[Bryn-gwlad] Anyone want to go in on a pewter order?

[Stefan li Rous]

On Feb 21, 2007, at 6:32 AM, Chris Zakes wrote:

> At 11:14 PM 2/20/2007, you wrote:
>
> (snip)
>
>> So, if anyone wants any of this pewter, just let me know the number
>> of 2 1/3 pound ingots you want and when it gets here you can get it
>> from me at fighter practice or a local event such as the business
>> meeting.
>>
>> Since the price is rising and I need to make sure I have this for
>> Gulf Wars, I will probably order late this week or early next week.
>
>
> Just out of curiosity... could old pewter site tokens be melted down
> and re-used? If so, would it be worthwhile to put up a "pewter
> recycling bin" at events? While some folks like to keep site tokens
> as pilgrim badges, I bet a lot of them end up in the trash or at the
> bottom of a closet somewhere.
>
>          -Tivar Moondragon

Yes, old pewter site tokens can certainly be melted down and reused.  
My standard policy with the tokens I make for the barony is to make  
more than the number thought to be needed. For instance, 200 instead  
of 150. And then I buy back any unused tokens at the same price they  
were sold originally to the barony, which is usually at my cost or  
slightly less. This way event stewards don't have to feel guilty  
about spending money on extra tokens, yet we lessen the chance of  
someone arriving at the event and not getting their token. You never  
get back 100% due to the loss in spills, oxidation and such, though.

One of the reasons that I got into casting the site tokens/pilgrim  
badges was to be able to have site tokens that were unique and  
rememberable, rather than trying to remember six months later which  
event this piece of ribbon and bead came from. So, I like to see them  
for that reason. However, if folks don't like having the tokens then  
they aren't really an event requirement since they often are seldom  
checked for.

If people don't want their pewter tokens from previous events, I will  
be happy to take them and reuse them in future projects. You do want  
to make sure that you aren't mixing leaded and unleaded pewter  
together, though.  Other than one event when I sold pilgrim badges,  
some of lead and some of lead-free pewter all of the castings I've  
done were done with lead-free pewter. I don't know about others who  
have cast tokens for the barony, however.

I have gotten better over the years in using a minimum of pewter and  
am happy to teach those methods to other pewter casters. The recent  
castings I've done for the barony were around a dime each. The new  
prices will likely double that, but I still think it is reasonable.  
When I started 15? years ago, I was using about 20 cents of pewter  
for each badge. Larger ones, such as those I did for last year's Gulf  
War A&S competition did cost a bit more.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****