Tin Ingots - How to Test Composition?

[regdor1999]

I have a small pile of tin ingots from a cleanout of my dad's former casting area. They're labeled "Tin", and look and sound different than lead ingots, so I have no doubt they are tin. They do have a "Lyman" mark from an ingot mold so I doubt it's from a commercial supplier like Roto. Whoever did cast them made them thinner than the lead ingots typically are, which was smart, so you can tell at a glance it's the tin.

I have a the question out to my dad on if he recalls the source, but in the meantime is there a cost efficient way to test them? I'll be selling them so I'd like to have some idea of the pureness or at least the source. Thanks!

UPDATE EDIT: I'll leave the above original text for context. I talked to him on the phone last night and he's said he had it for about 30 years. He used to do a lot of lead wheel weight melting and he'd alloy with these. He'd keep them handy by the casting machine for when he did full wadcutters too, as sometimes he'd need to add a little extra tin if he was having trouble getting all the grooves to fill in the mold.

He confirmed my assumption that it was melt down and cast into the Lyman ingots by a guy he'd buy tin and lead from occasionally. Most likely source was tin solder, but it's been thirty years and he can't remember. Makes sense to me, though.

Once he switched over to buying ingots from suppliers rather than melting the wheel weights (the smoke from the ever present rubber stems, stickers, and trash in the buckets... ugh... ) he didn't really use much of it anymore and it sat on the shelf.

FINAL EDIT: Great suggestion to contact user BNE on here. I did exactly that, followed his instructions to send him a sample, and received the following result:

Sn = 99.6%
Cu = 0.4%

Excellent! Granted it's not a certification by any means but definitely gives me a good idea of what I actually have.

[Half Dog]

I’ve taken samples to a local college. Their geology department has the equipment to test and tell you everything in the metal.

[poppy42]

I believe someone on this forum does testing of lead, tin, antimony, etc. He takes a certain percentage of the material tested as payment. Sorry but for the life of me I can’t remember who. Perhaps another member will chime in.

[JSnover]

I believe someone on this forum does testing of lead, tin, antimony, etc. He takes a certain percentage of the material tested as payment. Sorry but for the life of me I can’t remember who. Perhaps another member will chime in.

That's BNE. You'll get clear instructions and if you follow them, you'll get your analysis.

[jsizemore]

Specific gravity test is pretty cheap.

[kevin c]

Love BNE’s service, but unless you’re positively sure all the ingots were made from the same source material, technically speaking you’d have to test every ingot.

I vote for jsizemore’s suggestion: it should be fairly easy to check specific gravity.

[regdor1999]

UPDATE EDIT: I'll leave the above original text for context. I talked to him on the phone last night and he's said he had it for about 30 years. He used to do a lot of lead wheel weight melting and he'd alloy with these. He'd keep them handy by the casting machine for when he did full wadcutters too, as sometimes he'd need to add a little extra tin if he was having trouble getting all the grooves to fill in the mold.

He confirmed my assumption that it was melt down and cast into the Lyman ingots by a guy he'd buy tin and lead from occasionally. Most likely source was tin solder, but it's been thirty years and he can't remember. Makes sense to me, though.

Once he switched over to buying ingots from suppliers rather than melting the wheel weights (the smoke from the ever present rubber stems, stickers, and trash in the buckets... ugh... ) he didn't really use much of it anymore and it sat on the shelf.

[regdor1999]

Great suggestion to contact user BNE on here. I did exactly that, followed his instructions to send him a sample, and received the following result:

Sn = 99.6%
Cu = 0.4%

Excellent! Granted it's not a certification by any means but definitely gives me a good idea of what I actually have.

Thanks!

[schutzen-jager]

quote [ Most likely source was tin solder, but it's been thirty years and he can't remember. Makes sense to me, though. ]

iirc + i might be mistaken that tin solder was not at all common 30 years ago - it was lead based with tin added to increase flow in different applications - tin solder only became into common use here when the European union banned lead products - t

[Dusty Bannister]

Some might find this interesting. It need not be all that common if a person is in the business of buying and selling metals for bullet casting. The OP material could have picked up a fraction of percentage during remelting for resale.

https://ia601603.us.archive.org/2/it...alogNo.47j.pdf

[regdor1999]

I wonder what the blood lead level is of the guy in the first couple of pictures in the foundry working around giant open lead cauldron melts and pours!

[Rickf1985]

I wonder what the blood lead level is of the guy in the first couple of pictures in the foundry working around giant open lead cauldron melts and pours!

Probably no different than you or I. Lead does not produce poisonous gas until it is over 1,000 degrees and they have known that for many years. The foundries were not going to waste fuel melting lead above the temperature needed to make it liquid. Not only does it waste fuel but it also means a lot longer before the ingots can be dropped, Production rules say do only what is needed to get the job done efficiently.

[Gobeyond]

You could melt some and deduce the actual melting temp. You could do a hardness test. You could flux it to purify more. Use it to alloy and see if any abnormalities. If it looks like tin acts like tin. An actual sale wouldn’t be fraudulent as is. If it’s good enough for you to use it’s good enough for the other guy. Lower the price if any question.

[regdor1999]

Yep, or have BNE test it, like I did. What a resource to have here! I did list them in the Team Boolits for sale section. I dint have enough posts yet for the general one.

[Rickf1985]

I have never understood the Team Boolits bit. But obviously someone there is going to get a shot at something the rest of us will not. So I guess there is some merit to paying extra for it.

[Rockindaddy]

Have gotten to know the owner of a local salvage yard. Alot of times I just loaded up my dump trailer with farm junk and gave it to him. He liked that! He has an atomic scanner gun (portable spectrometer). He has scanned my lead ingots for me. I mark the various lots as he scans them. Makes it easy to mix a good lead alloy!