Nugold and similar ‘jewelers’ bronze (not a bronze at all a
trade misnomer (could be a lie?) are high copper content
brasses. Regular brass is 35% zinc: 65% copper, Nugold type
metals are 5% (or so) zinc, the rest copper.
Please enlighten me; isn’t true bronze an alloy of tin and
copper? Or has the word bronze now taken on fresh meanings? You
see, I have seen brazeing referred to as ‘bronze welding’, and
I’ve also heard of ‘aluminium bronze’, ‘manganese bronze’ and
‘beryllium bronze’ and I am sure that there are others I haven’t
heard of. Has the word ‘bronze’ now - by common usage, doubtless
come to mean any alloy where the dominant metal is copper? I
don’t really want to come over ‘all academic’, but I am
interested. Cheers,
Here is what my book says: Originally “bronze” meant copper-tin
alloys. Today all alloys with a minimum of 60% copper and one or
more main components safe zinc are called bronzes. They are
named after the main component(s).
isn’t true bronze an alloy of tin and
copper? Or has the word bronze now taken on fresh meanings? You
see, I have seen brazeing referred to as ‘bronze welding’, and
I’ve also heard of ‘aluminium bronze’, ‘manganese bronze’ and
‘beryllium bronze’ and I am sure that there are others I haven’t
heard of. Has the word ‘bronze’ now - by common usage, doubtless
come to mean any alloy where the dominant metal is copper?
Hi John,
Here is what my book says: Originally “bronze” meant copper-tin
alloys. Today all alloys with a minimum of 60% copper and one or
more main components safe zinc are called bronzes. They are
named after the main component(s).
Hello, Do any of you know what is a good source for bronze sheet and
wire. I am working on a neckpiece that requires some thin gauge
bronze sheet and heavy gauge bronze wire in addition to other
metals. The only source I know of is Metalliferous but the only
bronze they carry is a 90/10% alloy of copper and zinc. I thought
bronze was made of copper and tin? I will be thankful for any input.
Hi Marguerite, You local scrap yard is a treasure house of exotic
metals in unusual shapes and sizes that you can’t get elsewhere. I
was looking for bronze sheet into which to press diamond grit to make
a stone-cutting flat lap; the only commercial bronze available
locally was 1/4" thick bearing bronze, of which the minimum size
they’d sell was six feet by one foot wide, at a price of something
like 500$.
So I went to my trusty scrapyard and there found a set of junked
Sabian cymbals at a dollar a pound, sawed out a disc, beat it flat on
the anvil and after a few more finishing steps, voila, my bronze
flat-lap.
You may be amused to know there is a seasonality to metal scrap. “We
tend to get these mostly in the spring,” said the scrapyard guy;
“that’s when the rock-n-roll bands clean out their garages.”
Hello, Do any of you know what is a good source for bronze sheet
and wire.
Marguerite: You might try McMaster-Carr at http://www.mcmaster.com
They offer bronze wire in gauges from 22 to 8, and bronze sheet in
thicknesses from .25" to .032". I have been pleased with their
service on the few orders I have placed with them.
A copper alloy of copper and zinc is called “brass” . After that
the overall category of “bronze” can become confusing. The
original classic term bronze referred to an alloy of tin and copper.
This is not common today particularly as sheet or wire . Today there
many copper based alloys that are called bronzes. Some of these
are commonly available as sheet or wire but availability in thin
sheet and particularly in small quantities is another story.
One source for silicon bronze ( preferred in the US today) is:
another is:
There are others but I think the quantity you want is too small
for most if not all of them.
I checked mcmaster carr they carry a material called commercial
bronze but commercial bronze is 90 % copper - 10% ZINC ( a brass) .
this is the same as the stuff from Metalferris. For info on bronzes
see :
This was a serendipitous slip!!! alloy 510 is a tin bronze.
Mcmaster- Carr does stock it and sells in quantities and sizes that
should work for you. see:
This will take you to a page in their online catalog that will
lead to both the sheet (strip ) and wire sections . This alloy is
a springy one but you have the details at the first site. McMaster
Carr stocks about everything - not always the cheapest source but
either a first or last place to go for industrial buyers. They
will sell to you!!
I am working on a neckpiece that requires some thin gauge
bronze sheet and heavy gauge bronze wire in addition to other
metals.
Marguerite, both IJS and Thunderbird, both out of Gallup, NM will be
able to meet your requirements. They sell two types of brasses in
sheet and wire stock. Rich low is similar in color to 14 kt. gold.
High yellow is yellow in color with a slight greenish tinge, a.k.a.
tool brass. Rich low is provided in all the standard stock sizes in
sheet and wire, as well as some additional forms of wire, such
triangle, dome, square, half-round and some pattern wires and step
bezels. They sell in small quantities and will cut to order.
Brass is much more malliable than bronze. Bronze is very hard
and brittle. Vince.
Indian Jewelry Supply sells a red brass sheet that I’ve used in the
past. It was the closest to Bronze that I could find for some patinas
I was experimenting with.
Bronze is 90/10% copper and tin. Alloys of copper and zinc are
brasses, and 90/10 is AKA 'gilding metal'. I'm sure Metalliferous
would agree that 90/10% copper and tin is bronze.
Unfortunately because of usage there are a large of alloys other
than 90/10 copper/tin which are called bronze. Simply, brasses are
copper/zinc alloys with 15 to 50 % zinc (there are exceptions
outside this range called brass). All other copper base alloys,
except those having special names and those many of those containing
nickel as the primary alloying element, are called bronze with or
without a modifier (e.g. aluminum bronze which contains only the Cu
and Al with impurities & commercial bronze 10 % zinc and copper plus
impurities).
Hope this is of assistance jim (James ME Wallbridge P. Eng.)
A good reference for copper alloys can be found heRe: http://properties.copper.org/
Click on the “Standard Designations for Copper and Copper Alloys 96
Wrought and Cast” link.