Here goes.....
Marie has an uncle (Tomas) that has done many interesting things over his 80+ years. Among those things are the construction of three sailboats during his life.
I was in Marie's life at the time that the 3rd 'Windrower' was built--this was a while back. Lead in large quantities has always been scarce and expensive in here in The Worker's Paradise, and Tomas needed 2400# for the keel. What to do.......Well, the same things that MANY Californians do for lowered costs on any number of items and services--GO SOUTH.
Tomas found a foundry in (IIRC) Tijuana that would pour 1" x 4" and 2" x 4" ingots in unalloyed lead for about 1/3 the cost of having it done locally (San Diego). WRAP IT UP. Tomas and his son made the trip south on a Sunday morning to pick up the metal. They returned on Sunday late afternoon--the worst possible day to do so--but the time of week where the Ports Of Entry are the busiest--all of those gueros y yanquis heading home for their drywalled death traps on Mossy Brook Circle create a perfectly wonderful cover element for moving all manner of questionable items from South To North. Only in Kalifornistan is a dead metal--Pb--accorded status only two notches below cocaine and methamphetamine as 'Contraband'. "Sal si puedes", indeed.
They got the load across without a glitch. Tomas laid the keel in place with the ingots, and he had a couple 5# buckets of lead sawdust and end pieces. The end pieces were cut very cleanly, dunno how he did that--but he is a handy guy and is a retired shop teacher. He offered me the sawdust and pieces, total yield about 89# of mystery alloy that tested about 6-7 BHn IIRC.
The metal required A GREAT DEAL OF FLUXING.......it's assay included about 12%-15% beach sand. Know this--in Mexico all Americans are simultaneously loved for the wealth they bring South and prized as legitimate prey and deserving victims of scams, rip-offs, and injury/death. They remain pissed about Chapultepec to this day. Caveat emptor maximus!