Super Shiny Ingots

[FredBuddy]

A friend gave me an old Lyman bottom pour
pot with the innards removed, but full of
previously melted stuff. He didn't remember
what.

He also gave me a can of ingots he said
were tin.

I finally heated up the pot and made ingots.
They were very shiny, way more so than
my wheel weight ingots. I could easily scratch
a mark in them with my thumbnail. They are
also lighter than my usual ingots. Also, the
ingots that he said were tin didn't scratch as
easily, nor did my 40/60 solder bar.

So this really is tin? What say you.?

[Neverhome]

No way to say for sure without testing but I’d be inclined to calculate the density. Won’t tell you what you have but should tell you what you DON’T have. If your measured/calculated density doesn’t closely match that of tin then you can rule that out. If it does match then you could assume but not prove it was tin.

Melting point would also be a decent test.

[jsizemore]

Really clean lead is super shiny when you got the temp right and is soft. Pewter can be shiny but the temp is much cooler when liquid than lead.

[mac1911]

FWIW, my recent lead flashing smelt produced some of the most shiny ignots I have ever dropped.
Cast a bullets and weigh them against a known alloy you have.

[FredBuddy]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

[John Boy]

If you don’t get the alloy analyzed you may be shooting tin bullets at $15 a pound

[gwpercle]

Tin ain't cheap and wonderful to have on hand .
Lots of good boolits can be made from a simple tin - lead alloy .
But you have to know what you have !
Gary

[FredBuddy]

I put those ingots aside for the
very reason you have stated.

The only scrap yard around here
doesn't have a testing machine.

Thanks

[country gent]

Lead and tin both can be very shinny when cast depending on how its done and moulds. A Lot of ingot molds are cast and left as cast and give a sand like finish. A smooth mould and proper temp will give the mirror finish.

As an aside, old mirrors were made by putting a piece of glass in an oven and warming to soldering temps a layer of lead or tin was applied and then back in the oven to slowly cool. The smooth surface of the glass the fine fill of the metal made a nice distortion free mirror.

[kevin c]

You might want to drop member BNE a line. He might still be on hiatus, but he has been our resource for XRF testing of alloys. At the cost of a pound of lead plus the price of postage to him, he would PM you the analysis of the sample sent with the lead, well worth it if you have several pounds of possible high tin alloy.

[Conditor22]

test the hardness with pencils then weigh them and comparable ingots to get an idea of what they are.

IF you are careful you could melt some on low heat paying close attention to the temperature and see when they start and finish melting.

Lighter usually means a harder alloy.

[Hanzy4200]

One simple test I learned a while back, is to pour a small stream onto the concrete. Think around pencil thick. Let it cool. Give it a bend. If it has decent tin content it will creak and crackle. Shiny is also a good sign.

[FredBuddy]

Thanks.

[kevin c]

One simple test I learned a while back, is to pour a small stream onto the concrete. Think around pencil thick. Let it cool. Give it a bend. If it has decent tin content it will creak and crackle. Shiny is also a good sign.

Most of the labeled pewter I have, usually 92.5% Sn or better, doesn't make the "tin cry" when bent. Maybe the concentration of tin needs to be higher than that?

[Dr3wcifer]

This might help. Pure lead on the left, wheel weights in the middle, tin pewter on the right.