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[tonnot98]

I'm going to start a small smelter and melt aluminum cans and maybe lead things as well, and I'd like to know if aluminum/lead weapons would be of any actual use.

I know that aluminum swords and axes and armor were made with blunt edges as practice weapons, but nothing seems to come up about lead weapons aside from pipes. I could imagine that due to the weight and density of lead that it'd make a useable hammer/mace, but what about an actual edged lead weapon?

What would the uses of these be in actual battles and practice battles?

Will post pictures if I ever do start smelting and smithing.

[Sheb]

Lead is really soft, so they make terrible edged weapons. On the plus side, they're toxic. Also, melting aluminium also can be a bad idea for your health.

[smjjames]

For a second I thought you were talking about DF with the title.

I know bullets use lead, but those are high velocity projectiles.

[Baffler]

A weapon made of straight lead or aluminum will probably perform pretty poorly no matter what you use it for. They're both too soft to stand up to more than a little bit of punishment. You might have better results if you could somehow manage to cast a harder metal around a lead core, but I'm by no means an expert and cannot comment on the feasibility of something like that.

[Sheb]

Casting lead inside a outer metal casing would be easier. Lead melt a pretty low temperature. A steel tube whose end is full of lead would make a very good blunt weapon.

[Sinistar]

Don't know the actual chemical structure but lead was always considered too "soft" to really be used for edged weapons. As you already know though, it'd make a decent bashing-weapon material.

As for aluminium, the actual melting process is IIRC quite complicated due to it's thermal resistance. Also, being complete opposite to lead, it would make a laughable hammer due to it being so light. Dunno about how sharp it could get though. If you tear apart an aluminium can it's edges are damn sharp but also soft. Id guess you'd need to mix it with some other metal.

Also, there are at least 4 ninjas on this forum.

[smjjames]

Lead is really soft, so they make terrible edged weapons. On the plus side, they're toxic. Also, melting aluminium also can be a bad idea for your health.

I think you meant on the minus side.

[Baffler]

Casting lead inside a outer metal casing would be easier. Lead melt a pretty low temperature. A steel tube whose end is full of lead would make a very good blunt weapon.

That's actually a solid (hehe) idea. Steel pipes are a dime a dozen. You could fill a decently sized one with lead, put a cap on one end, then use a fitting of some kind to attach a smaller and longer one for a handle. It's relatively crude, and getting the right length handle might be a challenge, but you'll have yourself a solid piece at the end of it.

[Sheb]

Well, not if you want to poison your foe.

Aluminium is not that hard to melt (It does so at about 600°C), but it's fairly soft: Mohs hardness of 2.75 (similar to gold or silver for example). You could make an edged weapons out of it, but it wouldn't stay sharp very long.

[Sinistar]

Argh, I knew something was amiss.

I was thinking raw Al processing.

[tonnot98]

Okay so lead is soft but heavy. How long would it last as a hammer on it's own?

And I'm more planning on making aluminum swords and axes to practice metal working and as practice blades to fight with.

How much would a blunted aluminum sword do to skin? How long would it probably last after repeated strikes against a wooden shield and another aluminum sword? The lead thing is a complete maybe because of it's toxicity and weight.

[Arx]

The deceptive thing about hammers is that you want high pressure, like in a bec-de-corbin. Lead's very dense, which is a plus, but won't hold any kind of even slight point, which is a minus. Even a rectangular head would probably deform in use against armoured targets. It would be slaughter against unarmoured people, but then so would many metal warhammers.

Aluminium is used in prop swords. They have to round the edges so they don't chip each other to bits. A sharp aluminium sword would, again, be brutal against unarmoured people but not so good against armour.

[Flying Dice]

Again, you'd be better off with a lead core inside a better metal.

That said, you can also use lead rods to weight wooden practice weapons, though obviously that makes them more dangerous to practice with.

Arx pretty much has you covered on the aluminum side. Al replicas with live blades can be dangerous, but they break easily.

[Culise]

The deceptive thing about hammers is that you want high pressure, like in a bec-de-corbin. Lead's very dense, which is a plus, but won't hold any kind of even slight point, which is a minus. Even a rectangular head would probably deform in use against armoured targets. It would be slaughter against unarmoured people, but then so would many metal warhammers.

Also, it's worth noting explicitly Arx has implied: the act of deformation itself will sap the power of the impact even further, even above and beyond the distribution of force caused by the increase in surface area created as a consequence of deformation.  When you hit something with armor, you want something hard enough to withstand the impact not only so that you can use it more than once, but also so that you actually deliver that kinetic energy into the armor instead of your own weapon. 

I agree with a lead core being your best option for weaponry.  If you use wood as your casing, a loaded shillelagh is almost traditional in that role, but the steel pipe already suggested is probably easier to come by nowadays.  Pure lead can also be used for sling bullets as well as firearms, but I would check your local statutes for that as many jurisdictions ban lead bullets, and wording on that sort of legislation can be a bit tricky. 

Also, the only manner in which people will be dying of aluminum toxicity or lead poisoning in the near term would be an excess of the metal rammed into their skull, through their heart, or whatever other vaguely-sarcastic turn of phrase you prefer.  These tend to work on longer terms than a single battle. ^_^

[~Neri]

I really advise not using either. It's just a bad idea to touch poisonous substances or breath toxIC fumes.