Today's Pewter

[308Jeff]

Found a thrift store that I'd never been to before. A few nice items.

Melted and fluxed it yielded 3.85 lbs at a cost of $5.75/lb. I got to melt something, and it was a decent deal. I'm happy.

[lightman]

Nice score! Pewter is hard to find where I live. I depend on solder when I need tin. Envious of you guys that can find pewter!

[TexasGrunt]

Bah. I hate ya.

Finding pewter around here is pretty tough. I've only found two thrift stores that even display items that might contain pewter. Headed to one today. The Goodwill stores around here are worthless.

[308Jeff]

You need to go the thrift stores near any retirement areas. Those seem to be the ones that have it most often.

[TexasGrunt]

Most of the thrift stores around here don't even have stuff like that for sale. I've been to about a dozen and only found pewter at two. Goodwill here doesn't even have used cookware out for sale. I've about given up on Dallas area thrift stores and finding pewter.

My wife suggested First Monday but I think anything I find there is going to be way too expensive.

[OS OK]

There prolly should be a conversation about blending with pewter to sweeten up the Sn content to help with fill-out.
I think it increases hardness quicker than pure Sn.
I tried to sweeten some roofers Pb just a tiny bit with what I thought would be a .5% Sn content when I added pewter.
I weighted it carefully by doing the math but was not aware at the time of the Cu in the blend.
Anyway . . . long story short, my blend that targeted an 8.0 BHN ended up at 10.4 BHN and increased another full point over the next 2 weeks.

This made my low-velocity HP metal I was blending too hard. It was perfect for say a magnum platform and made pretty boolits but I was amazed at how quickly it increased the blend.

It made me gun-shy on the next pot blend and I used RotoMetals pure Sn at the same percentage by weight/volume...that worked out fine.

It would be interesting to follow someone in a thread who could lead a discussion on the use of pewter and present their personal experience and empirical evidence at the same time.

Just mentioning something...not hijacking your thread...nice find and nice work there Jeff.

[lightman]

You may be onto something. I never find pewter so I can't comment from any experience. Pewter contains a few % of harder elements that pure tin or solder don't have. Going by memory here, but I think pewter may contain copper, antimony, bismuth, silver or maybe a few others. All should be good in a bullet alloy in small quantities.

[308Jeff]

This is good to know.

I have a lot of roofing lead, but I haven't attempted to alloy anything yet. I've just been collecting, melting, and ingoting (is that a word?) while I learn on here.

I'm glad to hear that a little pewter may go a long way. As expensive as it is, the math (if I'm doing it right) of combining it with pure lead quickly adds to the cost of the lead I get for free.

-Jeff

[William Yanda]

"I weighted it carefully by doing the math but was not aware at the time of the Cu in the blend.
Anyway . . . long story short, my blend that targeted an 8.0 BHN ended up at 10.4 BHN and increased another full point over the next 2 weeks." OS OK

Thanks for the report. I believe Cu is only a fraction of the SB in pewter, although there are a multitude of recipies for pewter. Leads me to believe pewter might be an even more economical choice for alloying with lead since less might get one to the goal with regards to hardness.

[308Jeff]

Found a place today with a lot of pewter. If this plate turns out to be pewter, and I'm 87% sure it is, I did really well. And particularly well on that plate.

Should I feel guilty about melting any of this?

[brassrat]

I wouldnt melt maybe all of that

[Tenbender]

I have found, if you stick with wheel weights and leno there's no need to waste money on tin ? Just my observation ?

[imashooter2]

Found a place today with a lot of pewter. If this plate turns out to be pewter, and I'm 87% sure it is, I did really well. And particularly well on that plate.

Should I feel guilty about melting any of this?

I've melted way "better" stuff than that. Look at eBay completed auctions and see how much of that sort of stuff actually sells, and if it does, what it sells for after fees.

[308Jeff]

I have found, if you stick with wheel weights and leno there's no need to waste money on tin ? Just my observation ?

I would agree, except a get quite a bit of pure lead for free. The economics make sense for me.

I've melted way "better" stuff than that. Look at eBay completed auctions and see how much of that sort of stuff actually sells, and if it does, what it sells for after fees.

That's exactly what I did this morning before I tossed it all in the pot.

[308Jeff]

The plate DID turn out to be Pewter. 2.3 pounds for $5.25

One of my best scores.

[TexasGrunt]

You're killing me!

I did manage to score a candle holder that I wasn't too sure of. It was $1.99 and thick as can be, but if I pressed on the edge of the base it had give. Turns out to be some kids shop project and is pewter. Weighs 6 ounces.

I guess I'm going to have to put the clamp on my pecker and take my wife up to the north area of Dallas and hit some thrift shops.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

that sounds horrible, I am so sorry

[308Jeff]

You're killing me!

I did manage to score a candle holder that I wasn't too sure of. It was $1.99 and thick as can be, but if I pressed on the edge of the base it had give. Turns out to be some kids shop project and is pewter. Weighs 6 ounces.

I guess I'm going to have to put the clamp on my pecker and take my wife up to the north area of Dallas and hit some thrift shops.

Happy hunting, buddy.

Hope you feel better soon.

[TexasGrunt]

Yeah, I gotta call the doctor this week and see if I can get it. IMHO I shouldn't be leaking as much as I am right now.

I'm just hoping it's something simple and that I don't need a new cuff. I really don't want another surgery right now.

[308Jeff]

Yeah, I gotta call the doctor this week and see if I can get it. IMHO I shouldn't be leaking as much as I am right now.

I'm just hoping it's something simple and that I don't need a new cuff. I really don't want another surgery right now.

Hope it'll be a simple fix!