How to sort Pewter

[cdelaney]

I have 150-300+ of pewter i have purchase at thrift shops and garage sales over the years.
mostly mugs and plates and vases.

Is there different alloys of pewter?

[imashooter2]

If you have any Asian pewter it is generally higher tin than most US and European makers. When I was selling, I segregated out a lot of 97% Selangor for my personal stash.

That said, at the concentrations we normally use pewter, the difference between 92% and 97% alloy is negligible. As long as it is modern hollowware, it will be lead free.

[farmbif]

its been a while since ive been able to melt any pewter ive found, girlfriend usually gets her way and keeps most everything that isn't bent and crumbled or just plain ugly. her word is usually final on this. got to keep a happy home

[jsizemore]

its been a while since ive been able to melt any pewter ive found, girlfriend usually gets her way and keeps most everything that isn't bent and crumbled or just plain ugly. her word is usually final on this. got to keep a happy home

The secret to keeping your pewter for flight. After purchase, apply use of hammer or appropriate device to the pewter piece liberally (the only time you should be liberal besides the use of hot sauce). When curb appeal is zero it's time to head home to your loved ones.

[cdelaney]

Thank you for your info will take some time to sort. A little concerened about items that are not stamped pewter.

[The Dar]

The secret to keeping your pewter for flight. After purchase, apply use of hammer or appropriate device to the pewter piece liberally (the only time you should be liberal besides the use of hot sauce). When curb appeal is zero it's time to head home to your loved ones.

I've "accidentally" dropped a piece in the parking lot and clumsy me stepped on it.

[imashooter2]

Thank you for your info will take some time to sort. A little concerened about items that are not stamped pewter.

Items not clearly marked would go into a separate batch for me. When selling, I bought a lot of pieces not marked for my own use. But only marked modern hollowware went into the pot for resale.

[cdelaney]

Items not clearly marked would go into a separate batch for me. When selling, I bought a lot of pieces not marked for my own use. But only marked modern hollowware went into the pot for resale.

thanks very helpful info

[kevin c]

Old pewter occasionally has collector value above the value of its tin content; if it looks old and collectible, I don’t buy it.

Old pewter may also contain lead, though that is not an issue for our use. But if you want to know, inexpensive qualitative lead tests can be bought on line.

Malaysian pewter (Selangor, for example) may be, but is not always, above the European standard of 92% tin for food service pewter, but items from China or Hong Kong in my experience are mostly lead. Modern non food service pewter (jewelry, figurines and the like) can also contain some lead, and may have lower tin content than food service pewter.

With all that and more in mind, I sorted my pewter finds into one batch of modern food service and other items clearly marked as pewter or with pewter manufacturers’ touchmarks, another of non food service marked items, and a last of unmarked and suspect items I bought as hunches. I got the melted together batches tested, and found the highest tin content in the food service items and the lowest in the unmarked and suspect items, with the Hong Kong and made in China pieces the very lowest.

Some folks qualitatively add tin to a pot of alloy, being satisfied with good casting qualities for the current potful. Others want a specific and reproducible alloy with exact proportions of different metals. For the first, melting all your finds together to cast small ingots or nuggets (some use a bullet mold) is enough. For the second, segregating and analyzing each batch of tin based additive, whether pewter, solder, Babbit or a mix, should be analyzed.

[cdelaney]

how much does it cost to have it analyzed?
Would an XRF give you an accurate #?

[imashooter2]

What Kevin says is true, I’ll just point out that 8% of 2% is 0.16% of the whole. I call pewter tin in any calculations I do and move on.

[cdelaney]

Never did the calculation. That puts it in perspective. 0.16% is not worth the worry.

[kevin c]

True that. I just might be scratching my OC itch, here.

But, if you are like me and want to be exact, you can send a pea sized specimen of each batch plus a pound of clean lead alloy of any type per specimen to member BNE, who will prep and XRF the samples and pm you the result(s). PM him first for his exact instructions.

[cdelaney]

thanks will put that on my list.

[William Yanda]

There are different alloys of pewter, nearly all of which will be 95% + or - 1 or 2% tin. Adding this alloy to lead to make an alloy with less than 5% tin, the difference is negligible.

[cdelaney]

When you are melting pewter what are you using as flux if any?

[imashooter2]

Dry pine sawdust or pet bedding. Just a healthy pinch on a 10 pound melt. There is rarely more than a teaspoon or so of fine powder skim after fluxing.

[imashooter2]

Clean as a whistle.

http://imashooter2.com/pictures/pewz1.jpg

[jsizemore]

Mine don't look that shiny after a couple years.

I do like imashooter2. The unmarked stuff I use for myself. After awhile you handle enough it's easy to tell what is and isn't worthwhile.

[cdelaney]

Thanks for the info. I need to melt down a bunch to save space. I think melting in my 12 inch dutch oven. I have a couple of hundred pounds. Should it be shiny like lead when At temp?

[imashooter2]

You should pour at 450-500 degrees. Just hot enough to char the sawdust flux. The melt surface is shiny silver.

[jsizemore]

When the temp is too high it will do the rainbow thing and turn black.