Bronze

Walt2

Walt2

Joined
Mar 13, 2001
Messages
1,157
I am curious if any of you guys have ever used bronze for guards and/or butt caps?
 
There are many types of bronze. The most usefull are tin bronze and silicon bronze and phosphor bronze. They can't be hardened by HT but can be hardened by cold work. Tin bronze is like the original bronze with 10 % Sn in Cu. Phosphor bronze has a redder color.
 
What do you think about aluminum bronze? I've got a couple of pieces but haven't finished anything with them yet.
 
has anybody forged a sword from bronze? swords today are decoration for the most part.
 
Originally swords were cast not forged bronze. Cast reproductions are available ! I made a miniature bronze leaf sword from silicon bronze which I did by hammering and annealing stages.
 
Exactly.
The sword I've seen was cast, and the blade hardened by hammering.
I imagine that when keith said "forged" he meant the hardening by hammering.
 
The cutting edges were sometimes hardened by hammering which you can do to a limited extent.
 
Hammered bronze was, in fact, harder and tougher than pure wrought iron.
There was an interesting article on the subject on Scientific American, years ago.
The authors surmised that the change from the (for the times) far superior bronze to inferior iron (softer and prone to rusting) was due to the seizing of copper and/or exhaustion of the tin mines in middle east by migrating populations.
I've read it a lot of years ago and don't remember the details.
This led to the necessity of using other metals, like iron.
With time iron proved far superior, when steel was discovered.
 
This thread has a nice beginning, but it's not done yet!
Which type will be the most conducive to knife work as regards machineability and resistance to oxidation?
Is there one form that is close to brass in machineability?
Mild stainless?
What type does Lin Rhea use?
 
I did a short sword a year or two ago. It was in phosphor bronze. I would bring it up to red,quench in water, hammer a bit,repeat. It was slow work. It did get a surprisingly hard edge. Maybe I'll hammer out another one while demoing at Williamsburg (actually, Jamestown) on the 29th. I have used it for guards. Like brass, the color changes.I like the old brown look,though.
Stacy
 
On the aforementioned site I read that silicon bronze is inferior/softer than 12% tin bronze, and that tin-lead bronze is worst (i've read the test of a lead bronze sword which was badly dented during abuse, while the pure tin one resisted much better).
Does someone know something more specific of bronze alloys?
 
www.copper.org I would not use leaded [free machining] grades for any blades , too brittle !It would be ok for pommels and guards. Don't use beryllium copper, grinding dust is very toxic !!! What you use depends somewhat on availability. I have no idea what's available in Italy. Here I've gotten my bronze from www.mcmaster.com Casting and wrought alloys are different because you want fluidity in casting but that's not important in wrought. Tin bronze casts well. BTW there has been a number of posts on www.swordforum.com about casting swords as a member does that. Also discussions about bronze vs iron in use .They are very similar. Bronze vs STEEL is a different story ,steel being better.
 
Thanks for the warning. I know, beryllum copper bronze will KILL you in a matter of months... :eek:
One of the most dangerous things around, beryllum.
They have banned beryllum aluminum alloys from F1 race cars due to its toxicity.
Beryllum bronze is even worst, they tell me. Easier to metabolize for the organism, I think, and so enters various systems quickly.
Godawfully hard, though. But definitely not worth it. :rolleyes:
 
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