Harold Stout, age 11, of Champaign, I11., for his question:
HOW IS PEWTER MADE?
Pewter is a metal alloy that is made up mainly of tin. It has a metallic, white color much like that of silver and a finish that can vary from dull to highly polished. Pewter consists of at least 90 percent tin, a very soft metal.
The first step in making pewter is to melt the tin in a pot called a crucible. Next, antimony and copper are dissolved in the liquid tin. Once mixed thoroughly, the alloy is poured into metal, plaster or wooden forms to cast the desired articles.
Pewter can also be poured into iron molds and then rolled and cut into standard shapes. Such shapes include disks, rectangular sheets and wires, which craftsmen from into various objects.
Pewter disks are shaped by a process called spinning. Spinning consists of holding the disk against a steel or wooden form turned by a machine called a lathe. Craftsmen use blunt tools to push the pewter into the shape of the spinning form.
Pewter sheets are shaped into various items by hammering the metal with a leather, metal, plastic or wooden mallet. Craftsmen use pewter wires as decorative trim for articles made of pewter.
Various parts of many pewter items are joined by a process called soldering.
At one time, most pewter also contained lead. But lead caused tarnishing. It also could dissolve in some foods and beverages served in pewter ware, forming toxic substances.
During the mid 1700s, a nonlead pewter called Britannia metal came into use in England. It consisted of tin, antimony and copper and did not tarnish. Today, Britannia metal and pewter are almost identical and pewter articles may be made of either alloy.
Pewter ranks as one of the oldest known alloys and may have been used as early as 1500 B.C. From the A.D. 1300s to the 1800s, Europeans used pewter household utensils exclusively.
Most of the early pewter used by the American colonists was imported from England. In 1635, an Englishman named Richard Graves opened the first pewter shop in the American colonies. His shop was in Salem in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
The colonists used many pewter articles, but few such items they made still exist. Tin had to be imported from England, and the English placed a high tax on it. Therefore, the colonists had their old or damaged pewter ware melted and recast into new objects.
During the 1800s, china and glassware gradually replaced pewter.
Today, most antique pewter is in museums or private collections. But during the 1970s, it became increasingly popular to again use pewter items. Today, many people use recently made pewter tea services, mugs, pitchers, candlesticks and bowls.
Pewter articles should be washed in hot, soapy water as soon as possible after being used. The items should be rinsed in clear hot water and dried immediately. The items should not be left to dry in the air since this may leave water spots which are difficult to remove. Pewter should never be washed in a dishwasher.