I have been getting tin for $2 to $3/lb for the last year.....

[Harry O]

You probably can, too.

My wife has a hobby going to estate sales (this is different from garage sales). I don't mind since she does not spend much. I think it is just to be able to see what the inside of other houses look like. In addition, she has scouted out several places with a LOT of tools and I was able to get good tools pretty cheap.

Anyway, I went with her from time to time and saw that if they had any tools at all, they usually had a coil of solder. I told her to buy any full coil for $1 or $2 per coil and half that if the coil was pretty used. She has brought me about 30lbs in the last year. Some is 40%tin/60%lead. Some is 50%tin/50%lead. Some is 60%tin/40%lead. She has also brought back 3lbs of lead free, 95%tin solder.

I have mixed and matched then and melted them down so that average is about 60%tin/40%lead and then cast them into 3oz ingots. That means that I can get 1.8oz of tin with a full ingot or 0.9oz with one cut in half.

[deltaenterprizes]

Stay away from the acid core stuff!

[EDG]

Shhhhh!!!

[Harry O]

No real problem with the acid core stuff. When it is all melted down, you can scoop off the black gunk on the surface. Not much of it, but it does stink.

[crabo]

What about rosin core? What is the tin ratio in it?

Thanks,

Crabo

[Harry O]

Ran about the same as the others as far as content and cost. One from this Saturday was rosin core, nearly full coil, $1.00, and was 40%tin/60%lead. A few weeks ago, I paid $2.50 (more than I usually pay) for a lead-free, 95%tin nearly full coil.

I keep those that are marked and calculate what I have from them. Those that are not marked, I assume are 50/50. When I get about 5lbs of 50/50 and one box of lead-free, I melt them together and cast them into 3oz ingots. I just got a lead-free lb, so I will probably be melting more in the near future.

Generally, the marking is on the box, not on the metal coil holder for most solder. If the box is not there, the exact content is generally not known. However, the very few lead-free solder coils I got were marked with the content on the metal coil holder, too. My guess is that they want to make sure you know why lead-free costs so much more.