Pewter from Woodbury Pewter

[DaleT]

301119

Woodbury website states this to be made from 92%tin,6% antimony &2% copper.
I'm assuming this would be useful for casting and if so,What would be the best way to render this down to be useable.
Thanks DaleT

[Springfield]

Melt it in your casting pot and cast very small bullets with it. It is only about 8 oz's of Pewter.

[super6]

First thought is to melt it, Check the base for weight junk and remove it. Keep the heat down as only to the point where it will melt. Enjoy!

[imashooter2]

Use it as tin. I have a few Potter ingot molds, but buying one for a single goblet seems excessive. One of our members casts coins in the bottom of beverage cans. Useful size and molds would be free to most of us.

Smash it to a compact shape with a heavy hammer to make it easy to get in a pot or ladle.

[samari46]

Some pewter items sometimes have plaster in the base to give it a heftier
weight. Same for some silver items as well. Frank

[JimB..]

It is useable as it is, all suggestions are just to melt and cast it into a shape that’s easier to handle, store and add into a lead alloy. You could just use tin snips or bolt cutters to cut off whatever weight you need to add to your alloy.

I get the sense from your question that you don’t know how to use it (that is pewter) in the casting process. If that is even partly true spend some time reading about making alloys for casting bullets or post up some specific questions. You may also want to look for the lead alloy calculator, I think it’s in a sticky.

[Sasquatch-1]

If you have a pair of tin snips cut as much a possible into strips and only add enough to your lead to reach fill-out. Anything over 2% in an alloy is a waste. Unless you know your lead is close to pure cast a few bullets and see how crisp your lube grooves are.

[dondiego]

It looks perfect for brandy.

[jsizemore]

Does Brandy cast what I'm shootin'?

[JimB..]

Does Brandy cast what I'm shootin'?

Not sure, but I heard that she’s a fine girl, what a good wife she would be.

[Martin Luber]

I don't cut pewter, l dip it in, and it melts

[bangerjim]

I personally would keep that and not melt it! Use it for toasting the Republican take-back of the House and Senate (and the Country) in November.

And that would hold a GOOD & AMPLE serving of brandy!

[The Dar]

Not sure, but I heard that she’s a fine girl, what a good wife she would be.

Not for me, my life, my lover, my lady is the sea......

[Sasquatch-1]

Isn't Brandy in her late 60's or early 70's by now?:veryconfu

[DaleT]

I will probably just put it in a yard sale. It was acquired from my father in law and in addition to this , which I assume he purchased at a yard sale for casting, I also acquired a 50# box of 50/50 capping bar solder , 22 1 pound bars of 60/40 solder , 13 bars each of 50/50 & another type that hopefully BNE can identify, some other bars that are very brittle of none of them are complete and about 400#'s of raw lead, and about 15#'s of various small guage rolls of solder of which my wife may use for stained glass work.
My intent is compile a list of what I have , pick out what I think I can actually use and put a for sale ad up at the gun club to see if I/we can sell some .

[imashooter2]

While I don’t know the actual weight, I estimate you have near enough half a pound of lead free solder there. Good luck with your yard sale.

[oley55]

I render/cast all of my pewter into bullets, generally in the largest/heaviest 44mag molds I have. As I need to add lead to my pot I add my pewter/tin bullets to keep me in the 1.5-2% range. Yea I gotta do some math calculations as I add to the pot, but it’s no big deal and it doesn’t hurt to exercise them thar brain cells every now and again.

[DaleT]

That's a super cool idea, I could use one of my round ball molds. Once you weigh one they should all be the same. According to the data received from BNE, I have about 15# of pure tin from a box of various bar solders from my FiL's estate.

[lightman]

I will probably just put it in a yard sale. It was acquired from my father in law and in addition to this , which I assume he purchased at a yard sale for casting, I also acquired a 50# box of 50/50 capping bar solder , 22 1 pound bars of 60/40 solder , 13 bars each of 50/50 & another type that hopefully BNE can identify, some other bars that are very brittle of none of them are complete and about 400#'s of raw lead, and about 15#'s of various small guage rolls of solder of which my wife may use for stained glass work.
My intent is compile a list of what I have , pick out what I think I can actually use and put a for sale ad up at the gun club to see if I/we can sell some .

I'm sorry for your loss! It sounds like your FIL was a serious caster and a pretty good scrounger. You inherited probably what is a lifetime supply of Tin!

[bangerjim]

I will probably just put it in a yard sale. It was acquired from my father in law and in addition to this , which I assume he purchased at a yard sale for casting, I also acquired a 50# box of 50/50 capping bar solder , 22 1 pound bars of 60/40 solder , 13 bars each of 50/50 & another type that hopefully BNE can identify, some other bars that are very brittle of none of them are complete and about 400#'s of raw lead, and about 15#'s of various small guage rolls of solder of which my wife may use for stained glass work.
My intent is compile a list of what I have , pick out what I think I can actually use and put a for sale ad up at the gun club to see if I/we can sell some .

SELL????????????? If you cast and shoot a lot, you will go through that little stach in no time! The Sn alloys are getting harder to find at reasonable prices. If it was mine I would just keep the lot.

[DaleT]

I'm not able to shoot as much as I have in the past because of where I live, but I think with our current economical status, it's quite safe where it is - my garage! I am just getting into casting because of the increased prices of everything and some of the elected clowns wanting to abolish what we enjoy. I got plenty of powder and primers. Plus this gives me an opportunity to learn a new skill.

[RogerDat]

I seldom sell except to gain funds for purchase of some other alloy or component. Not getting any easier to find. Printing lead such as mono, foundry, or linotype are getting very scarce. Pewter is less common than it used to be also.

For what it is worth a mini muffin mold allows one to pour small "coins" of solder, pewter, or other tin alloys. Can write the tin percentage on each like the "denomination" So I have some "33" coins and some "40" and "50" coins I can mix into a batch to make an alloy in small amounts or as part of a bigger batch. I use a ladle such as one finds in salad dressing at the salad bar to pour them. Small bowl, long handle, all metal so nothing to melt.

If you can find a distinctive mold for pewter it can be worth putting all the pewter in an easily identifiable form. Also worth noting that pewter will often have trace amounts of copper which can help create a "tougher" bullet. Not harder but less likely to fracture on impact for a given hardness. Can be helpful for hunting bullets where one doesn't want bullet to break up if it hits a bone. Or hollow points where one wants a lot of deformation without becoming small fragments lacking in momentum.

Beware the weighted pewter. Some of the weight inside a pewter item is a nasty glue that when melted becomes a molten mess. Sticks to everything, stinks, and is really hard to flux out. Yak dung, or dinosaur droppings is common name for that awful filler. Peel the metal off of it or bang the item on concrete until the filler all breaks out or suffer a mess.