The Armour Archive

I know that 15C brigs had tinned plates, but what about 14C CoPs? Any evidence of tin plating on these?

If there is, how big an undertaking is it to tin plates? How does one do it?

I was going to paint the plated on my upcoming CoP to keep rust away, but if appropriate, tinning may be a better idea...

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Yehuda ben Moshe
mka Juliean Galak

Tin melts at, well, call it 232 deg.C/450 F., and is nontoxic. Per my Encyclopedia Britannica, tinning with high-purity tin was originated in Bohemia in the 17th century, but this follows on a practice of tinning with mixtures of tin with other metals such as lead and zinc that "had been followed for centuries." These mixtures of metals may be eutectic, that is, they melt at lower temps than pure tin does. The steel to be coated is cleaned with acid and then dipped into a pot of molten tin. There is also an electroplating method by electrolysis of tin in an aqueous solution, but then the coated piece has to be briskly toasted to melt the plating down into something solid. Tinning mixtures containing lead or zinc should doubtless be heated in well-ventilated areas as breathing fumes of either does nasty things to the health.

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"The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone..."

You might consider using a flux....

-+G