Melting Pewter...How Do YOU Do It?

[Cosmic_Charlie]

That sounds wonderful!

[RogerDat]

Where the heck do you find that much pewter? I’m struggling to find 5 pounds at a time.

Like grandma would say "steady licks will whip the devil" takes looking often and consistently. Much of mine came from Salvation Army store that had reasonable prices. Another one was too "upmarket" and priced pewter at what it was being offered for on eBay. Not sold for mind you offered for.

Think of it as being like having a route of clients you visit to do business with. Maybe you spend a day doing estate sales and garage sales. Don't see much pewter in garage sales myself but have found solder for dirt cheap in them. Flea market comes here 2x a year. I go early looking for pewter. Let your "clients" at thrift stores know you will buy it even if damaged if the price is right.

I generally do not mention I'm going to melt it for bullets, when I mention buying it even if damaged I tend to say so I can melt it down and recast it. Which is what I do. I cast into ingots and use those ingots to sweeten bullet alloy. Some folks can get funny about having those pretty things destroyed.

Study the sticky with pewter hallmarks and other pewter designations. Got a heavy plate for cheap at the up market Salvation Army store because they did not associate "Zinn" and "Made in Netherlands" with pewter. Zinn being Dutch/German for pewter.

Scrap yards that sell to the public can get pewter in. Might pay lead retail scrap yard price, might pay 2x lead price, but still a deal for tin.

Use your phone camera to take a close up of the hallmark and then zoom in on the picture to see what the piece has stamped on it. Have avoided some none pewter that way.

But mostly it comes down to looking and scrounging on a regular basis. Area seems to matter too. Out west and down south members seem to not find as much as new england states and midwest. And even here in michigan it seems that area matters. Both in terms of quantity and price. High end suburbs it sells for $$$$ older cities can be more like $ or $$. Communities where more modern urban décor is the norm vs more rural areas where country or americana is a more common. Or old city neighborhoods where some of the older residents will have decorated with pewter in the past. Pewter was big at different times in US history. Some time as a common item, then as upscale, and as a core for silver plate.

So it wasn't just me that found the ton of ice buckets cramped their market. Good for the community that the supply became available at a good price. Not so great for my selling any surplus. Still what I didn't sell I kept. So I guess good for building up my stash.

[RydForLyf]

Yeah, down here in GA, it’s not as abundant as other places around the country.

[imashooter2]

You can still lowball an endless series of eBay auctions until one or two come home. It costs nothing to bid.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Quadruple plate serving trays are a good source. I will pick one up and try bendining it against my knee. If it bends I buy it. I then use a hatchet and a chopping block to segment it into pieces I can fit in the pot. These can have some copper in them which you can clearly see when fluxing in the dross. Lots of weight here!1

[imashooter2]

After a fair bit of experimenting, I found it easiest to process everything with a 3 pound drilling hammer and a bench vise. Plates and trays get bent and hammered flat a few times until the tube will fit the pot diameter and then the tube is fed in as it melts. Bowls, tankards, teapots and the like get the legs and handles twisted off in the vise and then hammered to fit and fed in same as the plates and trays.

[RydForLyf]

After a fair bit of experimenting, I found it easiest to process everything with a 3 pound drilling hammer and a bench vise. Plates and trays get bent and hammered flat a few times until the tube will fit the pot diameter and then the tube is fed in as it melts. Bowls, tankards, teapots and the like get the legs and handles twisted off in the vise and then hammered to fit and fed in same as the plates and trays.

Driving over objects with a heavy vehicle works well too. I bought about 15 pounds from a seller and it was amazing how much she got into the FRB after driving her car over the items. She says it was also mildly satisfying.