Tin & Pewter experts - need info

[tygar]

I have some sheets that the salvage yards said were tin. They look like regular sheet metal.

I also have some nik naks that look to be pewter.

The question on both is, what temperature should they melt at?

I have tried melting both & have got up to 900 & they didn't melt & I can't use tin snips on either to cut.

Can't be pewter or tin, right?
THanks
Tom

[fecmech]

for sure! I don't remember the exact temperature but tin and pewter are going to melt somewhere around 400 deg F.

[tygar]

I thought it was around 4 or 500. Guess I will raise a stink with them.

[JASON4X4]

Anything I have picked up always said pewter

[jsizemore]

Most of the pewter I melt is 90-95% tin and melts around 450F. Most scrapyards call thin sheet steel "tin". Since you live in the Virgina area you should be able to find pewter items at yard sales or flea markets. Stick to stuff with "PEWTER" stamped on the bottom till you get a feel for what it looks like.

[bangerjim]

Sheet "tin" has not existed in many years. Used to be used for food cans. Then they went to tin plate, then galvanized, and now plastic coatings for food cans.

I have some VERY old toys that are called "tin plate" and are beautiful but are sheet steel hot dipped in tin like the used to do.

What you got cannot be anything close to tin. Mabe tin-plated sheet metal. Does a magnet sticK? That will tell you !!!!!! Could be stainless steel sheets. Some alloys of 300 series will look something like tin. Or it could be titanium. I have some sheets of titanium that look sort of like tin.] and are VERY hard.

Pure tin melts at above listed temps. Alloys, such as solder, can be even lower. I have some bar solder that melts at ~350F.

Until you get to touch and feel and "heft" real pewter, many people mistake aluminum clubware for pewter! It has a certain touch and feel, just like pure silver and gold. Once you recoginze it, you can spot it clear across the room without even looking at the bottom. But pewter items will always have a stamp or hallmark that identifies it as "pewter"......."the poor man's silver" of days gone by......

Good luck on your Sn quest!

bangerjim

[Beagle333]

Agree with banger... anything I thought was pewter turned out to be aluminum if it didn't actually say "Pewter" on it somewhere. :-?

[C. Latch]

Until you get to touch and feel and "heft" real pewter, many people mistake aluminum clubware for pewter! It has a certain touch and feel, just like pure silver and gold. Once you recoginze it, you can spot it clear across the room without even looking at the bottom.



Yep! I bought a few aluminum lessons in Pewter Identification.

[lylejb]

pure tin melts at 450 degrees.

[NewbieDave007]

Your temps are way high for tin or pewter. Bangerjim sums it up.

[ShinyPartsUp]

As above I melted my pewter finds last weekend. @450F and it puddled. I had the top to a creamer and it was aluminum -- the bottom melted and the top didn't, go figure. I have gotten to the point if it isn't hallmarked, I don't trust it or buy it.

[WRideout]

I recently bought a commemorative plate with a picture of Vienna Austria on it. It cut easily with tin snips, and melted quickly at low temperature. I didn't think it had any collector value.

Wayne

[Garyshome]

Pewter scratches pretty easily also.

[captaint]

There's a terrific thread here a couple of clicks down, authored by imashooter2 that SHOULD BE A STICKY. Go through that thread, all of it, and you'll see what markings need to be on your "pewter". There's lots of junk that folks call pewter that isn't. Most of it is aluminum based stuff. Avoid it. The thread is entitled something like "Pewter hallmarks". Read it. Mike

[tygar]

Thanks for all the info.

I admit to just buying my pewter/tin from guys on the site but wanted to "find" some myself.

I found 1 piece that says "pewter" & it looks like shiny chrome, & found a couple small pieces that "looked" like real pewter, 1 marked RWP, so it was cheap & I bought it. Like I said no melt at 900.

I havn't tried to melt the one that says Pewter yet. The "tin" I got from the salvage yard I was told it had been scanned. Same 900.

The only "pewter" I have found in the local antique/junk shops, if marked, is expensive.

Guess I'll keep buying "tin/pewter" here or similar & wait for some cheap stuff to jump up & bite me locally.

BTW I have followed the "pewter" hallmark thread with interest but havn't been able to find any yet.
Thanks
Tom

[bangerjim]

Most pewter is classified as "collectables" in any resale/junk/2nd hand store. Even if it is NOT old!!!!! Those clowns have no idea.

Pewter has become highly collectable these day. Most times it is worth much more than the few dollars you are trying to squeeze out of it for the tin.


Just buy the tin and forget the pewter finds. In 15 years of looking, I have found only about 4# of the stuff I was willing (allowed) to melt down! The rest is in the wife's antiques cupboard.

bangerjim

[NewbieDave007]

In my experience it is hard to, but not impossible, to find pewter at a reasonable price. Some do over value it, but that's when you need to walk away. If your goal is to save money compared to buying it in the S&S section then you are going to have a hard time (factoring in gas) but if you are going anyway (I.e.: wife dragging you with her) then it can be found and gives me a little more satisfaction. I will also admit that I bought aluminum when I first started and thought it was pewter. Good luck.

[NewbieDave007]

bangerjim, dent the pewter ASAP. That way the wife won't want it. I learned that the hard way on a few items.

[JASON4X4]

In the last 6months I have found about 20 lbs of pewter at thrift stores. I don't go out of my way to find it. When I travel for my job I stop by any stores I come across. Prayer will dent pretty easily.

[C. Latch]

In the last 6months I have found about 20 lbs of pewter at thrift stores. I don't go out of my way to find it. When I travel for my job I stop by any stores I come across.

Seems to be a regional thing. Same with yard sales.

[mold maker]

Around here they only want gold in trade for it. Lots cheaper to just buy at roto metals.

[imashooter2]

-sigh- It's just like lead. How much you find is directly proportional to how hard you look. And while smoking deals are few and far between, most people are going to be able to beat the snot out of online virgin tin prices with very little effort.

[tygar]

-sigh- It's just like lead. How much you find is directly proportional to how hard you look. And while smoking deals are few and far between, most people are going to be able to beat the snot out of online virgin tin prices with very little effort.

I admit I havn't looked hard. That's why only the 3 pieces. There aren't that many places close by to find it but when we are at junk stores, antique etc. I look & except for the 1 bowl that cost $1 & says pewter I have found none. The 2 pieces that "look" like pewter I got at the flea market for .50 so no loss.

[imashooter2]

I understand that not everyone is going to find pewter in the wild. A guy living on a ranch in Montana with the "big city" a town of 1,000 fifty miles away doesn't have the opportunities I do in here the Philly suburbs. But that guy isn't most people.

[Cloudwraith]

RWP hallmark and a lot of other similar ARMETALE (http://www.thebowlcompany.com/WiltonArmetale.aspx?gclid=CPbZ4o65iL4CFYqhOgod13wA VA) items from Pennsylvania are aluminum alloys made to look like pewter. They are much harder than pewter and you can't bend them.

[SSGOldfart]

I recently bought a commemorative plate with a picture of Vienna Austria on it. It cut easily with tin snips, and melted quickly at low temperature. I didn't think it had any collector value.

Wayne

Doesn't now anyways :popcorn:

[rockrat]

Just make sure you don't melt down an antique piece of pewter worth $$$!!!

[ShinyPartsUp]

I picked up 1 pound of pewter in ingots (97% tin/3% antimony) on fleabay for less than $9 shipped. Ingots looked nice and weighed on my scale as 18 ounces. That brings me to a little over 11 pounds, with most coming from second hand shops. I live in a small town of 20,000 so I hit the resale stores every couple months to see what new things may have come in.

Unfortunately, I had to pay a bit more for 12 pounds of Linotype in the raw -- but it is fun reading the type on some of the edges.

[bangerjim]

I picked up 1 pound of pewter in ingots (97% tin/3% antimony) on fleabay for less than $9 shipped. Ingots looked nice and weighed on my scale as 18 ounces. That brings me to a little over 11 pounds, with most coming from second hand shops. I live in a small town of 20,000 so I hit the resale stores every couple months to see what new things may have come in.

Unfortunately, I had to pay a bit more for 12 pounds of Linotype in the raw -- but it is fun reading the type on some of the edges.

At 1-2% Sn required for good fill, I hope you have a bunch of pure to dope with that 11#!!!!!!!


banger

[a.squibload]

A $1 or $3 pewter item from the thrift store can be enough tin for 3 pots of lead,
I go there anyway with donations, or to buy t-shirts, etc.
Ebay is easier, but you have to trust the seller to know what he's selling.