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Pewterers

They deem the best tin is the one that comes in
saulmons, which has not been remelted since it came from the
mine, because the masters remelt it a in
grilles, weighing two or three lb, to easily
cut it up and sell it by the piece. And in this they often mix in
leftovers from plates, soldering & common tin.
And to recognise the best one, it is the most lustrous, which looks
burnished, because it is the softest. Sometimes in their
saulmons they find pieces of iron, stones, & similar
things mixed in, to cheat on the weight. The tin from
England is so hard that the miners put in
lead to soften it. The one that comes by way of Germany
is softer. Usually, the sworn master pewterers, from
bonnes villes, add six lb of fine
leadon or eight on a quintal of fine
tin. The others, who work in the countryside,
put fifteen or 20 or as much as they can, and to cover up the blackness
of the leadthey and its softness, they put in
looking-glass tin, 4 lb per quintal,
+, po which whitens & hardens,
and a little six or eight lb of rosette on a
quintal to render the plate sonorous. 



To mold platters & dishes, they make them out of pierre
porte morte, that is from
grais, & they shape &polish around
them on the wheel. They melt their tin in an
destiron posnet on a
charcoal fire, and with an iron spoon that holds
almost a sufficient quantity for a platter, they cast
leu in their cold molds, which they keep
joined & tight between their knees. And soon after, they
open the molds so that they do not heat up, & having taken
out the cast which is on the female side, & which breaks easily.
Then, with a cloth which soaks in water, which they
always have beside them, they rub the middle of the back of the dish
& around the edge, so that it comes out better, and they rub the
female mold.

+

When the tin is fine, one adds less glass-looking tin,
namely 4 lb per quintal, but if the tin is low
quality, that is to say allied with a lot of lead, one puts
at least five or six lb of looking-glass tin to it.



If there is not a lot of looking-glass tin, one puts about two or
three lb per quintal. One puts eight lb of
rosette. But if there is a lot of looking-glass tinone, like 4 or 5 lb, one only puts six of
rosette. And commonly, per quintal of tin, one
adds x lb of both.



Go to the fifth leaf.

