Homemade Nickel Silver

C

cwhittington

Joined
Sep 6, 2002
Messages
106
I've been toying with the idea of making NS out of nickels and pennies for some time and finally got around to trying it yesterday and I was really pleased with the result. I would post a pic but my camera is broken. Anyway, if you melt 5 nickels and 2 pennies (zinc core) you get
an alloy with a theoretical composition of aprox. 63%Cu, 16%Zn and 21%Ni and it looks like nickel silver. I use the term theoretical because as I poured it from the crucible, some of the zinc burned momentarily when it was exposed to the air. I used my cheapo scrap gas forge with an EZ burner
to melt it and have a small graphite crucible and I covered the coins in a good layer of borax. It got to a good yellow heat before the coins melted.
I don't know what the high or low limits for Cu etc. are, but I believe this falls in the category, or is at least very close. I worked out another recipie that is the same as the 5 nickel 2 penny version with the addition of
1 pre-1982 penny, which yields a theoretical alloy with 65.4% Cu, 15.4% Zn, and 19.2% Ni which makes it closer to the standard 65/17/18 nickel silver.
I should say that I'm no expert and have never used NS before, but the result is a silver color with a very slight yellow cast to it. If I am missing something here please let me know and if anyone else has done this before I would like to hear what your results were. I don't have the dimensions of the product with me but 5 nickels and 2 pennies yielded enough for one small to medium gaurd or pommel cap by my estimation.
Try it out!
 
Just make sure you have plenty of ventillation,or the camera may not be the only thin not working! I prefer using NS casting grain to cast and sheet stock to grind.I don't see the value in using 28 cents in materials,$500 to $5000 in equipment ,and an hour in time to save about one dollar.Especially when you end up with an unknown quantity for a final product.I've said it before (and there are many who think different) ,and I still believe - Buy quality materials from a known source if you want to make quality knives with reliable results.
 
Not sure what the penney's are other than the fact they haven't been copper for a long time. I've used them in a pinch as washers......
 
Raymond Richard said:
Not sure what the penney's are other than the fact they haven't been copper for a long time. I've used them in a pinch as washers......
Click to expand...
Ray; How about a washer in a pinch????? :confused: :confused:
 
Ray; How about a washer in a pinch?????

I use pennies for washers all the time. Here's the math George. A penny is worth about .....nothing. A nickle is worth about a penny.

A washer costs .05 to .07.

If you use a penny, you saved .04 to .06 :eek:
 
I neglected to mention the hazard that burning zinc poses- I should remember that there might be some who read this not knowing the danger.
I should also mention not to touch the NS until it is cooled... really that's a joke but I think there is political correctness thing going on here that assumes that we can't take care of ourselves and unless big brother watches out for us we will kill ourselves- enough of that rant.

"I don't see the value in using 28 cents in materials,$500 to $5000 in equipment..." I sure would like to know where in my garage all that equipment is hiding! I reallize now that there is no apparent interest in this sort of thing here, but I was thinking there might be some guys out there like me who can't afford even the $11.00 I spent at the spring shop for new
5160 barstock or the $30.00 for the cheapo Harbor Freight belt grinder or the $25 or so I spent making my gas forge. I'm not a pro and don't aspire to be, I just want to make knives. There must be a few more like me out there.
 
Jim- Thanks for the link! I've been a registered user at that site but it's been so long I forgot about it. There probably would be more interest in this sort of thing on that site. And thanks for letting me know that curiosity and
thinking outside the box are still alive here!
 
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