Pewter

[poppy42]

I’m kinda new to pewter, my boolets are typically CLWW. So I need a little help. I scored this mug for $.50 so I grabbed it. It’s marked JUSTENS and below that it says pewter. My question is. Is the handle pewter also and what’s the best way to get the glass base out just cut it up . Also the best way to smelt it. Hopefully you can see the pictures240381240382

Thanks for any input

[RED BEAR]

I would think the handle is probably pewter as for the glass base i would melt it and pick it out with pliers or ladle. I will admit i haven't been messing with pewter for very long so if someone knows better feel free.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Jostens is a famous maker.

Google "ebay Jostens pewter mug" and you will see that mug is worth about $15 plus shipping. So I wouldn't melt it.

[rancher1913]

if the handle is soldered onto the mug its pewter. the base may or may not be pewter, I've had a couple of the part that holds the glass to the bottom not want to melt and rather than force it to melt I just pulled it out. the glass you can either break out before melting or pick out with your pliers after everything is melted.

[Leadmad]

Im always chasing Pewter and once I get a pile of it will melt it all down together glass and all and remove it then, The reason I wait until I have a reasonable amount is it all varies in tin/antimony or whatever else content, so after its all in ingots its the same base point to treat your lead (Which is another variable )

Cheers

[Conditor22]

Like JonB says, check pretty pewter before smelting it, one piece could buy you a lot more pewter or?

My guess is it's all pewter (except the glass), all the ones I've melted were all pewter.

Beware the solid bottom candlesticks, they are filled with some kind of gumpucky for added weight.

I have a plastic milk crate overflowing with pewter pieces I was planning on smelting tomorrow then casting into 1/2 oz boolits for easier alloying.

[RogerDat]

Glass base one can melt the pewter and pick out the glass or smack the mug on concrete and pull the broken pieces out. I usually do that so that I can also dig out some of the caulk in the joint to avoid having caulk in the melt. I agree that soldered handles are almost always pewter but it is worth watching the items melt and keeping the heat moderate so that any non pewter decorations, handle, feet etc. don't melt. I have had zinc show up in handles on a tray. And had a beaded decorative border that was not pewter on a pewter item.

I won't buy weighted base candle sticks for more than 50 cents. The glue/glop/grunge in the base is impossible to get out of a pot if it melts, hard to get out as a solid before melting, and the covering pewter is about as thick as aluminum foil. Essentially the small part on the top where the candle goes is probably the only real pewter weight.

Always check eBay sold for pewter items value as pewter before melting. Figure the pewter is currently worth about $8 a pound +/- a bit of change. So if one can sell a half pound mug at wholesale price of $8 or more to a local antique shop one can then post a WTB pewter/tin in the swapping and selling forum and come out ahead on the deal. If you get really lucky the item may have some real value and you come out way ahead selling it as pewter item. Of course you do have to factor in shipping on what you buy but if you buy a few pounds it works out to your advantage to sell the item for cash.

[poppy42]

Thanks for the input guys. I’ll take a good look before I melt it. One more question what do you guys use for small ingots or do you just cut up large ones?

[odfairfaxsub]

I second the motion that weighted candle stick holders arnt worth it. Aluminum foil thickness is confirmed

[dondiego]

Thanks for the input guys. I’ll take a good look before I melt it. One more question what do you guys use for small ingots or do you just cut up large ones?

A lot of guys just use their largest boolet mold to make pewter ingots.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

My first time making tiny Tin ingots, I used a Lee REAL 250gr 50 cal mold, I also kept the sprues, as they varied in weight.
That was more work than needed.
Ever since then, I'd just pour into the 1/2 lb locations in a Lee ingot mold...I only pour them about 1/3 full, so I end up with a ingot that has the diameter of a pencil.

[RED BEAR]

I cast mine with a .6 round ball can't remember how many i use per pot my memory ain't what it used to be.

[RogerDat]

I use mini-cupcake tins or cupcake tins. Pour about a quarter inch in the bottom and make "coins" out of solder. I have a copy of a potter mold I use to make pewter ingots but before I had that I did the coin thing with pewter also. I just write the percentage of Sn on the coin, almost like a denomination. I tend to mix alloys in 50 - 100 pound batches so don't find small amounts such as a bullet worthwhile.


40% tin coins These are from a full size muffin/cupcake tin and weigh about .6 pound each. Each baggie is 5 pounds of 40% tin. I do full size muffin tin "pucks" for some finished alloys but little chance of confusing the thin coin of tin alloy with a full thickness 1.5 pound puck.

240392

These are the potter mold bars they run about 1/4 pound each. Duck decoy strap weight molds and decoy ballast strip molds are another possible mold for your tin alloys that will be distinct and a suitable size.

240393

I also have a couple of candy size molds that make little coins. I started out using them for lower tin percentage solder mixes. Where one coin might be suitable for a 20 pound pot. Later I switched to using them for pewter so I could adjust the amount more easily. Like a gold sovereign is much smaller than a silver crown because it takes much less gold to have the same "value". Then I found the potter mold and have all my pewter in those bars with the P on them now.

A surprising amount of my tin stash is from bits and pieces of assorted solder. Rolls picked up at garage sales, or from scrap yard with unreadable labels. The pieces of bar solder that don't have the part that labels the tin/lead amount so they are unknown, and bits and pieces of suspected pewter that isn't labeled all end up as coins which I have tested and then label. Garage sale season is coming!

[poppy42]

A lot of guys just use their largest boolet mold to make pewter ingots.
That’s a really great idea! Easy to weigh ! Easy to store! Thanks dondiego that’s what I’ll do!

[Tripplebeards]

I bought a German pewter mug last year a The Salvation Army for $4.95. Weighed 2.1 lbs. I sold it on eBay for $85! The return on my investment has bought probably 40 lbs of invaluable pewter that I don’t feel guilty when I melt it. I’m sure your mug is solid pewter but I’d set it aside for melting last if you have more. I started buying pewter a year and a half ago hitting thrift stores. It’s kinda an obsession now. I have more than I’ll ever use by now. I normally won’t buy an item unless it $2 or under anymore and it’s got to at least be close to a pound. By the time you screw around on eBay and pay fees imo try selling your mug on Craigslist. If you don’t get any takers melt it.

[poppy42]

Well I did a little research it’s a newer style mug it has a company logo on it I believe I’ve seen the logo before but I can’t put a name to it it’s definitely not antique or anything like that. Anyone recognize the logo in the photo hopefully you can read it. Sorry they’re sideways I tried 10 times to get them to be up right I don’t know what I’m doing wrong

[RED BEAR]

Yes i use the .6 round ball because it is my largest mold. Sorry can't help on the logo.

[kevin c]

I cut the bottom rim of glass bottomed mugs using tin snips, and then use pliers and a screw driver to bend and lift the retaining lip away from the glass. If it's an old mug with dried up putty the glass will usually pop out whole. If the putty is still soft it takes some prying for the glass and then scraping to get the putty.

Most of my pewter stash is still in raw form, but I no longer mix my alloy in the casting pot. For my 95-3-2 and 96-3-1 alloys made up in 250 pound batches, I need 2.5 to 5 pounds of tin so all the mini muffin tins I've gathered for making pewter coins will make pewter cupcakes instead (with a few coins for fine adjustment of the quantity added). I have different shaped molds of similar capacity that I can use for high tin pewter (95%+ vs 92.5%) and batched solder, all to be analyzed for content (yeah, I know it ain't rocket science, but I'm just that kind of guy).

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Warner Communications.

http://www.graphis.com/logos/61c7d860-4b41-11e2-ae70-f23c91dffdec/

[edp2k]

To remove the glass from the mug bottom, take a pair of slip joint pliers or a strong set of needle nose pliers
and bend/twist the bottom rim away from the glass, and the glass will come right out.

[poppy42]

Warner Communications.

http://www.graphis.com/logos/61c7d860-4b41-11e2-ae70-f23c91dffdec/

You nailed it! I knew I had seen it someplace I just couldn’t put a name with it . Thanks JonB_in_Glencoe

[poppy42]

Well thanks to JonB_in_Glencoe, I know that the mug came from the long defunct (since 1990) Warner Communications company. Probably some promotional thing . It is pewter. All of it except the glass bottom . After some Internet research I can’t see it being worth morning about eight bucks so unless someone knows more than I do it’s going in the pot tomorrow . I want to thank everyone for their help and your suggestions they were greatly appreciate it . As usual this form proves to be one of the best on the Internet !

[jsizemore]

In your picture, just above the JUSTENS is a rolled crimp to hold the ring with the JUSTENS stamped on it against the glass. I unroll that with slip joint pliers and knock the glass out over the trash can. I try to scrape as much of the caulk that seals the glass and pewter. It's not absolutely necessary. The ring with the JUSTENS may be either pewter or aluminum. Most handles are pewter but may be questionable alloy. I melt the body and check the handle and ring to see if they are pewter. If they don't melt right away, I pull them and chuck them.

I ladle pour pewter 1/8" deep into mini muffin tins. They weigh from 1-3 ounces each. About right for adding to a 10-20 lb pot of alloy.

I try to hold my melt temps 450-500degF. Most stuff that ain't pewter will float on the surface. When your temp gets away from you the surface will oxide and turn all kinds of colors starting with gold, then blue, and finally black. It doesn't take much heat to melt pewter.

Good Luck

[Tripplebeards]

Melt it

[poppy42]

All melted guys! Thanks for the help