Reloading EverythingLee PrecisionTitan ReloadingMidSouth Shooters Supply
RepackboxInline FabricationWidenersLoad Data
RotoMetals2
Results 1 to 13 of 13

Thread: First run of pewter pot sweeteners

  1. #1
    Boolit Bub
    Join Date
    Jul 2022
    Posts
    53

    First run of pewter pot sweeteners

    Mostly from a set of pewter silverware

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	20220829_234822_copy_756x1008.jpg 
Views:	21 
Size:	40.1 KB 
ID:	303691

  2. #2
    Boolit Grand Master

    imashooter2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    PA
    Posts
    7,899
    A fine start.
    ”We know they are lying, they know they are lying, they know we know they are lying, we know they know we know they are lying, yet they are still lying.” –Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn

    My Straight Shooters thread:
    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...raight-shooter

    The Pewter Pictures and Hallmarks thread:
    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...-and-hallmarks

  3. #3
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Posts
    2,659
    If you need it, varying the thickness of those poured disks can get you down to a bit under an ounce, while fractions of a disk of a given weight can be added to the melt by submerging just a part.

    Bullet molds cast even lower weights of tin and will be vey uniform.

    I prepare 240# batches of final casting alloy, where I’m adding nearly 5# of tin, so getting the amount down to the nearest half oz is plenty accurate enough.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master

    Land Owner's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Mims, FL
    Posts
    1,864
    My operation is smaller but the sentiment of "close enough" is the same in 100# batches of 50-50% Pb-COWW alloy, cooled in 3# ingots.

    Each 50-50% ingot is weighed and marked in #'s and oz's.

    As weight in "X" #'s and "Y" ozs of 50-50% alloy is added to the casting pot, Tin is added, by weight, to create 49-49-2% Pb-WW-Sn alloy in the 20# pot.

    With stores of nuclear shielding lead, tire shop COWW's, 50-50 alloy, and Tin, casting and smelting has been quite the adventure.
    If it was easy, anybody could do it.

  5. #5
    Boolit Bub
    Join Date
    Jul 2022
    Posts
    53
    My stash of lead is not where I would like it to be. Out of desperation I bought wheel weights at $1 a pound. I iam planning on hitting up a few rural scrap yards this Friday to try and get what ever I can. I am really hoping to find some dead soft lead as that is what I am lacking in right now.

  6. #6
    Boolit Grand Master

    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    England,Ar
    Posts
    7,687
    Those look good! I have used the small cavities in a Lee ingot mold for my tin and solder ingots.

  7. #7
    Moderator
    RogerDat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    Michigan Lansing Area
    Posts
    5,751
    Love that golden hue that tin alloy has. Just so purty. I tend to use a mini-muffin or candy pan so the coins are smaller but same idea. I found I prefer making larger batches of a casting alloy rather than mixing it in the casting pot a batch at a time. More consistent to make 50 or 100 pound batch.

    Some stuff I make more than one batch of hundred pounds, pour each into 4 or 5 pound slabs in bread loaf pans then cross mix. Taking half the slabs from one batch and melting them with half the slabs from the other batch. That way the alloy for at least the next couple hundred pounds will be the same.

    I would encourage the person hitting the rural scrap yards to get that soft lead. One can add whatever alloy is needed to it and it is the more common thing to find in scrap bin and generally pretty identifiable as to being soft lead by form. Pipe, xray shielding, flashing, etc. Where the bin of "hard" lead can be much more varied and unknown. Other than WW's. Soft lead is the "flour" in our recipes, making up 90% of even a rich alloy such as Lyman #2 so having as much of that soft as possible will prove useful.

    One can buy a few pounds of sweetener from a member or a commercial seller such as Rotometals for much less than one can purchase the bulk plain lead to do a large batch from those sources. Good hunting! Might want to take some bags with donuts with you to drop off with the yard workers. Folks appreciate that extra effort.
    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.

    Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.

    Feedback page http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...light=RogerDat

  8. #8
    Boolit Grand Master

    imashooter2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    PA
    Posts
    7,899
    Potter molds for the win. I have 3.



    ”We know they are lying, they know they are lying, they know we know they are lying, we know they know we know they are lying, yet they are still lying.” –Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn

    My Straight Shooters thread:
    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...raight-shooter

    The Pewter Pictures and Hallmarks thread:
    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...-and-hallmarks

  9. #9
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    South Prairie, WA 98385
    Posts
    306
    Quote Originally Posted by Land Owner View Post
    My operation is smaller but the sentiment of "close enough" is the same in 100# batches of 50-50% Pb-COWW alloy, cooled in 3# ingots.

    Each 50-50% ingot is weighed and marked in #'s and oz's.

    As weight in "X" #'s and "Y" ozs of 50-50% alloy is added to the casting pot, Tin is added, by weight, to create 49-49-2% Pb-WW-Sn alloy in the 20# pot.

    With stores of nuclear shielding lead, tire shop COWW's, 50-50 alloy, and Tin, casting and smelting has been quite the adventure.
    Greetings,

    We have had fairly good results buying scrap roof vents and flashing from some of the local scrappers. This is close to pure Lead, although I never paid to have mine analyzed.

    Cheers,

    Dave

  10. #10
    Boolit Bub
    Join Date
    Jul 2022
    Posts
    53
    None of the local scrappers will sell to walk in people they wholesale it all out to the big smelters. It's kind of annoying. But what can you do.

  11. #11
    Boolit Buddy Brassmonkey's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2020
    Location
    Danby VT
    Posts
    277
    Quote Originally Posted by Dtdk View Post
    None of the local scrappers will sell to walk in people they wholesale it all out to the big smelters. It's kind of annoying. But what can you do.
    Get out the Yellow Pages and start calling the plumbing and roofing people!

  12. #12
    Boolit Master

    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    NC Arkansas
    Posts
    1,394
    Find out what the scrap yards pay for soft lead, then offer 10cents/lb more to the plumbers, roofers and remodelers, explaining they will get more for it and not have to take the time to haul it to the scrap yard. That way it will cost you half or less than if the scrap yard would sell it to you.
    Spell check doesn't work in Chrome, so if something is spelled wrong, it's just a typo that I missed.

  13. #13
    Boolit Master

    Land Owner's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Mims, FL
    Posts
    1,864
    Quote Originally Posted by fc60 View Post
    Greetings,

    Cheers,

    Dave
    Thanks Dave. The only "tin" I have had assayed, through castboolits Member BNE, was a lid for a 25# pot I found in a Curio Shop. Good smelting...
    If it was easy, anybody could do it.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check