Pewter Sheet

Hi again,
I have some lead free pewter that I wish to form into sheet (thinner guage
like about 14). Are there any suggestions on how I could accomplish this
with a roller?

Greg Krynen
www.krynen.com
www.PurpleDragonGifts.com - Mythos and Beyond

Greg Krynen wrote:
Hi again,
I have some lead free pewter that I wish to form into sheet (thinner guage
like about 14). Are there any suggestions on how I could accomplish this
with a roller?

Greg Krynen
www.krynen.com
www.PurpleDragonGifts.com - Mythos and Beyond


What do you mean by 14 gauge? Birmingham wire gauge? it is easier if
you quote the thickness in 1000's of an inch
What kind of roller do you have? if any?
what thickness is the pewter sheet right now?
what width is your pewter/
we need to know all this before any silver/gold smith can post a
helpful ,to you that is, reply.
there are paint rollers,
sheet metal/vehicle body type rollers,
Hand powered squeeeze the water out of clothers rollers,
or professional metal rollers,
called rolling mills from 3in wide up to 6ft wide.
Pewter is a soft metal mostly tin which doesnt work harden when rolled
or similaly worked.
you could hammer it out if your any good. Depends on what final size
and finish you want to work with.
You may have to find a working silver smith near you and ask him/her to
roll it for you.
most of us have mills that will take up to 6 in wide metal.
If you sheet is wider than this you will need to guillotine it down to
fit the mill.

It is several large blobs of pewter. I normally pour pewter but I wanted to
play with the idea of sheeting.

I do not have a roller of any kind, nor the funds to acquire one.

To all reading this... I have a background in sheet metal working and have
used industrial size roller units before. I am interested in any ideas on
methods that do not involve a roller. My prior post forgot the out in
'without a roller'.

Greg
www.krynen.com
www.PurpleDragonGifts.com

"Ted Frater" wrote in message
...
Greg Krynen wrote:
Hi again,
I have some lead free pewter that I wish to form into sheet (thinner guage
like about 14). Are there any suggestions on how I could accomplish this
with a roller?

Greg Krynen
www.krynen.com
www.PurpleDragonGifts.com - Mythos and Beyond


What do you mean by 14 gauge? Birmingham wire gauge? it is easier if
you quote the thickness in 1000's of an inch
What kind of roller do you have? if any?
what thickness is the pewter sheet right now?
what width is your pewter/
we need to know all this before any silver/gold smith can post a
helpful ,to you that is, reply.
there are paint rollers,
sheet metal/vehicle body type rollers,
Hand powered squeeeze the water out of clothers rollers,
or professional metal rollers,
called rolling mills from 3in wide up to 6ft wide.
Pewter is a soft metal mostly tin which doesnt work harden when rolled
or similaly worked.
you could hammer it out if your any good. Depends on what final size
and finish you want to work with.
You may have to find a working silver smith near you and ask him/her to
roll it for you.
most of us have mills that will take up to 6 in wide metal.
If you sheet is wider than this you will need to guillotine it down to
fit the mill.

On Fri, 21 Oct 2005 19:11:15 -0700, "Greg Krynen"
wrote:

Hi again,
I have some lead free pewter that I wish to form into sheet (thinner guage
like about 14). Are there any suggestions on how I could accomplish this
with[out] a roller?

Greg Krynen
www.krynen.com
www.PurpleDragonGifts.com - Mythos and Beyond


The folks who build pipe organs use tin, lead and mixes thereof to make some of
the types of pipes in these wonderous instruments. I recall seeing, after our
local symphony hall premiered it's new concert organ a few years ago, a display
in the lobby that showed much of the process, some of which had not changed in
centuries. The tin/lead sheet metal they used was produced by pouring the
molten metal out on a very level table. I seem to rememeber some sort of
treated fabric (canvas? perhaps? Not sure of this. Might have been justwood)
covering, and side rails on the table that contained the metal (like the walls
of an ingot mold if you will... A "wiper" of some sort rested on those rails
and was used to spread the metal evenly on the table to a uniform thickness.
But the main point is that pewter melts at a low enough temp that your forms and
molds CAN be made of just good quality plywood or the like. It'll get a little
toasted, but it will work at least a couple times, maybe more. I'd suggest
oiling it with a good high performance motor oil to act as a mold releaseand
increase surface resistance to the heat of the metal.

What I don't remember is whether it was then subsequently also rolled to make
the surfaces smoother or more uniform. This was sheet metal a couple feet wide
and many feet long, so it would have taken a rather large rolling device,but
pewter is so soft that I imagine even a very hard wood could be used. But I
suspect that some of the metal was used directly as cast, since some of it
displays a very decorative crystaline look on the surface which doesn't look
like the crystals have been distorted by rolling.

I also wonder whether the small rolls on a pasta machine would work to thin out
a pewter sheet once you've got some semblance of such. I rather expect it
might, but haven't tried it. As I said, pewter is considerably softer than the
other metals jewelers use. If you cast a thin sheet shaped ingot, as above,
I'll bet you could smooth it some with a pasta machine's rollers. Most likely
this would be slow compared to a real metal roller, but well, if you've got a
pasta machine, try it. If not, well, they're not that expensive...

And finally, you could always do this the original way. Cast a single ingot
(melt it in the bottom of a tin can or a cooking pot you won't want to use
again, if you like. You can probably melt it just on the stove in the kitchen.)

Then use a good decently heavy, smooth faced hammer on a flat piece of steel and
hammer it to the shape you wish. Unlike the usual metals we use, pewter is at
it's hardest when first cast, and does not work harden. The more you work it,
the softer it gets, so this actually is not an unreasonable suggestion. it will
forge out fairly quickly. And you'll get some good exercise doing it.

Peter

"Peter W.. Rowe," wrote in message
...
On Fri, 21 Oct 2005 19:11:15 -0700, "Greg Krynen"
wrote:

Hi again,
I have some lead free pewter that I wish to form into sheet (thinner guage
like about 14). Are there any suggestions on how I could accomplish this
with[out] a roller?

Greg Krynen
www.krynen.com
www.PurpleDragonGifts.com - Mythos and Beyond


The folks who build pipe organs use tin, lead and mixes thereof to make some
of
the types of pipes in these wonderous instruments. I recall seeing, after
our
local symphony hall premiered it's new concert organ a few years ago, a
display
in the lobby that showed much of the process, some of which had not changed
in
centuries. The tin/lead sheet metal they used was produced by pouring the
molten metal out on a very level table. I seem to rememeber some sort of
treated fabric (canvas? perhaps? Not sure of this. Might have been just
wood)
covering, and side rails on the table that contained the metal (like the
walls
of an ingot mold if you will... A "wiper" of some sort rested on those
rails
and was used to spread the metal evenly on the table to a uniform thickness.
But the main point is that pewter melts at a low enough temp that your forms
and
molds CAN be made of just good quality plywood or the like. It'll get a
little
toasted, but it will work at least a couple times, maybe more. I'd suggest
oiling it with a good high performance motor oil to act as a mold release
and
increase surface resistance to the heat of the metal.

What I don't remember is whether it was then subsequently also rolled to
make
the surfaces smoother or more uniform. This was sheet metal a couple feet
wide
and many feet long, so it would have taken a rather large rolling device,
but
pewter is so soft that I imagine even a very hard wood could be used. But I
suspect that some of the metal was used directly as cast, since some of it
displays a very decorative crystaline look on the surface which doesn't look
like the crystals have been distorted by rolling.

I also wonder whether the small rolls on a pasta machine would work to thin
out
a pewter sheet once you've got some semblance of such. I rather expect it
might, but haven't tried it. As I said, pewter is considerably softer than
the
other metals jewelers use. If you cast a thin sheet shaped ingot, as above,
I'll bet you could smooth it some with a pasta machine's rollers. Most
likely
this would be slow compared to a real metal roller, but well, if you've got
a
pasta machine, try it. If not, well, they're not that expensive...

And finally, you could always do this the original way. Cast a single ingot
(melt it in the bottom of a tin can or a cooking pot you won't want to use
again, if you like. You can probably melt it just on the stove in the
kitchen.)

Then use a good decently heavy, smooth faced hammer on a flat piece of steel
and
hammer it to the shape you wish. Unlike the usual metals we use, pewter is
at
it's hardest when first cast, and does not work harden. The more you work
it,
the softer it gets, so this actually is not an unreasonable suggestion. it
will
forge out fairly quickly. And you'll get some good exercise doing it.

Peter


Thank you Peter for the most excellant information. I di not think to trymy
pasta machine (I have one for use with polymer clay). A good history lesson
as well. Again thank you.

Greg Krynen
www.krynen.com
www.PurpleDragonGifts.com

Greg Krynen wrote:
It is several large blobs of pewter. I normally pour pewter but I wanted to
play with the idea of sheeting.

I do not have a roller of any kind, nor the funds to acquire one.

To all reading this... I have a background in sheet metal working and have
used industrial size roller units before. I am interested in any ideas on
methods that do not involve a roller. My prior post forgot the out in
'without a roller'.

Greg
www.krynen.com
www.PurpleDragonGifts.com

"Ted Frater" wrote in message
...
Greg Krynen wrote:

Hi again,
I have some lead free pewter that I wish to form into sheet (thinner guage
like about 14). Are there any suggestions on how I could accomplish this
with a roller?

Greg Krynen
www.krynen.com
www.PurpleDragonGifts.com - Mythos and Beyond



What do you mean by 14 gauge? Birmingham wire gauge? it is easier if
you quote the thickness in 1000's of an inch
What kind of roller do you have? if any?
what thickness is the pewter sheet right now?
what width is your pewter/
we need to know all this before any silver/gold smith can post a
helpful ,to you that is, reply.
there are paint rollers,
sheet metal/vehicle body type rollers,
Hand powered squeeeze the water out of clothers rollers,
or professional metal rollers,
called rolling mills from 3in wide up to 6ft wide.
Pewter is a soft metal mostly tin which doesnt work harden when rolled
or similaly worked.
you could hammer it out if your any good. Depends on what final size
and finish you want to work with.
You may have to find a working silver smith near you and ask him/her to
roll it for you.
most of us have mills that will take up to 6 in wide metal.
If you sheet is wider than this you will need to guillotine it down to
fit the mill.


Peter had pointed you in the right direction.
Remelt and repour into a flat a sheet as you can. ,
but do a bit of local digging first.
Try and find a silver smith with a rolling mill so you cast to within
his roll width. but Certainly not more than a 1/4 in thick. Hell then be
able to take it down wilst you wait. I certainly would.
Usual w/shop hourly rate.
either a hand mull or a powered mill would be fine.