/biz/ - Business & Finance

>>54652800
>I don't use sawdust or anything like that to help purify the pour. It helps pull impurities out between the mold and the metal?

Thanks for responding, I don't have a good grasp on it myself and am trying to figure it out, but as I understand the carbon sources bind to the oxygen and reduce metal oxides back to pure metal, and when stirred around in the molten batch might bind to or draw out impurities which can then be skimmed off. I've read that molten tin likes to oxidize in air and continually forms a meddlesome oxide rind so maybe having a layer of charcoal dust floating on top would prevent that? Using a ladle with a perforated bar behind the pour spout which holds back the crud floating on the surface would be good for specific small casting projects but isn't efficient for bulk ingot pouring. Since I haven't figured it out I've only made a few 1/2 kilo bars and keep the bulk of my pewter as-is.

>>53908528
>So how are you gonna offload it once the prices rise?
Pewter bought cheap then melted and poured into ingots can be sold profitably to hobbyists online who cast toy soldiers, figurines and other artsy stuff. I could probably make a mint casting and selling pewter "brass" knuckles but I haven't poured any yet. The melting point is only around 450F so it's really easy and safe to work with. There are some pewter scrap buyers but last I checked they don't pay that much, though if a global supply crunch hits and prices moon I am confident that specialized scrapyards and refineries will pop up and pay competitive prices. The purity of the tin in more modern pewter is between 92-97% with the remainder being Antimony and Copper so it's a pretty darn good source of the metal, similar to Sterling as a source for Silver.

>>50144892
You forgot about Tin

>>50094165
>you need to find someone to sell your tin to. got any leads?

You can melt it down and sell bars to hobbyists on eBay, but my more speculative expectation is that competitive tin scrap buyers will open up shop as the decade progresses. Some scrap yards buy it now but they don't pay much.