Is it pewter? No tin was harmed during the making of this film

[@eviltwinx]

What about a magnet test? Tin is weakly attracted while pewter is not at all.

[@swdweeb]

Hey bud good to hear from you. I"m looking for pewter made from tin. Does that affect your magnet test?

[@KK-xz4rk]

@@swdweeb Magnets are not useful finding tin. I use magnet in thrift store to find if its iron only (some silver plated items). Weak magnetic forces with alloys are hard to notice in not lab conditions. My go to thrift store tin finding tests. Pewter markings (many producers used to put small hallmarks on pewter too) Try to scrape some hidden place on item with the corner of my car key. Pewter is easy to scratch and groove is deep even with duller key corner. Best test (not possible to do on all items) Pure and almost pure tin has very special cracling sound when its being bent. It sounds crunchy almost like stepping on thin fresh snow on very cold night.

[@shadowmihaiu]

"Armatale" not armalite. It is a proprietary aluminum alloy.

[@bobsunkees3392]

Pewter is a thud sound and cold to the touch aluminum rings if it is cast.

[@jackdawg4579]

only guaranteed pewter in thrift shops is if you come across Selangor goblets!

[@swdweeb]

Ok, good to know. Thanks

[@carlericvonkleistiii2188]

No. If it has a hallmark that actually says "pewter" on it, it's pewter.

[@drywallguy87]

Nice setup and I learned a few things so thank you

[@swdweeb]

Glad I could help

[@MrSeanL25]

Very handy to know thanks.

[@swdweeb]

Thanks

[@carlericvonkleistiii2188]

I buy a lot of pewter at the thrift store. Early on, I experienced the same problem with being able to identify metals that look like pewter. Then I found a very simple solution: unless it has a hallmark that says "pewter" on it, don't buy it. I also discovered that a quick way of identifying non-pewter items is by feel. Yes, by feel. Aluminum conducts heat much more efficiently than pewter. This means that aluminum feels cold to the touch, while pewter feels warm. The Armetale is a proprietary aluminum alloy, so there's no telling what's in it (short of spectrographic analysis), and I haven't tried casting any of it, but I'd bet that it casts fairly well and probably has a high silicon content to help with the casting process. But the sure-fire method is to look for a hallmark that says "pewter." I have about 35# of pewter stacked up right now, and I'm averaging about $2.50 per pound for my purchases.

[@swdweeb]

Do you do low-temp casting?

[@RustyGlovebox]

Great info on looking for pewter. Not as easy as it sounds. You can store those with the mystery metal stacks.

[@swdweeb]

Yeah, I’ve got quite the collection of it now 😁

[@askquestionstrythings]

Even if you find old pewter, it's likely the version of the pewter alloy with high lead content. That would mess with your goal for a bronze alloy for bells. That alloy in those plates is interesting in how it can look like pewter. Good job sourcing tin from a reputable dealer.

[@swdweeb]

It had an interesting blue dross layer in the furnace. Very thin and blue like you'd see when you heat steel.

[@askquestionstrythings]

@@swdweeb interesting, I wonder which of the 10 alloying agents in that metal caused that blue dross. Maybe some small amount of copper.

[@bloomingtonian7529]

Actually lead in pewter has been forbidden for quite some time. If the pewter is from the last 50 -75 years it's likely lead free. A lead testing kit from the hardware store will reveal this as well.

[@askquestionstrythings]

@@bloomingtonian7529 in the US it was the 1970's when pewter became lead free for toys, jewelry and foodware. So ya that's about 50 years ago but that older leaded pewter is commonly found at thrift stores. Yes, the lead test kits are a good check if the base metal is exposed. Lots of pewter stuff gets coated with paints, varnish, or plating which can interfere with the test if you don't scrap to the base metal. I have a pewter necklace piece that I use to wear which was plated with silver, painted in some spots and coated in a clear varnish to make it more durable. Sometimes I wish I could afford an XRF machine and other equipment to check stuff, it's unfortunate that government inspections of many consumer goods and food have repeatedly failed to catch heavy metal contamination.

[@crispinavaldez7618]

i have that dish,too!

[@swdweeb]

😄. I think most of us have had that dish at one time or another

[@pixelpatter01]

You can buy "Lead Free" plumbing solder at the local hardware store and it is 99% tin ( Chemical symbol Sn ) with a trace of other metals to lower the melting point. In fact it's difficult to buy any solder that contains anything but tin in it. The other metals such as Silver (Ag) , Antimony( Sb) or Copper (Cu) are non toxic and help lower the melting point. Tin used in pre-industrial days was rarely this pure so don't worry about the others.

[@swdweeb]

I have found a local supplier of certified tin ingots that are much cheaper than buying it as solder. Thanks though.

[@jimmyfish632]

Pewter has low thermal conductivity relative to other thrift store non ferrous metal(bring a small magnet to rule out ferrous). It will feel much warmer in hand. Also it bends easily, and you can hear it crackle when bent(tin cry). The good stuff, leaded, is pretty dense especially compared to aluminum stuffs. I’ve found it to be a dollar or two a pound so a pretty good deal.

[@swdweeb]

Thanks I’ll keep that in mind if I ever go back 😊

[@rockelec]

I have bought tin from Rotometals, to make my bronze. But I do look for sources at the Peddlers Mall and such. Haven't had much luck.

[@swdweeb]

Hence why I buy mine a local metal dealer

[@rockelec]

@@swdweeb always best from a trusted source.

[@colsoncustoms8994]

hit up a local thrift shop that was going out of business a few months back. Got about 10 lbs of brass for about $10, and a few pieces of what I was hoping was pewter and maybe silver for about $4. Turns out the "silver" was likely nickel-silver plated maybe zinc (heavier than aluminum but seemed to melt at higher temps than lead and closer to aluminum). Hard to tell if the one piece of pewter I got was the old or new version. I'll be using it for alloying a big batch of lead for casting so either way, it should be okay. Apparently the new stuff can have a good bit of copper as well which might separate out during the pour though. Hard to say with mystery stuff. Roto metals has a pretty good selection of casting alloys, probably get some from them in the future if I need to do any serious mixing.

[@swdweeb]

Yeah, I’ve been to roto. I’ve got a place that I can drive over to and buy stuff which was a huge find

[@victor440_]

Thanks now we know

[@swdweeb]

And everyone owes me $.03 to cover my costs 😂🤣😂

[@PBRJOHN684]

Pewter has a low melting point, around 170-230 °C (338-446 °F) A typical European casting alloy contains 94% tin, 1% copper and 5% antimony. Mexican pewter is any of various alloys of aluminium used for decorative items. A European pewter sheet would contain 92% tin, 2% copper, and 6% antimony. When Pewter freezes on the top you will sometimes see Crystal shapes as the liquid metal cools and if it cools too quick a hole will appear in it.

[@tobhomott]

Had to look up armetale, it's food safe and looks to me like it can be used for quite thin and detailed castings. Interesting...

[@swdweeb]

Who knew... I figured it was just more junk metal 😃

[@rockelec]

@@swdweeb Now you can make a nice popcorn bowl instead of a bell! 😎

[@swdweeb]

@@rockelec I could but bells are just too darn cool

[@ArtByAdrock]

If you want some tin just ask brotha 👍🏻 great video. I’ve been told numerous times from people that they have certain metals but I don’t trust them until I melt it myself. I got plenty of zinc if you want a bar or 2 👍🏻

[@swdweeb]

Where did you get tin?? I'll email you later today.

[@RockingJOffroad]

Perry, I was just searching online about the lead free wheel weights and found most are either steel or a primarily zinc alloy.

[@swdweeb]

Cool. I guess I won't be looking for either of those ;-)

[@Thewulf56]

Nice Perry, I want to try some pewter one day. Just melted a bunch of Zinc last weekend.

[@swdweeb]

I’ve probably told you this, but zinc scares me. I melt inside and those fumes... ☹️

[@Thewulf56]

@@swdweeb I turn the furnace regulator to about half of what I would for aluminum, leave the top open when melting it, only time I get any fumes is when I skim the slag, and a bit drops down in the furnace, which is not very much. If its small enough, you can just use a propane torch to met it, it fairly low temp. Different story when melting brass. I'll have a video on it next weekend.

[@swdweeb]

Yeah I’ve only melted brass once because of the zinc

[@ralphmourik]

Thanks for this useful info, I'm sure there is a lot of different "pewter" items out there. I work with a lot of old pewter I get from flea markets and thrift stores too and sometimes there is stuff that does not melt. I don't even bother firing up the furnace for pewter, unless I have tons to melt. Just use a blowtorch or a soldering iron to see if it melts fast. You can even melt it in an old cast iron pan/pot on your stove or outside on a gas powered bbq or grill. Pewter is also fun to cast in silicon molds if you are info making some fun small figurines and such.

[@swdweeb]

I wonder how the store would react to me bringing a torch in with me to test stuff on their shelves 😂

[@ralphmourik]

@@swdweeb LOL 😂👍 I know there are certain marks on the bottom of most items that should tell you its actually pewter. couldn't tell you whats on those marks though, all molten into ingots.... 😅 google knows all 👍

[@leemiracle6840]

I have found quite a bit of pewter at thrift stores but the ones in Az. Where i lived until recently seem to have figured out the scrap value as the prices started going up on pewter items.

[@swdweeb]

I found it was just easier to buy tin ingots. Watch for a video coming out Tuesday for a reason why

[@GMCLabs]

I travel for work, and one of my hobbies is hitting thrift stores along the way. I usually grab up any pewter if its cheap enough. Then I sort it melt it into bars and sell it cheap on ebay. I almost always have it up I find so much of it. Definitely cheaper than the $20/lbs stuff from rotometals. I can't always guarantee the exact composition, but I do sort and melt in batches, so sometime I have 90% or 97% tin. Anything stamped English pewter is gonna be 91% tin, 7.5% antimony 1.5% copper and most items that just say pewter are gonna be similar to english pewter. As for lead, man I find anything that old and I'm not gonna melt that down! Keep trying the thrift store though, I almost always find something and when I don't it usually not bc I didn't find any, it's just the price was probably ridiculous, some thrift store are a big ripoff, but most aren't.

[@swdweeb]

I ended up finding a local casting supply place here in Denver. I bought 100% tin from them at $15/pound. Better than Roto but still expensive.

[@GMCLabs]

@@swdweeb not bad, my stuff usually sells for $8-10/lbs generally 90-92% tin and occasionally I have 97% tin for about the same. in case you're interested here 5lbs I got and and with shipping would be 9.60/lb. Hope ya don't mind the link, but I think it could be useful to you or maybe some else. www.ebay.com/itm/143540474746

[@swdweeb]

@@GMCLabs You know, for a couple of pounds of tin I could be persuaded to leave the link up 😁 Good luck with it, maybe it will help someone that is having trouble finding it

[@GMCLabs]

@@swdweeb how bout a sub? ;)

[@swdweeb]

@@GMCLabs Ok, I'll take it 😃

[@cecil6711]

It was not a mistake, it was a learning experience. :-)

[@swdweeb]

Sounds like a metaphor for life 😄

[@RockingJOffroad]

What are they making lead free wheel weight out of now days, something tells me it tin or tin zinc alloy.

[@swdweeb]

I don’t know. Lead-free solder is almost pure tin

[@relyonno1921]

zinc

[@dhc4ever]

Perry, Look at the bright side, you could always use those ingots to cast plates........

[@swdweeb]

Ha 😂😂

[@garyhuston]

Interesting, when you were clanking them about at the beginning I thought they sounded like china and the big reveal was that they smashed😂

[@swdweeb]

Well I had to work them over in the vise pretty good, they didn’t really smash. Although that would have been great if they had just smashed

[@JulianMakes]

unlucky Perry! I’ve looked in our charity shops and I’ve not seen anything interesting yet.

[@swdweeb]

I never find anything in them and usually don’t even bother going in... guess I should have stuck to that practice 😆

[@kevinwatson5833]

I get my pewter from roto metals online great supplier and lots of choice in alloys if you are thrift store shopping warm it up in your hands then bend it. It should feel like stiff carmel also any large pecies will contain either antimony or copper to make it harder

[@swdweeb]

You got marked as inappropriate by KZbin... probably the comment about warming it in your hands. ;-D I suppose its not a problem bending it if you're gonna buy it.

[@chargerdemon]

I like your videos been watching you, paul, and a few others and going to try out this you tube thing and sand casting

[@swdweeb]

Good luck with it and don't hesitate to ask if you have questions about any of it.

[@relyonno1921]

I wouldn't call it a mistake. That would only be if you did it again. You were just scientifically proving it wasn't tin

[@swdweeb]

I’ll go with that. If I have time I’ll shoot another tomorrow showing the other thing that caused me to say that. Let’s just say I learned something else this week in addition to this lesson

[@johnmccanntruth]

Maybe it will look good cast as something you want to look like pewter. Though the ingots looked fairly shiny... 👍

[@swdweeb]

I expect they anodized it with something to look gray

[@JohnJones-oy3md]

1:22 - If you want Armalite, you're going to have to melt down an AR-15. ;)

[@swdweeb]

I better hurry before Beto comes and takes it 😀

[@rockelec]

@@swdweeb lol Beto is done, just doesn't know it.

[@unclebobsbees4899]

No bueno! Ooh Mystery metal makes life interesting. 🤣

[@swdweeb]

No bueno indeed. Oh well, that's why I spent the big bucks on the the tin ingots. So I'd know what I have.

[@unclebobsbees4899]

@@swdweeb What type of brass are you trying to make?

[@SkullyWoodMetal]

I buy Pewter all the time at my local Goodwill and other Thrift stores. The stuff is heavier and thicker than the aluminum plates. Often it is very shiny but some times not. It is always thicker than the samples you purchased. Good luck.

[@swdweeb]

Well for now I’m content to buy tin from the dealer. I’d rather know what’s going into the bells I’m casting. If I ever get into low-temp casting l’ll make a more considered search for the stuff.

[@SkullyWoodMetal]

swdweeb I wish you all best of course. Keep us posted on your results.

[@ryannu1578]

So you finally took my advice and went to goodwill for pewter it’s so much cheaper than buying tin out right.

[@swdweeb]

Yeah and look what I ended up with, aluminum

[@carlericvonkleistiii2188]

@@swdweeb Don't give up. Now you're an informed consumer!

[@ryannu1578]

@@swdweeb word of advice is go with cups and vases that say pewter, i dont know you area but im a short drive from a nice area of connecticut and the local goodwill is chock full of pewter i cant buy it all, but my nearest goodwill has a much smaller inventory.

[@ryannu1578]

@@carlericvonkleistiii2188 100% i made the same mistake when i first started buying pewter its a few dollars towards information, the money saved buying pewter at goodwill than online as tin or pewter saves a great amount. to the point i could start selling pewter ingots myself at a nice profit.

[@raydirkin9107]

The adventures of Perry,😂

[@swdweeb]

Never ending... you should see the fun I’m having today 😃. Might make it up on Instagram tonight

[@hansolo5967]

Wow. Another video. Is it christmas time allready??? ;) I wouldnt say making mistakes. You are learning from your doing. So its totally fine. And even the viewer is able to learn something. ThumbsUp

[@swdweeb]

Thanks chewie ;-)

[@bloomingtonian7529]

I hunt pewter at thrift stores all the time. The way I identify it if it isn't marked is by rubbing my thumbnail against it in a discrete place. Pewter is soft and is marred easily. Aluminum isn't scratched by your finger/thumbnail. I don't know what your cost was on the new stuff, but often I'm paying .25/oz. for what I find. If I knew you were looking I would have sent you some.

[@swdweeb]

I was going to weigh it and forgot. I guess I can weigh the ingots and figure it out. Thanks for the tip

[@GaryForgingOn]

Make some mystery metal ramming rods and sell them on etsy. :)

[@swdweeb]

These are destined for casting boxes.

[@CraigLYoung]

Can you really call it a mistake when you're experimenting with an unknown? If I was you, I would hit all the thrift shops in Denver looking for those serving wear. Melt them down for ingots and build your Aluminum box.

[@swdweeb]

Probably cheaper to just order a big aluminum ingot 😃

[@edgotbait]

I’ve found pewter and I’ve bought some crap lol Really have to know your stuff to find real pewter

[@swdweeb]

Ain’t that the truth. I think I’ll just stick with buying tin. It’s easier 😁

[@erickavelazquez9936]

I find pewter

[@swdweeb]

ok

[@Ra1276]

I melt Pewter on my channel...Pewter is soft like lead...you can bend it with your hands...

[@swdweeb]

I never seem to see anything like that in the thrift stores around me, but I went out and bought certified tin ingots so I don't really need to guess on pewter.

[@olfoundryman8418]

Sure wasn't pewter of any sort, for a start it went "tink" when hit against itself pewter would go "thunk". Also of course pewter would have felt much heavier. Pewter as a source for tin is unreliable - it might be a lead based pewter for a start but even if tin based it will contain appreciable amounts of Antimony and who knows what that would do to a bell bronze? I keep saying when sourcing metal do not be a cheapskate, it is THE most important input in the quest for a useable casting, and thus it above all is what one should spend money on - Congratulations on doing just that for your real source of tin....Martin

[@swdweeb]

Now if I would just do that for the aluminium ;-) I spent $/lb on this stuff

[@stressmasterbk4294]

@swdweeb I found this interesting casting video that is from a foundry that explains and shows vent holes. I noticed you don't rly do this and was wonder why? Also I love there box design with the clips on the sides to prevent flashing and keep everything together. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rJ2alH9qor5_fbc

[@swdweeb]

what video? I'll be happy to explain why but it's be nice to make sure I address what you're talking about

[@stressmasterbk4294]

@@swdweeb srry I added it now. totally forgot to paste it lol

[@stressmasterbk4294]

@@swdweeb Also I do know you have added vents in the past but not like they do.

[@swdweeb]

@stressmaster Oh dear, where do I start?? First of all, never trust a foundryman that wears a tie while ramming sand. I'm going to add @olfoundryman as he is likely to have something to say about that video.. First, I can see why you might be confused about what they do as compared to what I do as our sand looks almost identical. There is a big difference though. I use oil based sand to fill my mold, he's using green sand with water in it to fill his molds. Mine is black from excessive reuse. I expect his is black from the place they dug it up. Martin also uses green sand and he has multiple videos showing venting like that. I have gone from doing a gate to a large vent... some would say excessively large, it's a 1/4" dowel to trying to use scratch vents which I'm sure have limitations but so far I'm loving them. As the guy in the video said the vents are there to let gas out of the mold. I don't have steam but I have found in my sand that I do need to vent the part to get a reliable fill. My manly 1/4" vents or the scratch vents do exactly what they are intended to do, let the gas escape. There are guys out there like @luckygen1001 that don't use vents and get away with it quite nicely. He never seems to have problems getting a mold to fill. I have never tried to vent like shown in the video. It might work for me but the vents I've been doing work quite well. I'd like to tell the guy in the video that he can eliminate a lot of porosity by not using those gargantuan spues and runners/gates that he cut in. Did I answer your question?

[@stressmasterbk4294]

@@swdweeb you did tyvm! It is what I expected the answer to be and it is great I am on the right track. Those sprue rly confused me as well. almost no taper, huge, and no spin trap so the metal is moving rough. My only thought as to why it worked at all is because of the vents. What are your thoughts on the edge scraping he did around the items to be molded. does adding that small bevel do anything?