Any cheap source for tin?

vviking said:
I've got all my friends, family and co-workers on the look out for yard sale pewter ... so far no luck.
Am waaay too cheap to pay the going rate for solder, so I am.
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Sally ann, value village, places like that often have pewter. Sometimes marked down if dented, no problem, I'll take it all.
 
got most of my tin from a hvac supplier (i'm in the biz) for $10/pound. walked out with 10lbs for the cost of 9, but they haven't restocked since i've cleaned them out.
 
Try going to radiator repair shops and ask for drippings. They desolder and resolder over big tanks of water to catch the solder drippings. They usually sell fairly cheap. The problem for me is automotive radiators are all aluminum cores with plastic tanks so they are not getting repaired anymore. We have no rad shop in our city anymore. I have never found pewter in a thrift shop like Value Village. Far too much competition. Local pawn shops want way too much for anything they have as well.
 
Last spring I went to see a scrap metal dealer just outside of Chilliwack. I called ahead beforehand to make sure he had enough worth the effort. He had just over 200 pounds of pewter ornaments in pretty sad shape. He also had ten pounds of pure tin ingots and a 50 pound lump of solder that had been put into a cast iron pot and melted just enough to make it easy to press together. They also had 30 pounds of sheet lead that was nice and clean.

The fellow running the yard told me he would have to either take time off or pay someone to deliver it to a local smelting firm. He figured about 3-4 hours all around. If he had to pay one of his guys to do the job, he lost half a days work as well. He sold me the whole barrel full of the pewter, tin ingots and solder/sheet lead for $225. Now, I am on the search for more good lead. I also have one of the local garages save wheel weights for me whenever I need it. Far to much crap in that stuff but seeing as it is mostly used for target shooting it is no big deal if a bit of zinc gets into the mix. For hunting bullets I have been casting quite hard. 50/50 mix of pewter and lead. Yup, it's a waste but those bullets cast and shoot very well with that mix. They also hold together very well at higher velocities without giving me to much metal fouling. 45 and 58 caliber bullets have a lot of cross section and expansion isn't really needed.
 
Hey fellows: Many thanks for all the great ideas so far. This is one of the great benefits of a forum like this. In the meantime, I did a bit of research and found that babbitt metal is a good source of tin also. Often heavy industry uses babbitt for casting bearings and saw guides....while digging through my stash, I happily found an old ingot of babbitt that was given to me years ago...don't you just love these treasure hunts? Thanks again...much appreciated...
 
I spent most of the summer searching for pewter at garage sales and such. Found three pieces but did find many salt and pepper shakers made of lead and candle holders. The sort of Value Villiage thing here had pewter objects but they were in a special area and marked up to prices that only a collector would pay.
 
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