Pewter won't melt

[Charlie Horse]

Dang. I thought something was fishy. Thanks all for the replies. I'll be more careful in the thrift stores and yard sales.

As hot as I got it, even if it was aluminum it should have melted, but I guess not.

[fredj338]

if you got it up to 446 deg f and it didn't melt, it's not pewter.

^^this^^^

[fredj338]

Dang. I thought something was fishy. Thanks all for the replies. I'll be more careful in the thrift stores and yard sales.

As hot as I got it, even if it was aluminum it should have melted, but I guess not.

Melting point of alum is like 1200deg so unless you put a torch to it, you arent melting alum.

[Winger Ed.]

LOL! The "disguise" isn’t all that clever.

Yeah. I squandered 25 cents learning that lesson.

[Charlie Horse]

Well I didn't spend too much on this lesson. Maybe $10-20.

But with your guy's help I did get my very first, real pewter pieces. They are a small tray, and cream and sugar holders for $5. I might test them for lead with those swabs and if they are ok I might use them for tea instead of melting them.

[sureYnot]

Well I didn't spend too much on this lesson. Maybe $10-20.

But with your guy's help I did get my very first, real pewter pieces. They are a small tray, and cream and sugar holders for $5. I might test them for lead with those swabs and if they are ok I might use them for tea instead of melting them.

Don't use it for beer.

[imashooter2]

Well I didn't spend too much on this lesson. Maybe $10-20.

But with your guy's help I did get my very first, real pewter pieces. They are a small tray, and cream and sugar holders for $5. I might test them for lead with those swabs and if they are ok I might use them for tea instead of melting them.

LOL! Check the pictures and hallmarks thread to see the stuff I’ve turned into a puddle.

[jsizemore]

Well I didn't spend too much on this lesson. Maybe $10-20.

But with your guy's help I did get my very first, real pewter pieces. They are a small tray, and cream and sugar holders for $5. I might test them for lead with those swabs and if they are ok I might use them for tea instead of melting them.

They'll look much better flying through the air around 1000 FPS. Coffee tastes just fine from a ceramic mug.

[Delkal]

I do have a number of pewter items that I gave a reprieve form the melting pot. While just about everything I find that actually says pewter with a modern makers mark gets melted I did keep some nice tankards and trays for everyday use so if you like something keep it for a while. You can always melt it later.

But you need to be careful with the colonial period cast stuff. The older pieces will obviously be a dark pewter, extremely soft and bent up , and will probably have lead in them but if they have a makers mark similar to this pic save them. Depending on the maker a small plate can be worth $100+.

(That is approaching Rotometals prices )

[troutline]

i pick up quite a bit of pewter at goodwill and always give it the bend test

[Tripplebeards]

I don’t even trust the stuff that says it’s pewter anymore….lol. If it’s super dark, that means it’s more lead than pewter and I normally don’t buy it. I just stick to the modern dinnerware stuff now… that’s marked pewter. If it doesn’t have a stamp in it that says pewter, don’t buy it.