Identifying, Melting and Casting Bars of English Pewter Metal

Without the time, space or wishing to antagonise my suburban neighbours with the pungent aroma of a backyard foundry, the chances of me melting any aluminium or brass anytime soon seem remote.

However, thanks to inspiration from ‪@JimmiePorterAtStuartArts‬ , I decided to scratch my metal casting itch by converting unwanted tankards into round bars of pewter metal.

To the best of my knowledge, everything I've melted down is younger than me, and as far as I know had no historical significance whatsoever. I've no intention of destroying anything that may have any real value.

In this film there's a little bit of history, some safety advice and details of what I've found works well and not so well when re-purposing battered old jugs, teapots and mugs. There are unanswered questions about crystallisation and yellow surface finish that my (fairly unscientific) investigations were unable to resolve.

One thing I forgot to mention for any non-metric viewers is the melting point of pewter is around 450 degrees Fahrenheit, so around the upper end of what you'll see in a domestic kitchen. Not without its dangers, but not too unfamiliar either.

What use are short lengths of 25mm diameter solid pewter bar? Hopefully that will be the subject of a future film...

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00:00 - Choosing lead free pewter where possible
02:34 - Mould preparation
03:25 - Down the yellowness rabbit hole
05:00 - The mystery crystal surface
05:48 - A rough guide to temperatures
06:25 - Casting round bars
07:50 - Seeing what we've got
08:26 - Tidying up on the lathe

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Manually subtitled for accuracy -click the CC box.

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Attribution is not always required, but usually deserved. For the material I couldn't capture myself, my thanks go to the following:

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From Freesound.org:

firework_explosion_fizz by soundscalpel.com
https://freesound.org/s/110391/
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... )

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7-thump by numar: https://freesound.org/people/numar/so...
Licensed under the Sampling+ License
( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... )

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5 by adcbicycle: https://freesound.org/people/adcbicyc...

lightbulletping by wilhellboy : https://freesound.org/people/wilhellb...

Both licensed under the Creative Commons 0 License
( https://creativecommons.org/publicdom... )

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Foundry footage by ArtHouse Studio via pexels.com

https://www.pexels.com/video/flowing-...
https://www.pexels.com/video/flowing-...
https://www.pexels.com/video/video-of...

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Mechanical Claw Closeup by Harry via videvo.net
https://www.videvo.net/video/mechanic...

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Tabulae osteologicae by Christoph Jacob Trew (1695?1769)
via https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/hi...

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Shot: HDC-HS700 1920x1080 50P AVCHD
Edit: FCP7 ProRes 422
Mic: DR-05