"Pewter vs Lead vs Tin?" Topic

Some companies sculpt and mold with pewter, others lead, others yet with a combination of metals. Is one better than the other? If so why?

The old lead-tin alloy used up to several years ago was best, IMO...than they changed to pewter which would not 'bend' as well and parts would break off......
So went off to the 'plastic' figures, which I guess has made my hobby go full circle.

Snowman,

not everyone changed to pewter - mostly seems to be the US based companies.

In the UK we are still using a lead alloy.

Mike

The use of lead in US minis stopped because of new health (or whas it enviromental?) regulations.

A large number of companies (in the UK)use a tin alloy that contains a small proportion of lead (between 9% & 20%) as this helps the flow properties when casting and seems to give a nice finish and weight to the figures.

This type of metal contains a high level of tin which is 5 times the cost of lead but is not as dangerous to your health as lead.

I've noticed that European (non-English) companies tend to advertise their figures as being tin. I've always wondered if they actually meant pewter, but didn't use that term...?

Casting is an art. Different people like different mediums. Some people paint with oil, others with acrylic, some sculptors like green stuff, others just use miliput.

When it comes to choosing material, many factors comes in, mainly price and avalability. Now in the US and Canada, we can't use lead anymore (well, not easily) and other stuff had to be tried.

Tin and pewter must not be the samne thing, there nust be a tiny difference in the allow's compostion that leads to another appelation...

Pewter is a tin based alloy. All casteing materials are an ally. Use of pure metals would result in higher melting temperatures are poorer mold fill. Lead figures, for example, have a significant amount of bismuth added.

Actually, I think it was a fear of litigation that prompted US companies to switch to pewter alloys. In the early '90s, some parental groups or such got a hold of some fantasy minis, defined them as toys, and declared them unsafe. I don't think a specific law was passed (I'm remembering an old issue of Dragon magazine that covered this), but a lot of minis companies feared there would be...

Damon.

The old so called "lead" figures are about 40-60% lead, the rest is tin. I believe that this is the correct technical definition of pewter - - an alloy of lead and tin. But in the gaming miniatures hobby, "Pewter" is now often used to mean any lead-free alloy (at least in the US).

Lead-free pewter is mainly tin with bismuth and/or antimony. The lead free stuff is usually harder and can be more brittle.

As Garand mentioned, US companies switched to lead-free due to a litigation issue in the early 1990's. The story I heard was that a woman claimed as part of divorce proceedings that her ex-husband's antique toy soldiers had poisoned their son. The publicity from this case caused the state of New York to declare lead-based miniatures to be unsafe "toys" and banned their sale in NY. So the US based minis companies switched over to lead-free before other states or the Federal government took any further action.

my understanding is that the official definition of "pewter" in the US is an alloy containing no less than 90% tin (the rest can include lead, bismuth, antimony, etc)

I believe that there is another Pewter, "English Pewter" that contains a higher lever of lead but not sure of the %

Jut founfd this piece of info on Pewter - Pewter is an alloy consisting of mainly tin and containing antimony and copper for strength and color, respectively. Although the percentages vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, a standard for present day pewter is approximately 91 percent tin, 7.5 percent antimony, and 1.5 percent copper. Modern pewter contains NO LEAD whatsoever.

Many US companies in the Historical areqa contiue to use lead. Only a few a 100% lead free . GFI, Musket and pass of the North all get their metal from the same source and it is lead Free. GFI also uses the formula for their contract casting work.

Old Glory still uses a lead formula and increased the lead content during the 2004 metal import problem. They MAY have the highest lead content formula of the big companies. The yalso have done some casting work for other companies as well. Even battleHonors/ QC/OG15, has some lead in the formula but it is a very low %.

The 'no lead' craze lasted a few years but many US companies not in New York or other heavy pro-environmental states never switched over.

An alloy is a formulation of metals which requires exact proportions in order to have the desired characteristics. A mixture is two or more metals which when blended have characteristics which vary proportionately with the blend.

Old time ‘lead soldiers' were made from a mixture of lead and tin, with the tin being 15 to 40%. "Pewter' is a term with only a vague meaning in the U.S., in Britain it refers to an alloy of mostly tin with antimony and copper, in the U.S. this is called Britannia metal or Britannia pewter and is safe for use in contact with food. Traditional pewter had a small amount of lead in it as well as copper and antimony. Alloys called ‘pewter' in the U.S. can have anything in them, there is no regulation but most commonly they are mainly tin with antimony and copper or zinc, alloys with zinc are not compatible with lead. There is also ‘type metal' or ‘pot metal' which is mostly lead with a small amount of antimony, tin and bismuth, though these alloys are brittle and unstable.

I read a UK customs definition which put pewter at 92% tin and 8% other metals.

How do the manufacturers amoungst you check the actual content of the metal to supplied? Going by the manual for a calculator I purchased 15 years ago, you could take a statistically significant sample for your desired surity (90% certain or whatever) and send it to a Metalurgist.

Anyone ever actually done it? I guess it would be expensive.

Neil
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