[TheForge] brass hand rail

[Ries Niemi]

Hey steve- sounds fun.
what kind of bronze?
On some kinds silicon bronze works fine, on other alloys you cant get a 
perfect color match with it. As long as there isnt a lot of lead in it, 
it should work fine. If you are using real Silly Bronze for the rail- 
then, of course, it will work perfectly.
I am assuming there is some forging involved- that is where the money 
really gets a little crazy. Because I dont care how good you are, 
nobody completes a major bronze forging job without screwing up a few 
pieces of material. Well, nobody I know. And the line between perfect 
forging temperature and puddle of $400 on the floor is a pretty fine 
one. Buy a little extra material, do some practice pieces, and lock the 
door when you are forging. Perfect focus is required. You gotta watch 
that stuff like a hawk- and then, when you get it right, its like 
BUTTAH!

I have a little (okay a lot) of naval bronze in 3/4" square still- but 
it doesnt sound like that is what your design calls for.

All metal has gone up like crazy- I just ordered some stainless, and 
since September when I ordered this last- the price has gone from 1.20 
a pound to 2.40 a pound. Talked em down a little, as I bought about a 
ton, but it is still almost double in 9 months.

ries