Tin from wine bottles

[GregLaROCHE]

I’ve heard it suggested to save the tin wrappers from wine bottles, to use to make a lead tin alloy. Has anyone ever done it? Is it really worth it? I drink a lot of bottled wine and every time I take off the wrapper, I think about it. I hate to throw it away, but it seems like it would take a long time to make a pound. Maybe Winelover has tried it?

[Bulldogger]

Only a few are still Tin. Most cork covers are plastic or aluminum now in my experience. When I go somewhere and there is wine and the cover seems thick, I pocket it, but I've not yet done anything with them.
BDGR

[Springfield]

I bought a most of a 55 gallon drum full of these. The guy worked at a winery and saved all the damaged ones. I melted them all down, which took forever as they are very thin, I just kept dumping them in the pot and they seemed to disappear. I did end up with a nice clean batch of very soft lead. They for sure were not pure tin. Not saying none of them are, but mine weren't.

[retread]

Quit buying the wine and you will have the money to buy the tin.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Yep, most are aluminum. Some of the nicer liquors still use tin. It feels distinctly different from the aluminum. Much thicker, softer, and no springback when you bend it. You'd need to drink a lot for a batch of boolits! Much easier (and better for your liver) to buy pewter!

[brass410]

Quit buying the wine and you will have the money to buy the tin.

drink more wine, get your friends to help, keep the empties to return for recycle deposit keep the foil for your melt. Just like reloading one hobby feeds the other.

[GregLaROCHE]

With close inspection, I think it’s probably aluminum. I’ve never seen real tin foil. It seems too light. If I put some in a casting pot, if it’s aluminum it shouldn’t melt at that temperature, Right?

[Tripplebeards]

I wouldn’t waste my time with those. One trip to the Salvation Army and you’ll probably find more for $5 than what it would take a thousand wrappers to equal.

[lightman]

If they are truly tin I would save them. You already have them, right? I don't find pewter like some of these guys do, at least not around here. I even save the wax from some craft beer bottles for use as flux!

[GregLaROCHE]

Thanks guys, I don’t think I will feel guilty about throwing them away.

[Rooster]

A match would probably melt a tin one fairly quick. Just a quick test to consider.

[NyFirefighter357]

I say every piece counts if it is tin. It adds up over time. I started to pick up after the plumbers & HVAC guys around water heaters, boilers & baseboard. As I'm a heating tech I'm around them a lot. In about 3 years I've filled a pewter bowl 3/4 with what is mostly 95/5 solder. Twice I filled a cigarette pack with what I've found on repair jobs. The solder dripping alone weigh 11lbs. OH my boss also likes to use 95/5 to hold or hang the pipes before he solders and leaves it behind.

[JimB..]

Many years ago I bottled wine, had these by the caseful. Always called them lead foil capsules, they were made of lead with a layer or tin. This was around 1976, within 10 years the lead was discontinued.

[Tripplebeards]

Here’s an example. I stopped at the Salvation Army and good will today. Not the greatest score. The flower vase was $0.99 which is probably weighs more than a garbage bag full of your wine covers. The plate was a $1.50 and the mug I almost passed on for $3.99.




Here’s from last week all from one stop to a Salvation Army out of town. I spent $7.67. You might as well shave off a pound for the plaster filled bases on the candlesticks...

[kevin c]

A friend of mine helps out in a friend's premium winery, and has given me about four and a half pounds of reject foils, which he says are tin, not lead. I haven't melted them all down, but the ones I tested in a pot of pewter just above liquidus melted right away.