Is There A Ready Source For Tin?

[Land Owner]

The OP asked, "Is There A Ready Source For Tin?". The answer, THERE SURE IS!

When you are "ready" get on your horse and head to the Thrift Store, the Bargain Barn, Resale Shop, 2nd Hand Store, Flea Market, and Garage Sale in your neighborhood and your neighbor's neighborhood as the "source" of a heap of cheap and quite often available pewter...but you have GOT to work for it.

Every time I am out and about I try to go through a different area. Knowing where I have been in the last 30-days helps, by not going back to the same places too often, as their stock does not turn over nearly that fast. Bargain, negotiate, finagle, and haggle over price of pieces that may, or may not, reach one pound.

The latest score was Saturday in a consignment ANTIQUE SHOP where price is expected to be HIGH. The $6 asking price was negotiated to $4. The candle holder, labeled on the bottom as 95% tin, was 1.25 pounds by scale when I got home. Not too shabby as that will turn 62.5 pounds of lead into ~2800 x 158 grain x 357 Mag. SWC's of 49/49/2 percent - Pb/WW/Sn!

[Mitch]

yes there are source the sure fire one is RotoMetals or another source of new alloys.I do not fine much Pewter in my location. I use to find more solder at the scrap yards but the solder and the scrap yards are drying up.To me it verys alot from one location to another what you will find.Best advise i an give is keep searching for any tin you can find.If you do find the mother load of tin buy all you can you will never reget it.I keep searching i am petty set with lead tine is the number one thing i look for, then antimony.good luck on you search.

As for the wrincled bullets yu can heat the alloy up but is the mold is cold you will still have bad bullets.A low priced hot plate is your friend here.get the mold hot try lead temp of 725f to 750f you shoud see decten bullets you will need to ajuts for your casting speed but it whould work.is you do not have a hot plate yet use the 750 trmp and car quick till you see the wrincles go away and the fill out is good

[GregLaROCHE]

Rotometals is a good source for known quality alloy.

I agree, especially when starting out. Keep it as simple as possible and your variables at a minimum. Later you can start looking for bargains that can take time to find.

[JeepsAndGuns]

Must be a very regional thing, as around here, pewter seems to have more value as the item as it does as pewter.
Guessing the weight of the pewter item for sale, and then calculating the price to $$ per ounce, it comes out to be cheaper to just buy it by the pound at rotometals than buying it was pewter. At least around here.
I have checked the local thrift store (none to be had) and a couple local flea market/antique place. I found several pieces, but all over priced.
I guess if I buy any, I am just going to get a 1 lb bag of tin nuggets from rotometals.

[imashooter2]

Low cost pewter stashes are built the same way as low cost lead stashes. Dedicated scrounging. If that isn’t something you’re willing to do, then pay the freight for virgin metal.

[deltaenterprizes]

^^THIS^^ They have sales all the time. Though a trip to the local radiator repair might get you a few # of drippings.

That was going to be my suggestion!

[oley55]

Low cost pewter stashes are built the same way as low cost lead stashes. Dedicated scrounging. If that isn’t something you’re willing to do, then pay the freight for virgin metal.

That right there is the secret; dedicated scrounging! I am not obsessed, but I do keep an eye out for Goodwill Stores and other charity thrift stores and will zip in and out. It only takes 10 minutes or less to check, though I generally come up empty. But somehow or another I have managed accumulate over 22 pounds of processed pewter over the past 18 months, give or take a month.

Also don't ignore old nasty looking silver plated items. Except for some super high quality stuff, almost all of the plated services have handles n feet/legs that are pewter/tin soldered to the copper/brass base object. Also the raised/ribbed area around the perimeter are also silver plated pewter/tin. I've picked up a lot of silver platters/plates/bowls that had a lot of pewter/tin and they are often priced below pewter (probably because folks see little value in a silver plated something or another that has been worn through/down to bare copper/brass). I carry a small pocket knife and I will try to carve a tiny sliver off in an inconspicuous location.

For initial processing of my silver plated items, I use a propane torch and melt the tin parts n pieces off into a small pot.

[Rany A]

Was having wrinkling issues also, I got the Lyman 25lb pot, love the heck out of it but discovered that the aluminum mold guide draws a “lot” of heat out of the mold.

[almar]

I scored a pretty good amount of pewter from a large thrift store where one of the booths had a huge amount of decorative kitchen stuff, the intact pieces were pricey but the dinged up pieces were pennies.

[Lilaen]

Anny good tips for making the pewter/tin to small shots/ingots for adding to the 20-4 Lee pot, or is it recommend to add to the big prosessing batch when melting down the lead/alloy bars.

Anny way the decorative stuff from the flee markets, sure save a lot of space when melted in the old pot, but to fill some moulds/etc would bee nice, and ready to add to the Lee.

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[kevin c]

I add tin to make specific percentages in 200-250# batches of casting alloy, but I don’t mind committing the component metals because I’m pretty confident that I’ll use it all. Many folks prefer much smaller batches of alloy, or just add tin “to taste” to the pot they’re casting from: mixing only what you need when you need

For my purposes, then, pewter in the form of 1 to 1 1/2 pound Redneck Gold ingots plus ~one ounce “coins” made in mini muffin aluminum pans. For the second, pewter bullets cast in a gang mold and maybe the coins. The bullets have the advantage of a low uniform weight good for sweetening the casting alloy.

[imashooter2]

Anny good tips for making the pewter/tin to small shots/ingots for adding to the 20-4 Lee pot, or is it recommend to add to the big prosessing batch when melting down the lead/alloy bars.

Anny way the decorative stuff from the flee markets, sure save a lot of space when melted in the old pot, but to fill some moulds/etc would bee nice, and ready to add to the Lee.

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I have collected, processed and sold some 700 pounds of pewter and I have tried many methods to process it. Cutting it with saws, clippers, etc. are time consuming and difficult. The best tools are a sturdy bench vise and a 3 pound drilling hammer. For teapots and the like, clamp the legs, handles and spouts in the vise and twist them off. Use the hammer to crush the body into a rough tube small enough for your pot and feed it in as it melts. Trays and plates, clamp a few inches into the vise and fold it over. Hammer the fold flat and repeat until you have a tube and feed it to the pot. Bowls, fold the edges in and hammer as required to fit the pot again.

Pewter is relatively clean compared to scrap lead, but there is dust from sitting, sometimes varnish has been applied to avoid tarnishing and of course the oxides from melting. I melt at 500 -550 degrees. The alloy will melt at lower temperature, but I have found the sawdust I use to reduce the oxides back in work much better at 500 plus degrees. Molds are all preference. I use Potter molds. The 2 small cavities of a Lee ingot mold are about the right size. Decoy weight molds are good. Some use large bullet molds. At least one member here uses the bottom of beverage cans to cast coins. If you use anything other than a bullet mold, cast the ingots thin enough that you can snap them for smaller additions to the pot.

I strongly recommend you read the first few pages of the Hallmarks thread linked in my signature. Good luck.

[Lilaen]

I have collected, processed and sold some 700 pounds of pewter and I have tried many methods to process it. Cutting it with saws, clippers, etc. are time consuming and difficult. The best tools are a sturdy bench vise and a 3 pound drilling hammer. For teapots and the like, clamp the legs, handles and spouts in the vise and twist them off. Use the hammer to crush the body into a rough tube small enough for your pot and feed it in as it melts. Trays and plates, clamp a few inches into the vise and fold it over. Hammer the fold flat and repeat until you have a tube and feed it to the pot. Bowls, fold the edges in and hammer as required to fit the pot again.

Pewter is relatively clean compared to scrap lead, but there is dust from sitting, sometimes varnish has been applied to avoid tarnishing and of course the oxides from melting. I melt at 500 -550 degrees. The alloy will melt at lower temperature, but I have found the sawdust I use to reduce the oxides back in work much better at 500 plus degrees. Molds are all preference. I use Potter molds. The 2 small cavities of a Lee ingot mold are about the right size. Decoy weight molds are good. Some use large bullet molds. At least one member here uses the bottom of beverage cans to cast coins. If you use anything other than a bullet mold, cast the ingots thin enough that you can snap them for smaller additions to the pot.

I strongly recommend you read the first few pages of the Hallmarks thread linked in my signature. Good luck.

Tanks, have been prosessing the pewter/tin in a old stainless pot on a propane flame, and the solidefyed 1-3 in thick in the bottom. Just to save volume.
Like the idea of the soda bottoms and the tiny ingots on Lee mould. Have experimented with poring into water, but did just flatten out and turn brittle those "shots" remelted to a solid block.

-lilaen

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[imashooter2]

A small 1 quart stainless pot on a gas flame would be great. I used a 10 pound Lyman “Big Dipper" furnace for my processing. Ingots were poured with a Lyman dipper. It didn't take much practice before I was pouring ingots very close to my 2 ounce target weight. After cooling, each ingot was weighed on that cheap postal scale and labeled with a magic marker. After that I can easily weigh out components for a pot or two of any specific alloy I choose, although most of my casting is just for casual targets and usage is "this mold is cranky today, let me toss in a little tin."

For beverage can coins, a strip of duct tape around 6 or so cans on a table top will make a nice stable multi cavity mold.

[NObamain2012]

I have have a NOE 25 cal 120 grain aluminum mold. It was my first experience with an aluminum mold under 50 cal, and my first experience with a mold smaller than 30 cal. I use 94-3-3 aloy, cast faster than normal,and run the lead temp at 800F for it to cast good boolits. The instructions also called for using DAWN dish washing detergent, I was using Palmolive,I guess there must be some kind of wax or oil in it, but caused wrinkled boolits too.

[35 Rem]

RotoMetals might not be the very cheapest source for tin but you know it's pure and if you buy the sheared lead wire pieces, they are about 2 pe ounce so it's real easy to add the amount you want to the pot. I took the plunge and bought 14 lbs at once to get their 1st volume price break. Also shipping is free if you order at least $99 worth. It's painful but mighty handy to have what for many/most of us would be a lifetime buy.

[lightman]

Most of my tin comes from odd partial rolls or bars of solder. When I acquire 10 to 20 pounds I melt it all together and send BNE a sample to test. Pewter is scarce here in my area.

[GlocksareGood]

I buy solder off Facebook marketplace. I pay no more than $10/lb of Tin content. I have almost 300lbs of tin now.

[kevin c]

300# is enough to make 7 1/2 tons of improved castability 2% alloy, or 3 tons of 5% (a la Lyman #2).

Short of casting commercially, I’d say you’re good for a while ;^).

[GlocksareGood]

Yeah I am in a good place but I still buy it when I get a deal.