Chemical Contents of German Nickel Silver

R

RCC

Joined
Jun 27, 1999
Messages
172
I was wondering if anyone knows the checmical composition of nickel silver.

I guess some helpful info. would be how much carbon, manganese, chromium, nickel, vanadium, molybdenum & tungsten.

I know it is an alloy of copper, zinc & nickel.

TIA,

Ric
 
As far as I can remember Nickle silver or "German silver" is brass with just ehough nickle added to it to become silver.

It doesnt help ya much in the proportions department...And I beleive it varies a lot from the manufacture, I have seen variuos nickle contenets listed.. I can remember the melting point though... it melts at 2300degrees F
and flows at 2400degrees F..

Not much help but thats the norm..
smile.gif


Alan...

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If a Man talks in the forest, and there is no Woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?
 
As a general rule, nickel silver contains 65% Copper, 18% Nickel, 17% Zinc.
 
Yep, it is in the brass family. And I guess technically, bronze is as well. Nickel silver (German Silver), brass, and bronze all contain copper and zinc. Here's a comparison.

Nickel Silver: 60%-65% Cu, 18%-20% Ni, 17%-20% Zn

Cartridge Brass: 70% Cu, 30% Zn

Nu-Gold Brass: 88% Cu, 12% Zn

Red Brass: 90% Cu, 10% Zn

Bronze: 90%-96% Cu, 0%-25% Tin, 0%-4% Zn

I don't know how the term "German Silver" originated. Anyone want to take it from here and give us a history lesson? I think it would be interesting to know.

ADDENDUM:
I decided to edit this post and clarify something about the bronze. Nobody called my hand on it, but the specs I listed seemed to add up to more than 100%. I believe bronze is usually copper and tin, but sometimes a bit of zinc is thrown in. It comes in several "flavors". That is, bell bronze has a different ratio from statue bronze. In some cases zinc is added. So sometimes the copper content is say 90%, and the tin content is 10%, with no zinc. Another variation is 96% copper, 4% zinc, and no tin. You get the idea. Just wanted to clear this up.


[This message has been edited by primos (edited 03-28-2000).]
 
Best I can come up with is that the English knife makers of the 1800s imported the metal (and also the process of production from the continant) no doubt at least at first from Germany. A look at some of the antique knife books available shows it going back quite a bit further than that, but think we got the name from the english makers.

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old pete
 
I wondered about the name myself.."German Silver", I checked into it and found that "Western" world started using the term "Nickel Silver" during WWII, it was intended to negate giving any credit to the Germans. Ever since the name has stuck. Whether you use the term "Nickel" or "German" Silver, your correct.

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Ed Caffrey
"The Montana Bladesmith"
www.caffreyknives.com
 
I edited and modified the post above because the specs for bronze were probably confusing. If any of you wrote down the specs for later use, you might want to take a look at the updated version.
 
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