On Wednesday, March 3, 2004, at 02:10  PM, Blake Ashley wrote:

> How did you get those pewter rings on?  They look great!
>

I learned this trick from Scott Grandstaff a couple of years ago. As he 
explained it to me:

In the lathe, cut a groove in the wood about 1/4" wide and 1/4" deep. 
Use a couple of layers of masking tape around the groove, which will 
serve as the form for the liquid pewter you are going to pour in. Make 
a hole in the top of the tape. The masking tape will not burn when you 
pour in the pewter.

Pewter is easy to melt with a propane torch and a tin can.

I found that I like to make a small mouth out of putty around the hole 
in the tape so that when the liquid metal solidifies and shrinks there 
will be enough metal to file off and not be too low.

You need to make the pewter ring about an eighth bigger in diameter 
than what you want it to finish at so you will have metal to cut down 
to size. I find that it is easy to make the groove in the wood too 
narrow, and this lets the pewter get bubbles in it which can't get out.

You would think that molten pewter would burn the wood, but it doesn't. 
Let it cool by itself, no water!

The solidified pewter cuts very easily with ordinary lathe tools.

Scott has found a source for tin, which is what pewter actually is, at 
about $8 a pound. I keep an eye out for junk pewter at estate sales and 
fleas and get it for a lot less.

You can also make inlays by undercutting the area the pewter will go 
into so it can't fall out. Then file it down and polish it.

Jim Thompson, the old millrat in Riverside, CA