pewter

[adrians]

merry xmas first,
this used to be a pewter plate now it's in small pieces my question is ,how much if any can i add to a 10# pot of ww and what benefits does it have ,,,if any .
i'm curious cos iv'e heard people talk of adding pewter to their melt ,please inform a pewter newbie.
thanks and have a groovy 2011.adrians.:evil::roll::twisted:

[mroliver77]

Pewter is mostly tin nowadays. I just figure it as 100% tin and go from there. 1 - 2% tin with WW alloy will give you a tougher alloy that will not shatter like straight WW can. Addition of tin to lead alloys reduce the surface tension alowing alloy to flow into confined spaces easier resulting in a well filled out boolit. It will add to the hardness a little bit . For pistol boolits that I am plinking with I try to not use (expensive) tin.
For hunting I want a boolit that stays together well and for this I add tin. I am talking mostly rifle boolits.
Jay

[imashooter2]

I don't see any picture, but if you have a plate that broke into pieces, it isn't pewter.

[adrians]

oh i didn't post a pic !!!sorry,
it didn't break into pieces i had to cut it with tin snips and it would "bend" into pieces it had the consistancy of thin lead a little bit more ductile than lino.
have a great night.adrians:evil::bigsmyl2::twisted:

[kbstenberg]

My daughter gave me about 4 lbsof pewter today as Christmas gift. She got it free from a secondhand store that was moving.
It had a diferent insignea on the bottom than iv ever seen before. But its definatley pewter.
Kevin

[adrians]

cool gift , i like that kind of gift.

[imashooter2]

OK, that looks like pewter! I concur with mroliver77 on the usage and benefits.

[arjacobson]

I usually find enough(cheap) pewter and it's probably a waste but use it in all my pistol bullets. It doesn't take very much to sweeten the pot... plus I have ANOTHER hobby-looking for pewter!!!

[fryboy]

as stated pewter is mostly tin and we use it as such , mostly i myself smelt it down and test it to make sure then i pour lil ingots and use as needed , most agree that anything over 2% isnt needed tho i often make lyman's #2 alloy ( 5% tin ) that btw cast beautiful boolits , as a plus smelting it down also helps remove any impurities before i add it to my clean alloy , i beleieve one member stated he used upside down ( and empty ) pop cans to make small coins that he then adds to his mix as needed

[arjacobson]

I just use a propane torch to melt mine in a large cast ladle.Skim the stuff off the top and while keeping the flame on the front of the puddle I pour the ladle into small coins also(upside down pop can). You can slowly pour out the ladle and leave whatever is left behind fairly easily.. BTW whatever I have left in dross I just throw in my WW bucket for later smelting anyway,,