Durability of a tin coating on belt parts

[Latinitas]

Could anyone with more practice experience tell me how durable tin coatings (the ones applied with tin-it 40/60) on belt parts like buckles, frogs and plates are? For example: on the attached buckle from my own collection, the red line indicates the place where a lot of friction will occur between the leather and the thin tin coating. Considering the thinness of the coating and friction, one can expect that the coating will become worn out pretty fast at such places. How long is the coating expected to survive? Could anybody give an indication of the durability?


And as always: English is not my nativa language, so my grammar could be somewhat incorrect.

[Jori]

It's hard to tell... do you wear your belt every day, or just once in a while?

And it depends on the way it was tinned on the first place.

[Dan Howard]

Get some Renaissance Wax and cover all metallic ornaments and decoration.

[Latinitas]

Thanks for the replies, guys!

It's hard to tell... do you wear your belt every day, or just once in a while? And it depends on the way it was tinned on the first place.

Lets assume I wear it every day like a real Roman soldier did. If I decide to make some tinned belt parts, I will use rosin (kolophonium) as flux, but I think for most modern tinned replikas this flux was used.

Get some Renaissance Wax and cover all metallic ornaments and decoration.

Could you explain what this wax exactly does, please? Does it protect metal against oxidation or also against corrosion caused by friction between the leather and tin coating?


The durability of tin coatings is important to me, since it helps me decide whether I will maka a tinned or silvered first century belt. Silvered belts are more durable, because they were covered with relatively thick silver sheet, but they were also less decorated. For me, it is a bit a dilemma between a decorated belt and a durable belt.

[Dan Howard]

It is a microcrystalline wax developed by the British Museum. It is virtually invisible when applied and protects against oxidation and, to a lesser extent, friction.

[Pointer]

Where can that wax be purchased?

[Tarbicus]

Where can that wax be purchased?

Amazon.

[Crispianus]

Never used anything other then pure tin and a suitable flux for tinning(hot dip or applied on a hot plate set over a flame)even so would say the durability is not that good, oxidisation really depends more on the conditions its stored in(had two plates on my window sill for the last 7-8 years with no problem so far)and you cant use any kind of abrasive paste to clean it as this will remove tin from the high spots..
I did read somewhere that heating a tinned copper alloy object to a suitable temperature in a reduced atmosphere would combine the tin with the copper on the surface, producing a harder more durable finish but have never tried it and not sure how this would effect the colour either...

[Latinitas]

It is a microcrystalline wax developed by the British Museum. It is virtually invisible when applied and protects against oxidation and, to a lesser extent, friction.

Ah, thanks. I see this wax is also used by professional conservators.

and you cant use any kind of abrasive paste to clean it as this will remove tin from the high spots..

That`s a big disadventage, as it`s almost impossible to tin fixed belt plates again. I think I prefer to silver my belt parts in spite of a less decorative finish.

I did read somewhere that heating a tinned copper alloy object to a suitable temperature in a reduced atmosphere would combine the tin with the copper on the surface, producing a harder more durable finish but have never tried it and not sure how this would effect the colour either...

That could be interesting to experiment with. Burnishing should inprove the durability of the tin coating too. (At least this is valid for gold coatings applied with mercury.)


But, let`s assume we were back in Roman days and do not have a professional conservant like Renaissance wax. Perhaps beeswax was used to conserve metal parts. I also assume the tin coating was intended to give a decorative finish and to protect the underlying copper alloy against oxidation, since copper (alloys) oxidate much faster than tin. Are there other soldiers around who can tell me more about their experience with tin and its durability against corrosion caused by friction between the tin coating and leather (and not by oxidation)?

[Crispianus]

You might try Silver-Tin this a roughly 5% silver 95% tin alloy which still melts at low temperature but is harder wearing and stays brighter for longer then regular tin and no more difficult to apply.

[Latinitas]

You might try Silver-Tin this a roughly 5% silver 95% tin alloy which still melts at low temperature but is harder wearing and stays brighter for longer then regular tin and no more difficult to apply.

That sounds very likely and is worth trying it.

And it depends on the way it was tinned on the first place.

In order to rediscover the original method of tinning, I have experimented with some different fluxes of which kolophonium (rosin) gave a result that is very comparable to the tin layer on an original cavalry phalera pendant from my own collection. There is no reason to assume that they didn`t know rosin in the ancient days, because it`s not difficult to get as it can be obtained from pines and conifers.

Are there other soldiers around who can tell me more about their experience with tin and its durability against corrosion caused by friction between the tin coating and leather (and not by oxidation)?

Is there anyone who can tell me more about their experience with this?

[ANTONIVS MAGNVS]

It is a microcrystalline wax developed by the British Museum. It is virtually invisible when applied and protects against oxidation and, to a lesser extent, friction.

I've read those claims before but it was confirmed to me that it's not used by the British Museum. It does work well though. I use it for my coins. A little goes a long way.