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.
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.