Who can ship tin???

[Conservadude]

Holy smokes, Batman! I ordered 4# of tin from MidWay and TWICE now, all I got was an empty box with a hole in the side and a bunch of plastic packing 'pillows' inside. Ok, I figured someone in Shipping didn't figure out that heavy metal bars can shoot through the side of a box when a US Postal Service dude drop-kicks the box into the truck... So after I received my FIRST empty box with a hole in the end, I called MidWay and they kindly resent the order. Great. I get ANOTHER empty box with a hole in the side and plastic packing pillows inside. I explained to them the FIRST TIME that you can't just drop a bar of metal into a box and expect it to get there, that you have to do something to secure it ...pack it tightly with styrofoam, screw it to a 2x4, whatever. Nope, they didn't get it. Now I have another empty box to go along with the original bill.

So, my question is this ...WHO knows how to ship bars of tin and can get such a simple job done right the first time? Grafs didn't have it. I'm going to call MidWay tomorrow and talk to the shipping :Fire: stupidvisor, but I don't feel like I can trust them to get it right. WHERE should I place my order instead? :twisted:

Thanks,
Brian

[zxcvbob]

You might check with Grainger or you local plumbing supply store and see if they sell 95/5 solder in bars. It'll be expensive, but probably cheaper than Midway, and you won't have to pay shipping.

[sleeper1428]

Here are a couple of places where you can order tin bars or ingots and I'll bet that they will know how to pack them properly. Price is likely to be more than what Midway is asking but you'll get what you want without shipping problems.

www.theantimonyman.com

www.rotometals.com

Bill Ferguson, the antimony man, has his tin priced according to the purity, weight and the total amount you want to order while Rotometals will sell you small amounts such as one lb, albeit at a higher cost than if you order in bulk.

sleeper1428

[Conservadude]

You might check with Grainger or you local plumbing supply store and see if they sell 95/5 solder in bars. It'll be expensive, but probably cheaper than Midway, and you won't have to pay shipping.

I'm new at this stuff ...I'm going to assume the solder is 95 parts pure tin to 5 parts pure lead, right? That would work for me ...I can do algebra. We do have a local Graingers and I own a local business and can open a business account...

I sent email to both MidWay and The Antimony Man tonight. I see the antimony man uses flat rate shipping, and for shipping to Alaska, that's a key concept... too many places insist on doubling or tripling your shipping costs by not figuring out how to do the flat rate shipping deal with USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes and envelopes. Good on ya, Antimony Man!

Brian

[southpaw]

I'm new at this stuff ...I'm going to assume the solder is 95 parts pure tin to 5 parts pure lead, right?

All the 95/5 that I have seen is 95 tin and 5 antimony.
Check the swapping and selling area. There is a guy that is selling 63/37 50# for $150 shipped. comes out to about $4.76 a pound of tin

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=48314&page=2

Hope I helped

Jerry Jr.

[Horace]

I ordered 25 pounds of tin through Rotometals and received every bar.

Horace

[corvette8n]

Check with your local metal recycler, I got 20lbs of block tin from them twice.

[Conservadude]

OK, MidWay apologized and killed the order for me. I'm still unimpressed with them, both for their packing ability and because they don't (yet) support USPS Priority Mail flat rate boxes ...this doubles the cost of shipping on most orders, especially on heavy things. I'll continue to shop elsewhere.

Anyway, I called our Graingers and they don't have tin or bar solder. I checked the local metal recyclers and they only have iron and steel. Fairbanks, AK is not the place to find a lot of recycling since it costs too much to ship it to factories or furnaces that can use the stuff. :confused:

Looks like the outfits listed above, the fellow selling the bar solder, and ebay are my best options. I PM'd the guy selling the 63/37 stuff. I do appreciate everybody's help.

Brian

[Pat I.]

I sent ya a pm

[fredj338]

Definitely Rotometals. nice group to work with, you get a discount for more than $100 & free shipping. In AK, no stinking sales tax! Order the bar tin, it's cheaper than solder.

[Conservadude]

OK ...Long story short: I learned a lot today, did a lot of research, received kind offers and good info from several of you, then went with 25# of 63/37 from weedwhacker. It was the best deal overall. Thanks, All!

Brian