Pewter smelt test results, surprising

[brewer12345]

I did a.big smelt of pewter and.ended up with 44 pounds of ingots. About 30 pounds were Christmas ornaments and a huge ricker pewter statue, with the balance marked food service items. Since this was a big load, I had bne test it for me. To my considerable surprise, it was roughly 51% lead, 44% tin, 5% antimony, and a hint of copper. Guess Christmas stuff is leaded, heh. I only averaged about 3.50 a pound, so no worries.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Good thing you tested it.

[dubber123]

I was always suspicious of figurines, so I stuck with the food service stuff. Thanks for sharing your test results.

[brewer12345]

Yep. The ricker studio was in the area, so the figurines show up in thrift shops all the time. Guess I will stick to food service items in the future. In the meantime, this lot will be enough to get a thousand pounds of lead to 2% tin.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

I'm going to batch up a couple hundred pounds of Lyman #2. I can use it as is for rifle or cut it down to 96/2/2 for pistols. Pewter plus linotype plus pure = options. If I can score pewter for $5 a # and clean lead for $1 # I don't mind buying the linotype from a vendor.

[evoevil]

does it melt like lead, I haven't started looking for that. I'm still doing the WW

[Grmps]

This info is from a sticky in the alloy forum:

621° = lead
563° = solder (10% tin & 90% lead)
529° = solder (20% tin & 80% lead)
504° = solder (30% tin & 70% lead)
464° = solder (40% tin & 60% lead)
428° = solder (50% tin & 50% lead)
374° = solder (60% tin & 40% lead)
362° = solder (63% tin & 37% lead) (eutectic)
365° = solder (70% tin & 30% lead)
392° = solder (80% tin & 20% lead)
421° = solder (90% tin & 10% lead)
450° = tin
https://i.imgur.com/zb4rT8k.jpg

http://www.lasc.us/img168-2.gif.jpg

[lightman]

This is good to know, thanks for posting it. I would probably still buy non food stuff but I would sure be watching the price!

[facetious]

How did you melt it? I have some trift store pewter picked up over time that i melted togather in a cast iron pan on a hot plate. A WW wouldn't melt on the hot plate. I hope I got the kind that has alot of tin.

[Grmps]

If you are looking for tin or 40/60 solder, check the radiator repair shops in your area, they have a bunch of it they "scrape up from the floor" after repairing radiators. [make sure they pour all the excess water out of the bucket befor they weigh it]

[brewer12345]

How did you melt it? I have some trift store pewter picked up over time that i melted togather in a cast iron pan on a hot plate. A WW wouldn't melt on the hot plate. I hope I got the kind that has alot of tin.

Bought a stainless steel dutch oven from the thrift store for a couple bucks and melted it down over a 30k BTU propane burner. Make sure you use a thermometer so you can keep the temp under 500F to make sure you don't melt anything that isn't predominately tin.

[bangerjim]

The mad “RUSH for cheap pewter things” on here has lead numerous members to get stung with higher concentrations of Pb and other things (NOT high % Sn as they have been lead into thinking).

Ornaments, trinkets, picture frames, and general decorative bric-a-brac garbage items are generally NOT high % Sn pewter we are looking for. Generally if it is NOT modern food service pewter (clearly marked on the botton) it can be any mix of different unwanted elements, including the evil Zn! Carp from ChiCom makers has a large % of Pb and other elements.......NOT food grade.

Just be aware of what your are buying or do not waste your valuable time and money. I sure do not. Last pewter I bought clearly was stamped on the bottom ‘PURE PEWTER” and was clearly marked with maker’s name.


And I melt it just like I melt COWW’s and Pb.........in my propane re-melting pot or LEE 10# electric pot.....just at much lower temps, as shown above.

But I rely on the over 400# of pure Sn (most in foundry ingots) that I have to sweeten my mixes, not pewter.

Good luck on your future search for REAL PEWTER, not holiday ornaments.

Bangerjim

[facetious]

Bought a stainless steel dutch oven from the thrift store for a couple bucks and melted it down over a 30k BTU propane burner. Make sure you use a thermometer so you can keep the temp under 500F to make sure you don't melt anything that isn't predominately tin.

I asked becouse I have melted pewter years ago and knew that it was not hard to melt. That is why I tryed the hot plate, It worked just fine with the pewter so I am gessing there isn't any or much lead in it. When I got the hot plate I tryed it with lead to see if it would work for making small batches but it didn't work. Maybe melting it on some thing like a hot plate would be a quick way to proof to see if it will melt at low temp's.

[bangerjim]

Depends on the wattage/quality your hotplate! I can melt COWW's easily on my industrial lab grade hot plate. Just depends on the digital dial setting.

bangerjim