any one seen this?

[chuckt56]

i know i should not have bought through ebay count it as lesson learned. I bought these on ebay as scrap pewter @ supposedly 97% tin melted them down and tried recasting them to smaller ingot to mix with other alloys. But when i melted them down they appeared to be mixed with what looked like zinc i kept the temp below zinc melting and skimmed all of the floaters in the attempt to get the zinc out, after several re melts i got all of the floaters and tried mixing with tin and pure lead to soften the mixture that was above 26 bhn but after i mixed them they ended up at about 19 bhn but came out frosty throughout the whole ingots see pics any thoughts? Still zinc or other contaminants? The temp. Was 700 F

[RogerDat]

Send a pea sized sample to member BNE with a pound of lead per sample to be tested. Send BNE a PM and he can provide the details. Some pewter is high in antimony which would be hard.

Zinc that has become alloy won't float out due to not being above melt temperature of the individual ingredient. Zinc bonds to tin so I don't think you would be skimming zinc out unless it was mixed raw items where handles, feet, hinges etc can be floated out if temp used to melt the pewter items is kept below the zinc melt point.

I have had "pewter" items that went over 12% antimony.

Zinc makes the alloy like oatmeal and it pours like sour milk stuff floats out of it as you pour an ingot. Doesn't line up with what you described.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

chuckt56,
Welcome to the forum.
Pewter has a low melt temp 338–446 °F, depending on actual alloy mix.
If it's 97% tin, it should be right in that area.

First thing I'd do is melt some of this ebay pewter and find the melt temp, that will help you figure out if there is something different about the pewter alloy, or if it's your inexperience with melting tin/pewter/lead alloys

[chuckt56]

It started to melt right at the temps you listed but like i said it never completely melted and i skimmed the un melted sludge off and the next time i melted it it had less of the sludge each time until i had none left but it came out like i showed in the pic. Then i mixed it with pure lead and it did soften it but it still came out like the pic showed very brittle.

[Traffer]

I can't answer your question but am curious as well. I wonder if there could be antimony in it. That would make the hardness go nuts. Like mentioned...Contact BNE about doing an XRF test. He doesn't charge but you donate a pound of soft lead to him and he will run the test for you.

[Dusty Bannister]

Reminding you BNE posted that he was jammed with home projects and work and was taking a break from testing. Ask, but do not be upset if he just does not have the time right now.

[Conditor22]

Welcome to CB chuck.

I tried to bend a bar of pewter that I smelted and cast, it folded end touching end and didn't break.
In my experience, only hard (er) alloys break

Checking the hardness is a way to narrow down what you might have

cheap way to check hardness http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?378866-Lead-hardness-pencil-testing-trick

(there is also an alloy hardness chart in this thread).

Many of us source our pewter from thrift stores and garage sales

https://i.imgur.com/kYj6BjW.png
https://i.imgur.com/tjiQ03S.png
https://i.imgur.com/KoshxVS.png

[chuckt56]

It was harder tha 28 bhn mixed it with some pure lead and knocked it down to about 26

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Probably some quadruple plate white metal. Could have a fair bit of antimony and also some copper. Some of the serving trays I had behaved that way when I smelted them. Raise the pot temp until all that silvery stuff on top melts in. When you batch an alloy recipe add pure if you need to bring the hardness down.

[chuckt56]

That is what i was thinking also i was afraid it might be zinc so i did not use my lee pot but might try over a propane burner to get it hot enough to see if it is antimony and then add some pure to it like you said.

[chuckt56]

yeah i hit it with a hammer when locked in a vise it broke off pretty quick did not bend like lead would.

[chuckt56]

k thanks

[chuckt56]

pewter is hard to come by around here!

[kevin c]

Buy it here, as available, in the S&S. Prices are very reasonable, and the vast majority of folks who sell here value their reputations in our casting community.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

It started to melt right at the temps you listed but like i said it never completely melted

>>>SNIP
Pewter with 97% tin will not do that...so you got something else from ebay.
Honestly, I can't imagine what alloy would do that? That is the strangest thing I ever heard, in regards to alloys that a boolit caster would come across.