Real Bronze Blades

G

Gabriel Velasco

Joined
May 2, 2018
Messages
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I've seen some comparisons of bronze vs steel. Of course steel wins in a blade to blade "shootout," but bronze does have some advantages. It turns out that steel didn't win right away because it was better. Iron was just much cheaper and more available because it only required one metal from one location while bronze required two metals, copper and tin, from two separate locations. Copper is much easier to work with because it can be cast at a much lower temperature. If a bronze sword breaks, it can be easily melted down and recast. It takes a wicket sharp edge and if it dulls or gets nicked, it can easily be worked back into a very sharp edge again. And, last but not least, bronze is EXTREMELY corrosion resistant, much more than even the best steels. We have found 2,000 and 3,000 year old bronze swords where the blade is still sharp! The first steels were actually very low grade with lots of impurities. They were brittle and not much tougher than copper.

There are some newer copper alloys available that are approaching the toughness of softer steels. I know that a good steel will always outperform copper, but a true copper blade could be made wicked sharp and would look very cool. I've done a search, but I don't seen any modern knife or sword makers using Copper, except for one guy in England who's making swords using an English pattern that was found over there. It seems to me that there might be a market for newer sword patterns, or even knives, in bronze, especially a newer bronze alloy.

Thoughts? Has anyone seen new knives being done in bronze?
 

What do y'all think of this?

I'd especially like some input re the handle. I've never done a braided handle wrap like this, so I didn't quite know what I was doing, so the braided part ended up shorter than I wanted it. Does it look stupid? Do I need to start over? Btw, the blade is bronze, the handle wrap...
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com

I haven't seen more from this maker, but he is still active here selling his steel knives.
 
There is a reason people like to use steel over copper or bronze.
‘Some artwork or just to try it - maybe. Every day use, I don’t think so.
 
I agree, for a pretty artsy knife bronze is preferred but in a knife that is actually going to be used as a tool, steel and all the variations is clearly the most economical and has better edge retention. Just my .02.
NCH
 
I'd be down for a higher quality bronze sword. One the was cast thick and free of impurities. Something like that would be fun to swing around in the backyard.

As far as useable, nah, I'll stick steel.
 
I have a memory of a movie, Egyptian Pharaoh times, with Victor Mature as an Egyptian General, talking about a coming war with Assyrians? Someone brings him a new type sword that the Assyrians have and tells Mature to hit it with his Bronze sword. Mature strikes the other sword and his bronze sword is deeply cut. He marvels at the new sword made of iron and is worried about the coming battle. John
 
I think the last bronze swords could easily match and probably even out perform the first steel swords. Early steels were very inconsistent in quality. Bronze swords could be cast blade, hilt, handle, and even pommel, in one piece, so they were all essentially full tang and no looseness in the hilt. They tended to bend rather than break, so if the sword was bent because of a thrust or chopping something very hard, the blade could just be bent right back into shape. I've seen demos of people chopping with a bronze blade and if they bend it, they just flip it over and chop again, it straightens itself out.
 
I think steel originally won because of economics, not because early steel blades were superior. I think it took maybe 1,000 years for the metallurgy to advance to the point where steel was a consistently superior blade material. Part of that had to do with advances in the furnaces to achieve the much higher temperatures needed to cast and work steel.
 
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