Smelting with pewter

[Jtarm]

Sorry if this is posted elsewhere. I
Put in due diligence searching and can’t find it.

I’m getting ready to use pewter for the first time. Are there any special procedures?

Thanks.

[Neverhome]

Biggest and most important in my opinion is making 100% sure you have actual pewter. Beware of joints in the pewter item as well.

Ask me why I think this is the most important thing to worry about!

I believe there is a sticky with pictures and such to help ID real pewter.

[Conditor22]

Untill you get better at discerning pewter I'd recommend that the item is marked "pewter", or "Zinn" (german for tin), estaño (Spanish for tin)

Pewter will bend (unless very thick)

[richhodg66]

Another word of caution, a lot of things like candle sticks will be pewter on the outside, but hollow and filled on the inside. I melted down a candle stick once and it was full of some kind of plastic stuff that turned gooey and took a long time to burn off.

[jsizemore]

If you got real pewter it will readily melt in your lead alloy. No special procedure to mix in the alloy other then stirring. That tin is the glue that holds the rest together.

[Jtarm]

These are pewter ingots purchase off of the forum, so I think I’m OK.

[William Yanda]

Pewter will melt around 450 degrees F. If you are melting only pewter, you will need less heat. If you are adding pewter to your lead it will combine easily. As others have said, be sure the object is pewter, not white metal or pewteral, from Armatel. That is an aluminum alloy.

[JM7.7x58]

Untill you get better at discerning pewter I'd recommend that the item is marked "pewter", or "Zinn" (german for tin), estaño (Spanish for tin)

Pewter will bend (unless very thick)

I have also found french pewter, marked "Étain".

"Étain" is the French word for tin or pewter.

JM

[kevin c]

To the good advice above, I might suggest only this: if you'd like to have consistent and repeatable results, consider weighing the alloy you want to add the tin to before melting it, and weigh the amount of tin/pewter as you add it. Recording the numbers that got the melt casting the way you want will save you time the next session you start with the same source metals. Not a help if you constantly use different lead and tin sources, though.

[Conditor22]

I like to smelt -- then cast my pewter into .5 oz. boolits. Makes life easier for alloying and sweetening the pot. [if I don't get great fillout I throw a .5 oz pewter boolit in :)


Just weigh the components and alloy away :), if their clean ingots your good to go.