Is it pewter?

[glassparman]

Got this in a thrift store. All it says is "made in Indonesia"

It's fairly shiny and I can squeeze it with one hand.

What's the consensus?

 

[richhodg66]

I have gotten to where I can usually tell by handling. In thrift stores, if in doubt, I tap it with my wedding band, if it rings, it isn't pewter, pewter "klunks", like you might expect a hard lead alloy to do.

If you can bend it with hand strength, that's a good sign. It'll melt at realitively low temperature compared to lead if it is pewter.

 

[Tomme boy]

be careful of some of that pewter from the Asian country's. I had a plate from china I knew I should not melt down but I did when melting a large batch. It did not have the hallmarks like most stuff has. It made the 10 lb batch act like what everyone says is zinc contaminate. It was really clumpy. I don't have a clue what it was. But it did not happen till I put that plate in to melt.

 

[glassparman]

I gave it the old Staedtler test and it took an H to scratch it so around 20 bhn.

Yeah, I'll test melt it in a scrap pot first.

Wish I have one of those metal test guns!

 

[richhodg66]

Zinc will most definitely ring if you tap it with a piece of metal.

 

[Joshua]

Indonesia is one of the largest exporters of tin in the world. If it says Indonesia it most likely has a higher percentage of tin than than many of the European pewter. They make items there with basically pure tin fresh from the smelters. Adding antimony and copper actually adds cost in Indonesia so they either don’t add it, or add it in lower quantities.

Now “pewter” from Hong Kong is frequently lead. It just depends where in Asia the pewter comes from.

 

[fiver]

if you squish it you gotta listen for the little tin creaks, crackles, and pops.
the pops are the tin nodules breaking.

to my eye it looks like yes and no, usually older tin gets some grey oxidization.
pewter stuff usually has the handles soldered in place and you can see the wipe marks if you look under magnification.

 

[glassparman]

By the looks inside and out, it appears to be cast, not spun like a lot of pewter is

 

[richhodg66]

Hold it loosely by the handle so it can vibrate freely and tap it lightly with a piece of hard metal and see what it sounds like.

 

[RicinYakima]

Tin in lead alloy does the same thing, makes it malleable but not hard. If it rings, it has antimony, cadmium or aluminum in it.

 

[glassparman]

Watch this video for the sound of me hitting the mug.

 

[richhodg66]

That seems to be ringing more than I'd expect pewter to.

 

[Tomme boy]

Not pewter. You should be able to crush it easily if it was. Imagine bending a piece of thick solid copper wire. It should give you that feel.

 

[richhodg66]

If it is pewter or tin, it'll melt at low temperature compared to zinc and much lower than aluminum. If you decide to try to melt it down, do so by itself and see if you can control the temperature to 600 degrees or less. Seems like Zinc won't melt til north of 700.

 

[glassparman]

Or . . . . my shop has a new pencil holder!

 

[fiver]

mine has several..

 

[Ian]

Mine has one, I actually drink water out of it. It keeps water cool for some reason, but ain't worth a damn for coffee as the first sip burns my lips and the next sip is cold. It banged around for a while until I broke out a lead-detecting wipe to check around the exhaust fan and benches before I let the toddlers around certain places where they'd be pawing everything. The wipe on the stein was negative for lead which surprised me, so I started drinking out of it. I can't hear worth a damn right now but I did catch a ring in the video and saw the dents appear. I don't know what it is.

 

[Dusty Bannister]

Since it is going to be a long winter, perhaps someone with good video skills might consider putting together a series of test sounds. There is a test of pewter, now the thud of lead, crackle of bending tin, clang of a linotype ingot, that sort of thing for new folks that have no real listening experience.

 

[glassparman]

I saw this same mug in a Google search and they all called it "Pewter". I know that doesn't mean anything.

if you squish it you gotta listen for the little tin creaks, crackles, and pops.
the pops are the tin nodules breaking.

Fiver, I squished it flat with my hands and could hear the little cracks as I flattened it.

 

[Joshua]

Fiver, I squished it flat with my hands and could hear the little cracks as I flattened it.

That’s pewter.