I was cruising GL today and found a Lyman Casting Furnace, Sand and Pewter $25 came with 10 pounds of lead-free pewter. Wow what a bargain! So I went to Rotometals and realized it must be Zinc Based Pewter. 93% Zinc, 4% Aluminum, and 3% Copper. The melted alloy in the pot looked like oatmeal. Just a warning for you Pewter hunters. Just because it's pewter doesn't mean it's tin.
https://hartford.craigslist.org/tls/...824736440.html
https://www.rotometals.com/zinc-based-pewter/
That's probably sand from reject castings floating on top of the mix. Very doubtful a home hobbyist could cast gears like that out of a zinc based alloy. I'd buy it.
Not hard to tell the difference between real pewter and zinc, completely different look, feel and especially sound when you tap it with a piece of metal. It also melts easily which zinc does not.
Did those gears have a PEWTER touchmark? I've seen Zamack on stuff that looked like pewter but didn't bend or feel heay enough to be Pewter.
Wilton calls their stuff pewter too.
I got a reply the pewter is 95% tin 5% antimony. Essentially 95/5 solder. We will make arrangements to pick it up. It's a great deal!
Last edited by NyFirefighter357; 03-18-2019 at 10:52 PM.
That's an absolutely killer deal, nice find.
I'm glad that wasn't "oatmeal" in the pot in the picture. I've had good alloys have a bit of that appearance when cooled in the mold or pot. I've had clean alloy have a nasty looking surface when first melted, that would disappear with sawdust and/or wax treatment.
The gears are what they casted for the art project. The pewter is 95% tin 5% antimony. Essentially 95/5 solder.Originally Posted by jsizemore
That's great!
Well I picked up the Stuff in the ad, paid the $25. Turns out he was sponsored by a lead free plumbing fitting company & that's how he got the 10lbs of 95/5 solder as he didn't want to work with any lead alloy. Also saw a newly opened Goodwill store across the street so we went in to check for some pewter hoping they stocked the new store well. I did pretty good I got some pewter and a mini-muffin pan for less than $20.
Last edited by NyFirefighter357; 03-24-2019 at 07:45 PM.
Be sure to check for any collector value on that pewter ware!
I estimate the weight of the pewter objects at 5#. Am I close?
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How would you go about checking that value?
Compare on fleabay.
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I think they were about 6lbs.
ebay prices for SOLD items, not the asking prices. That pot, creamer and sugar dish do look like a matched set. I do a lookup online to try and establish a value. Then weigh items. I can then hit up the local antique shops or barns to see what the wholesale market price the shop or vendors will pay. Sometimes it can be more than that items weight in tin is worth. Other times not.
I'm not short of tin so if the antique shop will give me $12 for $8 worth of tin I'm happy to take it. If I needed the tin I wouldn't bother.
I have had at least a few items that were worth a good deal more than their weight in tin. Nothing stunning in value but certainly worth selling as antique (or keeping) rather than making into a puddle. Some members have found items worth many times their tin value. You have to do some checking. That tea pot, sugar & creamer pot if they match might fetch a decent price from an antique shop, don't forget they don't pay the "value" they pay around 1/2 or so of the eBay value. They have to make a buck on selling it same as you do. Might get more than 1/2 retail value if it is a collectable or desirable item, less if it is a common item.
Now all you need is a Lyman "Little Dipper" casting ladle and you will be all set for some serious bullet casting.
Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.
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