lead serving tape, what's it for?

[scotts90ranger]

I was at an estate sale and happened upon some lead tape (no adhesive), about 1" wide by about 1/32" thick if I had to guess and the whole roll (got 3 of them) looks to be about 5' long, was cheap so I got it (I fly RC airplanes so thin lead can be useful for ballast, or might work as fishing weights), the only wording on the box is "Lead Serving Tape, Nassau recycling corp". Any idea on it's original purpose? there was a LOT of telephone stuff at the sale so I imagine it is related to that, I tried a google search but everything was for the other pronunciation of the word lead... The only thing I can think of would be to shield something from something, or weight something down...

Just curious...

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Could it have said sealing rather than serving? Maybe plumbing, I think lead was used on cast iron for sealing. Maybe glazing, as in lead-glass windows. Old school lead work before bondo was invented?

Richard

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

"lead serving tape" on bing turns up a bunch of stuff about tennis rackets.

http://www.bing.com/search?q=lead+serving+tape&form=MSNH14&qs=n&sk=

 

[killj0y]

Could it have said sealing rather than serving? Maybe plumbing, I think lead was used on cast iron for sealing. Maybe glazing, as in lead-glass windows. Old school lead work before bondo was invented?

Richard

precisely my thoughts

 

[Twister]

Could this be what it is used for.

http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/LC/Customizing/customize.html

 

[scotts90ranger]

Could this be what it is used for.

http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/LC/Customizing/customize.html

Ok, I think you got it... I didn't even think of that! saw the tennis stuff in the search but didn't think of balancing the racket. I was over analyzing things thinking it was something technical...

 

[Mark_88]

I have a friend who deals with antiques and stuff...she found a lamp made of solid copper and it was quite ornate...she was going to sell it for a few bucks (maybe $40)...then I told her it weighed about 50 lbs...and copper was worth $3 a pound...so she could get $150 just for the copper...

Lead is pretty high right now...probably worth more than you paid at an estate auction...if it's pure lead...

Plenty of old stuff made from pure copper...if you find any at a good price...worth buying it up and scrapping it for the metal...

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

No adhesive/1" wide; less likely to be racquet tape imo but I really am just guessing.

Richard

 

[naford]

In days of old they used lead in outside phone lines to keep water out. I wonder seeing as he had a lot of phone stuff maybe that is what it was used for? Here follow this link.

http://www.copper.org/applications/telecomm/evolution.html

 

[scotts90ranger]

it doesn't look that old, there was also a box of tennis rackets at the sale after I thought about it a bit more, probably '70's to '80's era stuff