The two most common questions we are asked in our shop are “What are these products made of? ” and “What is pewter?”
Pewter is a metal alloy consisting of 90 to 95% tin (Sn) with the balance being made up of various other elements like copper (Cu), antimony (Sb), bismuth (Bi) and sometimes silver (Ag).
Large amounts of lead (Pb) can also be mixed with tin to produce a low grade pewter. It is now illegal to have any lead in pewter used to manufacture items in the food and beverage industry such as cups, cutlery, tankards and plates.
To insure we have 100% lead free products, we mix our own pewter using only tin and antimony, varying the amount of antimony depending on the articles we are making and the hardness we are trying to achieve. The more antimony one adds the harder the pewter alloy becomes. Tin by itself is very soft and not suitable for the products we make.