worth"). The slugs cool overnight on a slate bench by the north wall. No water-quenching: the cooling curve matters for how cleanly the came will take a stretch the next day.
Drawing on the mill
The mill is a flywheel-driven lead mill from 1952, rebuilt twice — once in '97 by its previous owner, once in the winter of '19 with help from a retired pattern-maker. Dies are swapped for each profile; for uncommon profiles I cut new dies from O1 tool steel on the yard lathe. A good stick is drawn in a single continuous pass, trimmed at the crimping rollers, and set on the straightening bench still warm from the throat.
Straightening & tagging
Came is pulled, rolled, and hand-straightened against a six-foot hardwood bench edged in maple. Each stick is measured, tagged with its profile code and mill date in red china-marker, and bundled in twenties with jute twine. Tapered sticks and radial runs get position labels (R1, R2, …) tied to the studio's cartoon. A miscounted bundle is a miscounted job, and I have done that exactly once.
Panel-annealing (when asked)
For conservators working on panels where the came will be pre-formed around tight curves, I'll anneal a bundle in the small electric oven at 180°F for four hours and ship same-week. It loses work-hardening; it gains drape. Tell me at order time — it changes the packing.
Packing for transit
Came ships flat in wooden crates lined with unwaxed kraft. Zinc and brass get their own crates — they don't ride well next to lead; the oxide transfer is subtle but real. A mill record goes in the crate and a carbon copy stays in the shop ledger. Crates are recovered on return shipments and re-used; ask for a return label.
A note on lead safety
The workshop runs wet, ventilated, and monitored. I wear a half-face respirator at the foundry and at the mill when slugs are first hot. Shipments arrive sealed, and I recommend conservators observe their own studio protocols on receipt — cotton gloves for unpacking, wipe-down with a damp cloth, separate storage from solder and flux. A materials summary (SDS-style, one page) accompanies every order so your health-and-safety file stays complete.
If a stick arrives failed — pitted, spalled, or short — set it aside; don't salvage it. I'll mill a replacement from the same batch if any is still on the rack, or cut a fresh slug if not.