Is this pewter?

[dearslayer]

What the heck is this? Picked up a few items of "pewter" a few weeks back and decided to melt it all down in 9mm sized bullets so it could be added to an alloy easier in small amounts. Some items melted fairly easy while others didn't. All items were stamped "pewter" some said England or Sheffield England. Because it looked like porridge on top of the melt I thought at first the temp was too low on the old Lyman pot ( it was all the way up to get it melted ) so I decided to check it with my Lyman thermometer. It was 1017 degrees!!! Managed to throw a few boolits but should I just ditch the remaining sludge? 293836293837

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[Winger Ed.]

Not sure but it looks like you've got a Zinc based alloy called Zamac.

It does OK being injection molded, casting--- not so much.

[imashooter2]

Don’t know what you have, but I know what it isn’t… that’s not pewter.

[dearslayer]

So I guess it shouldn't be mixed in with alloy as tin then, and I should just toss it?

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[imashooter2]

From your comment on melt temperature, it wouldn’t alloy anyway. I’d toss it.

[imashooter2]

Check this post from the pictures and hallmarks thread. Look familiar?

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?127929-Pewter-pictures-and-hallmarks&p=2863730&viewfull=1#post2863730

[dearslayer]

Don't see any photos but read your description and yes it sounds the same. How about the alloy that did melt that was under this junk ....it poured really thick and shiny like silver, are these boolits good to add to alloy as tin? I might remelt those boolits and flux it good and re pour them.

[imashooter2]

Hard to say. You might experiment with a couple pounds of lead and throw in a few to see what happens. But everything is a question mark at this point. If the castings were good tin, they would be shiny and filled out perfectly.

[RickinTN]

That doesn't look like anything I want in my casting pot.
Rick

[bangerjim]

Probably Zamac alloy....nothing you want to have in your pot! It is "pot metal" used for cheap items such as picture frames, faucets, other Zn-based castings.

Toss it. Don't cast with it or alloy with it.

If the temp was at 1,017°F, you oxidized any Sn out anyway!

If all your castings look like ones in the picture, throw them away too! Partial fill, rough sides, round bottoms.....all perfect examples of what good casts should NOT look like.

Sorry. You win some....you loose some. There are so many people on here that have gone crazy for the junk store "pewter" harvest that they grab anything that is shiny and sliver. Best source of Sn is metals sold on here or Roto Metals. You do not need THAT much Sn, and some do not even use it at all. It lowers the surface tension to make castings with excellent sharp corners and details.

[dearslayer]

Probably Zamac alloy....nothing you want to have in your pot! It is "pot metal" used for cheap items such as picture frames, faucets, other Zn-based castings.

Toss it. Don't cast with it or alloy with it.

If the temp was at 1,017°F, you oxidized any Sn out anyway!

If all your castings look like ones in the picture, throw them away too! Partial fill, rough sides, round bottoms.....all perfect examples of what good casts should NOT look like.

Sorry. You win some....you loose some. There are so many people on here that have gone crazy for the junk store "pewter" harvest that they grab anything that is shiny and sliver. Best source of Sn is metals sold on here or Roto Metals. You do not need THAT much Sn, and some do not even use it at all. It lowers the surface tension to make castings with excellent sharp corners and details.

note: Note.... some of the pewter boolits don't look that great but at the time I just wanted to get them dropped in a hurry as, it was late last night so I wasn't so much worried about the detail. I just pulled the sprue plate back and aimed for the holes and pretty much opened the mold as soon as they were roughly filled. I guess my thinking was that they didn't have to look good because they were only going back in to a pot of lead at some point anyway.

[bangerjim]

OK.................so you were casting "pewter" boolits to be able to add Sn in small amounts. Several on here do that, and I guess it works. I find it too easy to confuse them with real cast boolits and would end up shooting pure Sn out of my guns! :killingpc I prefer to use my 3 LEE 4 cavity molds and cast only in the center 1/2# cavities and only fill to 1/2 capacity. I end up with really nice thin bars of pure Sn that can either be snapped off or just held in the pot to get a bit of Sn as needed.

On reviewing your OP, have you tried remelting them at, say 750°F or so? At the temp you were at, Sn would oxidize like crazy. Try doing it over, lower the temp and flux with beeswax during the melt when/if that crud happened to form again. You just might be OK. You just had things wAAAAAAAY too hot.

Let us know.

banger

[dearslayer]

OK.................so you were casting "pewter" boolits to be able to add Sn in small amounts. Several on here do that, and I guess it works. I find it too easy to confuse them with real cast boolits and would end up shooting pure Sn out of my guns! :killingpc I prefer to use my 3 LEE 4 cavity molds and cast only in the center 1/2# cavities and only fill to 1/2 capacity. I end up with really nice thin bars of pure Sn that can either be snapped off or just held in the pot to get a bit of Sn as needed.

On reviewing your OP, have you tried remelting them at, say 750°F or so? At the temp you were at, Sn would oxidize like crazy. Try doing it over, lower the temp and flux with beeswax during the melt when/if that crud happened to form again. You just might be OK. You just had things wAAAAAAAY too hot.

Let us know.

banger


I did the same as you a while back regarding only filling half of the casting area of the 1/2 lb Lee casting mold but I thought I'd try dropping in smaller size this time. I'll try re melting these first to see how it turns out. That Lyman pot now needs to be cleaned out anyway so I may as well re melt before cleaning it.... not looking forward to that chore.

[oley55]

On reviewing your OP, have you tried remelting them at, say 750°F or so? At the temp you were at, Sn would oxidize like crazy. Try doing it over, lower the temp and flux with beeswax during the melt when/if that crud happened to form again. You just might be OK. You just had things wAAAAAAAY too hot.

Let us know.

banger

I would try this ^^^^ I had a similar issue and a remelt and bee’s wax worked. BUT, I have yet to use them in a boolet casting session.

[dearslayer]

Well I re melted the boolits. Fluxed with wax and removed more junk, but the temp had to be around 800 to get a decent flow. They seem to be a bit better but I decided to toss the pile of left over lava junk. I'm done messing with it. Lot of hassle for the small return of a few pewter boolits. I cleaned out the pot as best I could and it wasn't too bad. Lesson learned, and I'll be paying better attention to the " pewter" next time. Live and learn right. 293857293858293859

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[brassrat]

I am confused if you said that all items were stamped Pewter.

[JimB..]

Gotta watch out for “pewter” with extra descriptors. I forget them all, but for example “Mexican Pewter” is not pewter.

[bangerjim]

There is a thread on here for "pewter and hallmarks" that is a wealth of learning and information for the untrained eye when looking for pewter. Do a search for it.

And yes, there many items out there that are "pewter-like" you will have to learn to avoid. That is why it is best to get it from a reliable source that KNOWS what pewter looks and feels like.

Or buy pure Sn like I use 100%. All my pewter purchases in the past are valuable antiques and go into our growing collection of "never-gonna-be-melted" antique pewter ware.

[oley55]

I'm confused...

I understand the whole zinc froth thing showing up in in a zinc contaminated lead alloy, but why the froth reaction from a single melted object? Is zmack poured/formed in a process way different than an open pot casting method we used?

I mean the op is melting down something he believed to be pewter. Regardless of the composition of that item why/how can the object's alloy change and turn into the glob of uncastable whatever pictured?

[imashooter2]

He said he found items and he melted it all down.

That said, the plates in the link I posted were all purchased at the same shop with the same beaded angel mark. No idea what they were, but they turned from nice smooth plates to oatmeal mush.

[bangerjim]

I'm confused...

I understand the whole zinc froth thing showing up in in a zinc contaminated lead alloy, but why the froth reaction from a single melted object? Is zmack poured/formed in a process way different than an open pot casting method we used?

I mean the op is melting down something he believed to be pewter. Regardless of the composition of that item why/how can the object's alloy change and turn into the glob of uncastable whatever pictured?

Commercially cast Zamac is generally rotationally molded under pressure, which is a totally different process than our simple gravity-fed casting pots and molds. I am sure someone on here has worked in the industry and can explain the process to you.