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- Sep 27, 2000
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Is there some relevant difference between bronze and brass when used for making a knife guard, spacers, etc... Or it's just a matter of looks?
Canis Lupus
Canis Lupus
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Bronze
- Thread starter Canis Lupus
- Start date
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- 1,370
Well for one thing, depending on the bronze alloy, (I understand the silicon bronzes can be forged nicely), bronze can be forged to shape and it has a nicer color in my opinion. Brass generally can not be hot worked and can be a bit "brassy" in color. -Guy T.
You might try looking in the archives as I asked a similar question a few months ago and got some very useful info.
Some varieties (depending on the alloy)can be hazardous to your respiritory system so use a respirator of the appropriate type.
The nicest that I have found is "Marine" bronze.
It is incredibly hard. Often used in berings
of ships, it has a beautiful golden luster that makes plain brass look cheap.
I suggest that you try a scrap yard especially if you are near a fishing port as I am.
Here is a Tip. Try going on a week-end when the boss is not around. I have found that if
you pay cash and don't want a receipt it is often possible to get what you are looking for very inexpensively.
I picked up a 3ft.long x 1 1/2inch wide x 3/4 inch bar of marine bronze for $20.00 Cdn.
If I am careful when I cut it I estimate that i will get 72 guards (1 3/8" x 3/4" x 3/8"). This works out to about .27 cents per guard. The standard brass guard of the same dimensions costs me about $7.00 Canadian from the U.S. knife supply companies.
That means $504.00 Cdn minus the original $20.00 or $484.00 still in my pocket for a morning spent at the band saw.
Sorry for going on so long but I just love it when I find a way to save money and can pass it on to other novice makers.
good luck Jim Ziegler
Some varieties (depending on the alloy)can be hazardous to your respiritory system so use a respirator of the appropriate type.
The nicest that I have found is "Marine" bronze.
It is incredibly hard. Often used in berings
of ships, it has a beautiful golden luster that makes plain brass look cheap.
I suggest that you try a scrap yard especially if you are near a fishing port as I am.
Here is a Tip. Try going on a week-end when the boss is not around. I have found that if
you pay cash and don't want a receipt it is often possible to get what you are looking for very inexpensively.
I picked up a 3ft.long x 1 1/2inch wide x 3/4 inch bar of marine bronze for $20.00 Cdn.
If I am careful when I cut it I estimate that i will get 72 guards (1 3/8" x 3/4" x 3/8"). This works out to about .27 cents per guard. The standard brass guard of the same dimensions costs me about $7.00 Canadian from the U.S. knife supply companies.
That means $504.00 Cdn minus the original $20.00 or $484.00 still in my pocket for a morning spent at the band saw.
Sorry for going on so long but I just love it when I find a way to save money and can pass it on to other novice makers.
good luck Jim Ziegler
Hey kraut, i am a Kraut, too!
I don't work with brass at all, because i think that it looks cheap and if it ages it will look somewhat dirty. Tin bronze will get a rich gold brown toe when aging, which is pretty compared to the dirty greenish grey brown of brass.
BUT bronze is a lot harder to work, especially if you do all your work by hand, like i do. That's why most knifemaking companies prefer to use brass.
Achim
I don't work with brass at all, because i think that it looks cheap and if it ages it will look somewhat dirty. Tin bronze will get a rich gold brown toe when aging, which is pretty compared to the dirty greenish grey brown of brass.
BUT bronze is a lot harder to work, especially if you do all your work by hand, like i do. That's why most knifemaking companies prefer to use brass.
Achim
- Joined
- Oct 4, 1999
- Messages
- 551
I would not mess with trying to forge brass. One type of brass gives off zinc gas when hot forged. It is very bad for you.
Bronze has a richer color than brass and is much nicer to work.
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Phillip Jones
Jones Knives
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=126319&Auth=false
[This message has been edited by Phillip Jones (edited 11-13-2000).]
Bronze has a richer color than brass and is much nicer to work.
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Phillip Jones
Jones Knives
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=126319&Auth=false
[This message has been edited by Phillip Jones (edited 11-13-2000).]
- Joined
- Jun 27, 1999
- Messages
- 804
The main difference between bronze and brass is that brass is copper with some zinc added, whereas bronze is copper with some tin added. I think most people prefer bronze for all the good reasons stated. I tried to forge brass once. Don't do that. It gets ugly. It will cold forge ok, but it does tend to get toxic when you overheat it even slightly. Not worth the risk when bronze forges more readily and with no toxic gasses or strange oxidization to deal with.
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Oz
"Nonsense. I have not yet begun to defile myself."
http://www.freespeech.org/oz/
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Oz
"Nonsense. I have not yet begun to defile myself."
http://www.freespeech.org/oz/