Pewter vs Tin

[montanamike]

So I just got back from Canada and I brought a little something back with me...
http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n617/mtmike/20150606_162915.jpg (http://s1142.photobucket.com/user/mtmike/media/20150606_162915.jpg.html)

Heres how much it weighed with all of the glass/backing removed
http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n617/mtmike/20150606_163244.jpg (http://s1142.photobucket.com/user/mtmike/media/20150606_163244.jpg.html)

I didn't weigh it after i melted it down but here's what my total pewter supply weighs.

http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n617/mtmike/20150607_133424.jpg (http://s1142.photobucket.com/user/mtmike/media/20150607_133424.jpg.html)


Most of it was marked 95-97% with one that was 92% and a couple pieces (picture frames) that didn't say the percentage. Everything was marked pewter except one piece. I have been contemplating melting this for a long time because it was so old but it was beat to death and someone drilled a hole in the bottom.it probably had a little bit of lead in it. It was dated 1886.
(Don't worry I took it to an antique dealer and had it looked at. they said they would hold on to it beacuse of its age but it wasn't worth much do to the shape it was in.)

http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n617/mtmike/G0038858.jpg (http://s1142.photobucket.com/user/mtmike/media/G0038858.jpg.html)

Anyways right after I melted this batch down I decided to see what bhn it was. To my surprise it tested at 20+ BHN. I didn't know if this was normal or not so I tested some that had been sitting for about 3 months from a different batch. It tested 14+ BHN. Now I was curious to see what pure TIN read so I broke out a 4 pound bar I purchased awhile back from Rotometals. it had indents from them testing it that were .094" and .100" So I tested it with my lee tester and my indent was exactly the same at .100" which is right at 4.7 BHN. I know pewter has antimony and or copper mixed in with it but are these BHN readings normal? What have your pewter readings tested at?

[montanamike]

In case you were wondering I paid $36 Canadian for 17+ pounds of pewter. If anyone in Canada says they can't find pewter, they're not trying hard enough!

[Beagle333]

Now that's a deal! 33# will sweeten 13-1500# of lead. Nice!

[Red River Rick]

In case you were wondering I paid $36 Canadian for 17+ pounds of pewter. If anyone in Canada says they can't find pewter, they're not trying hard enough!

Yeah.............but you forgot to mention the $200.00 plus for fuel that you spent travelling all over hell's acre looking for that stuff. Not much of a deal after all!

I just bought 20 lb of pewter off of one of our members here for $200.00, shipped yet. And I didn't even have to leave the house.

RRR

[bangerjim]

Pewter/tin is where you find it. I find it at local scrap yards for a buck a pound. Not ever time, but it is there.....old modern food service stuff. Never found ANY at junk stores and goodwill. At least anything I would EVER melt down!!!!!! Antiques!

It is out there. I have hauled home over 450# of Sn and some pewter in the past 9 months!

banger

[montanamike]

Yeah.............but you forgot to mention the $200.00 plus for fuel that you spent travelling all over hell's acre looking for that stuff. Not much of a deal after all!

I just bought 20 lb of pewter off of one of our members here for $200.00, shipped yet. And I didn't even have to leave the house.

RRR


I didn't make that post trying to offend anyone. It was more of a joking comment. In Montana I don't find nearly as much as I did in Calgary. All of the pewter I found up there was at Salvation Army stores or Goodwill. As far as fuel used we were going up there regardless and the wife wanted to thrift shop. So I didn't use any fuel, even if I did her car gets 40MPG.

[montanamike]

The main reason I created this thread was to figure out if the pewter I got was abnormal as far as BHN is concerned vs pure TIN or if this was normal.

[bangerjim]

The main reason I created this thread was to figure out if the pewter I got was abnormal as far as BHN is concerned vs pure TIN or if this was normal.


Try a web search for tech data. I have seen the Bhn stated all over the map for "official" hardness of Sn, so I will not quote a number because someone somewhere will dispute it.

I do not worry about the hardness of Sn. It is what it is. The % content is far more important to what we use it for. You do not gain real hardness from it anyway. Sb is where you get the hardness. Sn is used for mold fill-out. It takes a BUNCH of Sn to raise your casting hardness a single Bhn unit. More than you would ever want to use do to the high cost of the metal.

Glad you were able to land some illusive pewter!

Now get out there and make some boolits!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :o

bangerjim

[jsizemore]

Next time you get a haul of tankards/mugs that have thicker handles, test them before you melt. You might find the answer.

[montanamike]

!!UPDATE!!

So I went to the scrap yard today and they tested the 2 batches of pewter that i had melted. The stuff I got in canada tested 4.3% antimony, 83% tin, 5.63%lead and 4.73%copper. The high copper percentage must be why the BHN is so high. I don't know why the total doesn't add up to 100% I can only guess the gun couldn't read some of the trace elements. The pewter I got here in Montana tested 9.2% antimony, 49% tin, 39.25% lead, 1.1% copper and 0.42% iron. I guess the moral of the story here is... not all pewter is created equal...

[JSnover]

It certainly is not created equal but you learned what was most important: the alloy content. Hardness is irrelevant until you've mixed it with lead and cast it into boolits. Good score, good luck.

[bangerjim]

!!UPDATE!!

So I went to the scrap yard today and they tested the 2 batches of pewter that i had melted. The stuff I got in canada tested 4.3% antimony, 83% tin, 5.63%lead and 4.73%copper. The high copper percentage must be why the BHN is so high. I don't know why the total doesn't add up to 100% I can only guess the gun couldn't read some of the trace elements. The pewter I got here in Montana tested 9.2% antimony, 49% tin, 39.25% lead, 1.1% copper and 0.42% iron. I guess the moral of the story here is... not all pewter is created equal...

You now have VERY valuable info! Now you can plug that alloy into the alloy calc spreasheet and calculate a pretty close mix with pure.

Old pewter did contain lead. They did not care about lead poisoning as we do today. Today's modern pewter is almost 100% Sn with other metals in for hardness. But NOT lead! Some garbage from Chicom may have lead in it.

As I said, do not concern yourself at all with the hardness of the pewter! It really makes no difference. The % content is what you are after.....and you now HAVE IT!

X-ray guns are not lab accurate. Far from it! I have not seen one add up to exactly 100%, so do not concern yourself about it. You now know the approx % you have. Use it.

Have fun with your metal.

bangerjim

[montanamike]

I brought an ingot from every different alloy i have made (7 different ones) and the scrap yard tested them all free of charge. The one I'm most happy about is the last range scrap melt I did (250lbs) added some tin to it while I was melting and it came out to 95/2/2 with (+/-1% of who knows what). I have casted with it and it is performed great!

[Red River Rick]

I didn't make that post trying to offend anyone. It was more of a joking comment.

MM:

I realized that before I posted...............I'm just jealous of the good score you made.;-) And........trying to :kidding:.

So, please don't feel that you offended anyone, because you haven't.

I went a couple of time, looking for pewter. Check all the thrift shops, Salvation Army and the GoodWill stores and came up with a few pewter tankards. That was it. So, rather than continue the holy quest, I figured it was cheaper to just buy some known pewter out right and be done with it.

RRR

[imashooter2]

!!UPDATE!!

So I went to the scrap yard today and they tested the 2 batches of pewter that i had melted. The stuff I got in canada tested 4.3% antimony, 83% tin, 5.63%lead and 4.73%copper. The high copper percentage must be why the BHN is so high. I don't know why the total doesn't add up to 100% I can only guess the gun couldn't read some of the trace elements. The pewter I got here in Montana tested 9.2% antimony, 49% tin, 39.25% lead, 1.1% copper and 0.42% iron. I guess the moral of the story here is... not all pewter is created equal...

I don't buy it. Pewter with less than 50% tin content? Doesn't happen.

[montanamike]

Unless the gun read wrong that's what it showed up as

[bangerjim]

You Montana pewter is lower in content because all that "BigSky" up there sucks the tin right out of it!!!! HA.....ha.

Been up there. beautiful country.

I have never had very old antique pewter analyzed, but I have read it was higher in Pb content that the modern stuff we normally melt.

[imashooter2]

Unless the gun read wrong that's what it showed up as

I believe that's what the gun said. I don't believe the gun. Even antique, hundreds of years old leaded pewter was only 15 to 20% lead.