The Armour Archive

Hello.
I have a question not so much about armour, but about metal in general. I was wonderuing whether anyone knew what kinds of metal scrap are made of pewter? What kinds of things could one melt into ingots of one kind or another?
Thanks,
Archie

Gaming miniatures worked well for me......

You can find some modern pewter tankards at yard sales, but there's a lot of aluminum stuff out there too. Always use the modern stuff, Brittania Metal, which has no lead content. A lot of older pewter has lead in it, and melting down an antique is not a nice thing to do.

Back in the "old days" (1960s and '70s) a lot of pewter mugs were given as wedding part gifts, so if it says "Best Man, Debby & Greg, 1976" you know you have a good one. (If you were the Best Man, for cat's sake, don't let Debby and Greg know! )

go nuts at thrift stores.
comeritave plates, serving dishes and tankards can be found. learn to notice some of the better trade marks to learn witch ones are worth more before you melt them down.
if you have any question on lead in the pewter purchase a lead test kit from the hardware store. they are cheep and worth the investment.

Cap'n Atli wrote:so if it says "Best Man, Debby & Greg, 1976" you know you have a good one. (If you were the Best Man, for cat's sake, don't let Debby and Greg know! )

Debby might already know.

You can still get pewter with varying amounts of lead, but it is best to stay away from lead, like Cap'n said, and stick with the tin-leadfree alloys.