re-tinning tinware

[Hungry Horse]

 I have a couple of hand made flagons made of tinned steel, that have over time, lost their coating. Does anybody know how to restore the tin to the outside, and the inside, of these items? I'm afraid that if I try to tin them like you would a sheet iron kettle, the solder seams will open up.

           Hungry Horse

[davec2]

Tin is an easy metal to electroplate.  However, if your not set up to do electroplating, it would take quite a bit of effort to get all the chemicals, tanks, power supplies, etc. you would need to do it.  I would recommend finding someone who does electrolytic tin plating to restore the tankards for you.

[Hungry Horse]

 I guess I should have said, I wanted something more authentic, and durable, than electro-plating ( which is what was on them originally). I was thinking of tinning them like one tins a copper pot. But, I found that most copper pots are brazed together, not soldered. This is the problem with these tinned tankards. Is there any food safe compound that would protect the solder from execs heat during the tinning process?

             Hungry Horse

[Chuck Burrows]

HH - why not contact a couple of the current historic tin smiths such as Carl Giordano http://www.cg-tinsmith.com/ or Jim Kimpell/Highhorse Trading - they both do traditional hot dip tinning and IIRC their goods are soldered

[Hungry Horse]

 Thanks Chuck, I think these are the people that will answer my questions.

                Hungry Horse