copper for guards?

M

max1224

Joined
Nov 9, 1999
Messages
15

I am wondering why nobody ever mentions using copper or bronze for guards or bolsters. I am making a hunting knife out of CPM 3V and was thinking of attaching either copper or bronze for the guard. Can anyone tell me if it is done and if not why? I would to find out before i have any adverse effects down the road.
 
Go for it!
I think copper looks great. It has a rich color when polished, but tarnishes easily.
You also have a good range of colors that can be produced. I have gotten bright blue on bronze by coating the piece in salt, sitting it over an open container of ammonia and then covering it for a week. The pieces have to be very clean for the patina to work or it will flake off.

Experiment with it.

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If a man can keep alert and imaginative, an error is a possibility, a chance at something new; to him, wandering and wondering are a part of the same process. He is most mistaken, most in error, whenever he quits exploring.

William Least Heat Moon
 
I think copper would look really nice.what kind of handles are you going to use with it?
Try not to cut your self on the copper(duh)I've heard that you can get blood poisoning from it. I know I heard that from someone before, but I don't remember who it was so they might have been full of .... and they might not have. Any how be careful.

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Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
i also love copper, my dad works for an electrical contractor and he gets chunks of it for me all the time, the only thing is that it gets very hot very fast when your grinding it, so if your not carefull it will melt off your epoxy very quickl

Aaron G.
 
I have seen copper used for guards/bolsters before on a few knives, it looks really good right after buffing but it will tarnish. Maybe if it could be sealed with something...

I would use copper that is used from electrical bus bars, it is of good quality and has no pitting.

Bronze on the other hand is usually cast and will tend to have more pits.

C Wilkins
 
Thanks for all the help guys. Does anyone know of a way to seal it, so it doesn't tarnish.
 
max1224,

To stop it from tarnishing you have to seal it against air and moisture. Seal it with what I'm not sure.
Experiment with it.
Maybe wax (clear) or Flitz or Simichrome polish.

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If a man can keep alert and imaginative, an error is a possibility, a chance at something new; to him, wandering and wondering are a part of the same process. He is most mistaken, most in error, whenever he quits exploring.

William Least Heat Moon
 
Wax would be pretty temporary. Maybe seal it with liquid epoxy? I suspect any sealing coat would be scratched under normal use and the copper would need frequent refinishing, even if the finish were something as sturdy as epoxy.
 
I have done some small Damascus blades with copper guards and the petina that comes with age looks very good, also you can use ferric cloride from Radio Shack to do the Petina when it's diluted to a 50 50 solution.

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Curtis Wilson -
Wilson's Custom Knives, Engraving, and Scrimshaw
 
Hi all!
Sorry, i am a little late in this topic.
For making guards or bolsters i work allmost exclusively with bronze, because i think that the red golden colour and the deep brown patina of it is much more beautiful than the yellow gold and the ugly green tarnish of brass. Plus you have the possibility to forge the bronze if you want a very special surface.
If you want to have something with a more copper-like look, but not with the green patina look of copper you can try to make something japanese. This is a little difficult and for people with a little more money, too. What you can make is called shakudo. It is an alloy of 95 % copper and 5 % gold. If polished, it looks like copper, but the patina of it is deep black. Maybe you have seen some black tsubas on japanese swords. the expensive one's are made of shakudo. I have made my own by using old, broken jewellery to get the gold and copper from electric bus bars. Just melt it together in a small crucible and pour it in a form made of (heated) sepia to get small bars.
You can have a nice patina by using ferric cloride, antimon chloride or FeS (sorry, i don't know the english name for that) on it. The black patina is very stable.

Achim
 
The Bronze sounds great, but I haven't been able to find any. Does anybody out there know a source for 1x1/4 bronze bar?

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I love my country! I just don't trust my government!
 
AchimW,

Good tips. I'll have to try those.

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If a man can keep alert and imaginative, an error is a possibility, a chance at something new; to him, wandering and wondering are a part of the same process. He is most mistaken, most in error, whenever he quits exploring.

William Least Heat Moon
 
I work with bus-bar copper every day, but I haven't used it on a knife yet because it tarnishes so quickly.
I am planning on making a set of brushed bolsters of it though - the copper gets a very beautiful surface when you use a rotating steelbrush.
There is a product out there that works like gun-bluing and turns copper black - I've forgotten the name of it but I'll find it.
I'd rather have something that keeps it shining.
 
I've had better results with Formula 44/40 gun blue on copper, brass, and aluminum than with products labeled specifically for those metals. They all have the same active ingredient anyway, selenic acid ... some brands have a whole display of bottles with different labels, one for brass, one for steel, one for aluminum ... and every one says "active ingredient: selenic acid." I can't help wondering if there's any difference at all in the contents of those bottles ... there doesn't seem to be, as far as I can tell.

-Cougar Allen :{)
 
I have found that Brownell's Oxpho-Blue has the same effect on bronze as the stuff I bought especially for that purpose. It turns bronze, copper and brass a rich deep brown, also nickel/silver. I haven't tried it on aluminum yet. I take a piece of wool and sort of buff the center of the bolster, by hand, until the bronze starts to get a normal color and when it tarnishes it blends with the brown. I kind of like the look.
Tom

[This message has been edited by T. Militano (edited 01 December 1999).]
 
Thanks for all of the great ideas. I have lots of copper and bronze laying around and i think i'm going to try some of these methods. I might even try to make some mokume out of some of it.
 
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