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90% Copper 10% Tin Bronze source?
Gavaksa -
Monday, May 19, 2008 - 12:49pm
bronze | bronze casting | casting | copper | smelting | tin Hey all, I'm trying to get ahold of straight 90/10 CuSn Bronze for some bronze age tools and experiments. C90700 Phosphur Bronze is about as close as I can come to it with a commercially available product. I was thinking of simply smelting my own, but the cost of copper is just insane right now. $7.67 per pound for copper is just nuts. Does anyone have any suggestions? Also, can anyone give me a good explanation of what "sintered bronze" is and how it would differ from any other kind of bronze? Since this stuff is just going to be getting chopped down to use for casting, I'm not concerned with anything other than how it might affect its characteristics for casting. My understanding is that the sintered bronze starts out as powder and then is furnaced under high heat and pressure to "press" it into a rod. It's used for bearing bronze. I just don't know how the stuff is going to act once I melt it. It is, however, 90% copper and 10% tin. Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks much Gavaksha  What Ries said. Use silicon
Rich Waugh -
Monday, May 19, 2008 - 10:45pm
What Ries said. Use silicon bronze, C65500. You're not going to like the price much though, if you think copper is high at $7/lb. Silicon bronze is right about $15/lb as of yesterday when I priced a batch for a job. And well worth it, too. Lovely stuff to work with! » reply |
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ArtMetal
Whats the matter with
Whats the matter with regular Silicon Bronze- C655?
Its just Copper, and Silicon, I believe it is 97% Copper.
Its readily available, and easy and forgiving to forge.
Which is how they made stuff in the bronze age, and how you should too, especially given the aforementioned high prices of copper and its alloys.
Constant volume processes like forging mean almost no waste, as opposed to cutting and grinding stock removal processes.
Silly Bronze is actually quite a joy to forge, as long as you dont get it too hot. And it is probably the most commonly used casting alloy as well, for bronze sculptures.
Since they spent a lot more money and time making sintered bronze optimum for certain uses, I cant imagine it would be cost effective to melt it down again, unless you were buying it at scrap prices.
Often bearing bronzes are made with lubrication built in as well- oil impregnated bronzes, for example.
Not good for forging, casting, or other metal working processes.
My advice is to get good at making whatever it is you want to make, with a commonly available bronze, and not worry too much about exact historical accuracy of alloy.
No copper alloy will be cheap- and any post processed shape, be it plate, round, or square bar, will cost even more than ingot.