028v - - - - - 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 lead on 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 lead they 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 dest iron 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.
at left middle margin
+ 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 tin one, like 4 or 5 lb, one only puts six of rosette. And commonly, per quintal of tin, one adds x lb of both.