What the heck is in Pot metal

peter nap

peter nap

Joined
Nov 27, 1999
Messages
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I'm working on a replica rifleman's knife. The description says the scales are pot metal. I've used the term all my life but have no idea what it is made of.
Any ideas?
 
Only IG would say that :rolleyes:

Noun 1. pot metal - cast iron used for making cooking wares
cast iron - an alloy of iron containing so much carbon that it is brittle and so cannot be wrought but must be shaped by casting
2. pot metal - an alloy of copper and lead used especially for making large pots
alloy, metal - a mixture containing two or more metallic elements or metallic and nonmetallic elements usually fused together or dissolving into each other when molten; "brass is an alloy of zinc and copper"
Junk!!!
 
Potmetal= a mixture of copper and lead. Probably not very good for edge retention. :D

n2s
 
I think Mete hit it. They are Grey/silver colored and supposedly melts below 900F.
That looks like a zinc/lead alloy to me.
I have plenty of lead but aside from scraping galvanized pipe, what am I going to melt that's zinc?
 
Inside of pennies are zinc, lots of electrical connectors are zinc. I know there are other thigns(had a list of them at one time for scrounging to do zinc phosphate parkerizing).
 
"Sounds good.... If you know some one who is an Electrician... the cast EMT connectors and couplings are zinc"

"You can buy solid zinc anodes at marine (as in ocean) stores. they are used to control corrosion. "

Pulled from thread on parkerizing. Mentioned in thread later in relation to the electrical connectors using a "BX" connector? Not sure if that has any significance for you, doesn't for me.
 
Howdy Don - assuming that the rifleman's knife you are working on is an 18th/19th century original and that the scales were cast, than more than likely the "pot" metal they are referring too is some sort of pewter alloy. The term "pot metal" at that period of time referred to the fact that it was the commonly used base metal for such items as silver plated tea pots. There were many and varied proprietary pewter alloys - mostly a high tin content alloy with the addition of such things as bismuth, antimony, and even lead. When you see terms such as Britannia Metal, etc. they are almost assuredly referring to a pewter alloy of some sort.
The term today includes aluminum, zinc, or lead based "white" metals such as Babbitt metal - basically anything cheap and easy to melt and cast.
 
NOTE: Anybody melting lead or zinc remember the fumes of both are toxic so use the proper precautions (zinc is a major component of galvanizing - one reason anybody who cooks food in a galvanized bucket or trash can is just asking for trouble - maybe not right away, but the toxins are cumulative)

Don I know you're a scrounger extraordinaire - but me I'd stick with any of the commercially available pewter mixes - www.riogrande.com has it for something like $5.75 a pound or so. They also have several other white metal alloys. Or you can go to second hand stores, garage sales, etc and find lots of pewter ware usually.
 
Speaking of zinc and galvenizing.......I will NEVER forget my trip to the galvenizers somewhere near Richmond VA. This was about 18 years ago and I was a blacksmith's apprentice at the time. We were working on some mild steel structures for a Catholic church in Lynchburg and had brought them down to have them hot dipped and coated in zinc. The place was a big industrial building and the first thing I noticed was that although there were a bunch of trees outside, not one of them was living. There was just this gray pallor hanging over everything. The people working in the plant were of the roughest sort and none of them were particularly healthy looking.

Anyway, the pieces were hoisted with a crane and lowered into a series of immense pickling vats that stripped them of grease and crud and etched the steel a bit. From there they were lowered into a huge vat of molten zinc. They were spectacular when they emerged, all shiny and bright silver. The heat of the tank had caused some slight warpage but it was pretty minor. From there the pieces were loaded back on the truck and taken home where we then spent a couple of days painting them by hand. I remember feeling greatly relieved to have left the galvenizing plant though......
 
I've always thought pot metal was another name for pewter, at least that is the way my grandfather used the term.
 
I would have not referred to pewter as pot metal but that would be a better choice for Peter's project.
 
As a Kid I asked my Dad what Pot Metal was and he told me it was whatever was tossed into the pot when thy were melting it. Gib
 
Gib Guignard said:
As a Kid I asked my Dad what Pot Metal was and he told me it was whatever was tossed into the pot when thy were melting it. Gib
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Gib: They had iron back then??? I figured that that you would be tossing bronze in the pot. :confused: :eek: ;)
 
I import "cast iron" from china to Puerto Rico pot matel is basicly any kind of metal old engines scrap what ever mealted down and usually poorded into molds most ornamental are movng to forged metal potmetal dosent weld well if at all as forged can be cut put back togather if need be
Peace
Bob
 
Thanks everyone. I'm glad I'm not the only one not certain about it. I think I'll follow Chuck's suggestion. I'll scrounge some pewter and maybe add a touch of lead to cut the shine.
 
and maybe add a touch of lead to cut the shine
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Peter - Birchwood Casey's Super Blue gives pewter a great old, worn grey color - just wipe it on and then wipe off immediately. Take a look at the CactusRose Bear Jawbone knife and you'll see what I mean.
 
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