grimme Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 just putzing around with my furnace and i'd like to make some bronze what in todays age contains enough tin to use (thats cheap or scrap) ive seen pewter used but that doesnt fall into either category Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dablacksmith Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 pewter is tin .... in fact modern pewter is close to pure tin with a little antamony and copper...old pewter has lead in it ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grimme Posted May 7, 2013 Author Share Posted May 7, 2013 what i meant was, what can i find in a scrapyard thats made of tin? im thinking pennies not dollars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eseemann Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 Not that I have found to date. Go to junk stores and flea markets. Looks for pewter cups. That is a cheapish way to go. At $9.00 a pound for tin the scrap yards do just that, they scrap it. Sort of like copper. Years ago you could fine copper in a scrap yard that was too much work to scrap. Now it is worth too much to leave in the yard. At $20.00 a pound for food grade tin is about the best I have seen so far. http://www.rotometals.com/Tin-Ingot-s/27.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yesteryearforge Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 I second the Rotometals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 I go to Goodwill and buy pewter mugs for $1.99 to $2.99 and that's a good amount of pewter for making bronze in a home foundry. Yeah some of it has antimony or bismuth with a tad bit of copper but it's not that much and it does work well. It is probably of equal or better quality tin than they had in the Bronze Age. The pewter mugs from the thrift stores may turn out to be more per ounce than if you purchased a whole ingot of tin but they are close at hand, no waiting time involved for shipment to arrive and no worry as what to do with the rest of ingot. And if you buy two mugs you can watch you melt through the glass bottom of the other mug while chugging your beer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eseemann Posted May 8, 2013 Share Posted May 8, 2013 I would be shocked if 1% of the tin from the bronze age was as fine as the Goodwill mug-aqured pewter/tin. Thing to keep in mind is the Bronze age smith was going by sight sound and feel. They would be able to tell if something had some lead, antimony, bismuth or copper but only if there was enough to mess up the batch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grimme Posted May 8, 2013 Author Share Posted May 8, 2013 goodwill stores? are they charity shops? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted May 12, 2013 Share Posted May 12, 2013 Why not just buy some bronze? It is available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eseemann Posted May 12, 2013 Share Posted May 12, 2013 I think Grimme, like myself, is working on the basis of limited funds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggwelder Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 making is more fun, and good knowledge with experience is invaluable. anyone can buy anything. copper can be free, along with pewter. i guess bronze can be as well. i`ve had good luck with aluminium bronze. about 10% aluminium to 90% copper by weight, but google it first. very hard wearing, also hard to file, shape and polish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjward1775 Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 I cast with pewter that I buy off of ebay. I saw some today for $18 for 3 lbs, and with pewter making up 10% of tin bronze, 3 lbs equals 30 lbs of tin bronze. Not a terrible price per lb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the iron dwarf Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 here a lot of pewter contains lead, modern stuff is lead free but check older stuff is not a lead pewter rather than tin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 No Lead Solder: 98% tin 2% antimony. I look for it cheap at the fleamarket and garage sales as it's generally a more expensive way to buy tin at the store compared to rotometals by the ingot! (The no lead solder I let the grandkids play around with on their miniature anvils...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Special Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Well, bronze made with lead and little to no tin might not be healthy, but it wasn't exactly unheard of either in antiquity. (It's a lot more soft and ductile) Arsenic was also used, but you know, being poisonous and all........maybe not such a good idea. As with any non-ferrous work, always take maximum effort to avoid metal poisoning/toxicity. Basically, the white metals tend to get found close together, and people weren't always terribly discerning. If you're just going for look pretty, could try architectural bronze, which i like to think of as extreme brass. Around 60 percent copper, balance in that wonderfully dangerous zinc. Maybe a little lead for fun. Tin is getting constantly rarer. According to the wikipedia it's gonna be extinct in the wild in 20-40 yrs. Recycled tin only after that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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