Pewter:Too expensive

[Pertsev]

Check thrift stores and buy when priced cheap.
Or.
Visit local scrap yards. When I was commercial casting and needed lots of alloy material we visited a scrap yard that purchased pewter at scrap lead prices and sold to us for standard scrap lead prices. This was the best. Walked out with 20-50 lbs at a time.

[Kraschenbirn]

Just for everyone's info...there's a forum member who has 8-lb boxes of cleaned and fluxed pewter cast into ingots listed on Swap & Sell for $66 to your door.

Bill

[The Appalacian]

Just for everyone's info...there's a forum member who has 8-lb boxes of cleaned and fluxed pewter cast into ingots listed on Swap & Sell for $66 to your door.

Bill

I looked all through 9 pages of swap & sell and didn't see that. Could have missed it I supposed.

[JimB..]

I looked all through 9 pages of swap & sell and didn't see that. Could have missed it I supposed.

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...ghlight=Pewter

[The Appalacian]

Thanks JimB

[More_Slugs]

$8 for a marked English pewter tankard is a good deal. Especially if it's a solid bottom versus glass bottom.

The one's that I've bought average about 4 - 5 inches tall and 3- 4 inches wide, and weighed 13.75 ounces to just over 1 pound (16+ ounces).
With Tin being over $20 a pound (normally over $32/LB but on sale at Roto), those tankards start to look even better at $8 each.
That doesn't even include the Antimony in them, which costs as much as Tin per pound!

My most recent tankards were a set of 4 with solid bottoms for $26, and they EACH way 14 ounces.
That's 3.5 pounds of 90%+ Tin and at least 4%+ Antimony for $26 versus $70 - $105 (based on Rotometal prices).

I have also scored some even better deals on FB Marketplace and Craigslist.

[ulav8r]

Looked at some lead free solder a week or two ago. 95% tin, 5% antimony for almost $27 pus sales tax.

[More_Slugs]

Looked at some lead free solder a week or two ago. 95% tin, 5% antimony for almost $27 pus sales tax.

What size/weight?

HF has 0.5lb of lead free for $29.99, but it has 94.34% tin, 2.08% copper, 1.04% bismuth, 0.50% rhodium.
Their 0.5lb of tin/lead solder is 63%/37% and cost $19.99. That's crazy!

[ulav8r]

It was 1 pound at one of the big box stores online.

[Tripplebeards]

I have fun and hit the thrift stores. Some days you win, some days you don't buy. Bought bought almost 6.5 pounds for $12 last week.

[Sasquatch-1]

If you really need it and can't find it locally, check stained glass suppliers. "Anything In Stained Glass" (https://www.anythinginstainedglass.c...ls/solder.html) Has the following available:

63/37 as low as $18.95 per pound + shipping

97/3 as low as $29.00 per pound + shipping

They are in Frederick, Md., if you live nearby.

[Delkal]

You can buy scrap pewter on Ebay for ~$10 a pound shipped so there is absolutely no reason to pay $30 for solder or from Rotometals. The sellers undoubtedly get the pewter from thrift stores for $3-5 and are flipping it.

[Rickf1985]

You can buy scrap pewter on Ebay for ~$10 a pound shipped so there is absolutely no reason to pay $30 for solder or from Rotometals. The sellers undoubtedly get the pewter from thrift stores for $3-5 and are flipping it.

But how much of what you get is aluminum, pot metal and zinc?

[Delkal]

But how much of what you get is aluminum, pot metal and zinc?

Search "scrap pewter" on Ebay and buy the lots where the pewter is crushed for shipping. I never bought a lot like this but from the pics there is very little (if any) junk pieces. While you are at it search the "sold" listings for the actual prices.

[Tripplebeards]

You're better off buying it here from one of the members when they sell it. When I sell it here I always melt it down into ignots and show a photo of the "dinnerware" pewter branded items before the melt. Normally around 22 BH I've had on average with my lee tester from modern pewter. I can say if your trying to make the old 16/1 mix that is "pure" 100% tin and pure soft lead it takes about an 8/1 mix for me to get to around 11BH (what every chart shows 16/1 tin and pure lead hardness is) with using 22 bh pewter with pure soft lead. I've learned that using 50% coww and 50% pure soft lead ...with 2% pewter added for fill out gets me to 10.5BH and works just as good in my rifle HPs. I might have melt some and sell in the next week or two. Need some new tires and my pewter ignots seem to sell good here.

[Tripplebeards]

Just got to my relatives. Snuck out quick to one of my favorite local thift stores. Paid $2.45 for the vintage German Zinn stamped wine gobblet and $1.95 for pewter stamped dish...or what ever it is.

The gobblet has to weigh close to a pound if I had to guess. Looks like they are asking $38 to $62....to $400 for the gobblet depending on what website the asking prices are on. Guess I won't be melting that one and selling outright.






Normally if it's not weighted candlestick and under $2-$2.50 with decent weight I buy it. If it fells like it's over a pound I'll pay $3/3.50.

[imashooter2]

The proper term for the stemmed bowl is a “compote."

[Sasquatch-1]

I melted a bowl just like that a while back. It was pretty bent up. Got in a box of pewter I paid $10.00 for at the Harper's Ferry Flea Market. My wife claimed half the haul.

[Tripplebeards]

I've ended up with alot of those same style compote bowls. Think this is the only one not bent up I've ever ended up with.

[jsizemore]

Compote is a colonial word for future scrap pewter ingot.