Hi, I’m interested in making mokume gane out of bronze, nickel
silver, brass, and copper. I was inspired by pictures of Mr. Steve
Walker’s work (here are examples:
http://www.celtarts.com/earrings.htm .)
What kind of bronze would people recommend? Metalliferous carries
“Commercial Bronze”, which is 90.0% copper and 10.0% zinc. I was
recommended by another source to use 510 Phosphor Bronze, which is
94.80% copper and 5.0% tin, deoxidized with 0.20% phosphorus. (But
I don’t know of a source for that one.)
What do people think?
JD
Hi i’ve made some of my own mokume and the first thing that i would
like to point out is that the copper will be the softest metal in
the mix, therefore it will become the thinnest layer with a very
subtle presence in the pattern.It is suggested to use metals with
similar characteristics (but rules are made to be broken).
As for the bronze i personally prefer the alloys without zinc, but
if you are using brass in the mokume the avoidance is pointless. as
for the difference manganese bronze has a colour similar to 14k gold
and is a copper and tin alloy.
The final thing to consider is if you are going to solder or fuse
the layers together? Rob