All,
In looking around for bronze bar and pinstock, I have found that many comercially available bronzes have no Tin, and several actually have zinc and other trace minerals, which in my mind makes them brass.
In addition to tin based bronze beeing a forever metal, and with brass being "low class" as the saying goes, I am also concerned that when I get around to trying to cast parts zinc fumes may be an issue.
Am I over thinking this?
Curious to hear your thoughts.
architectural bronze sucks to work with and has a more brassy color. Tin bronze is still available as casting shot I use it fairly regularly, it really needs a patina though it can be very Pink when polished. I use silicon bronze quite often, nice rich color patinas fairly well and its pretty nice to work with, I have used Phosphor bronze as well nice color its not as nice to work with at the silicon bronze.
MP
You are not overthinking it.
As you have found out, bronze can vary from supplier to supplier, and from one batch to another. Silicon bronze is by far the easiest to work with and provides the nicest results. When I decided to use bronze for fittings and pins, I found a large bar (about 25 pounds) of casting bronze at a specialty metals supplier and bought it. I cut chunks off of it, melt it down in dishes with an oxy-acetylene torch, and cast plates and pins in steel molds. Good ventilation is required when melting and casting any metals. I usually put a small fan between my melting dish and the open door to suck the fumes away from me without blowing directly air on the flame and melting dish.
You can find this equipment at jeweler's supply houses like Otto Frei and Rio Grande.
"Every project presents an opportunity to buy a new tool" - Car Talk with Tom and Ray Magliozzi
“So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.”
Well, I have started casting and jewelry making well I was recovering from emergency Abdominal surgery earlier this year. casting is (for me) fun and once mastered you can make your own metals for pins so its worth it to invest in. if your going to go with casting well I splurged and got a tilt-and-pour electro-melt furnace for casting over oxyfuel because it's easier and you can actually set the temperature on it (link below). The thing is, very easy to use. and you can make your own bronzes. However ya, stay away from hardware store brass...and wear a respirator...but you can get silicon bronze from the same place. However, Rio Grand is a good place to get a casting shot bronzes...if you dont want to make your own.
If you do decide to go for casting, I recommend picking up a copy of The Complete Handbook of Sand Casting as its on kindle and a very informative book on casting techniques, along with a copy of Professional Jewelry Making (its cheaper to get the digital copies)i am working on it but it great information on working with...metals other then steel...and if you have one near by a day class on copper jewelry making is an excellent place to start learning these the metals...but blacksmithing techniques i have found do transfer well to them...except atleast with copper i find it responds better to cold work then hot. as proof here's the copper tweezers i forged for my pickle pot...Hardwear store brass is not a forgable material it's casting only. here are links to the stuff i mention. you can also get Petrobond clay and Casting flasks, from amazon for sand casting. and you can get Steel molds from both Pepe Tools (there stuff is well worth the money) and amazon...I got mine from Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H7WD9KN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A15ZOYG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
