[TheForge] Bronze

[Ries Niemi]

>
> Hi Ries,
>
> Do you know of any dangers that may be associated with forging Naval 
> Bronze because of the lead or the zinc?

As long as you dont melt the stuff, the zinc and lead should stay in 
alloy.
But I do work in a well ventilated space when working with it.


Grant mentions 2 alloys- Architectural, and Naval.
I have forged both,  and Architectural is very tricky- I would say not 
forgeable, although I have done it a little. It will crumble like 
cookie dough, and ruin a piece quite easily. I was forced to use it 
because it was the only thing I could find in a 3/8" x 2" flat bar. 
Next time I will have flat bar saw cut from plate, in another alloy, 
although that is quite expensive.

But Naval, even though it does have some lead and zinc in it, is quite 
a forgeable alloy- we forged somewhere around 1500 pounds of it for a 
fence project a few years ago. At low temps, it forges like butter.
I wish the forge supported attaching pictures, I have a kind of salad 
fork I made from a piece of 3/4" round naval that shows how far you can 
push it, with the fork tines forged down to about 1/16" at one end, 
twists and textures in the middle, then a 6" long leaf form at the 
other end that is pretty heavily forged and manipulated.
We did a lot of work with naval bronze because it was the only alloy I 
could find in 3/4" square, and I needed that size and shape to play off 
of 3/4" square stainless on the same fence.
So Naval is definitely forgeable.

However, I have heard of a lot of people who like Commercial bronze as 
well. I have never used it, but several people I trust say it forges 
very well.

For small quantities of most of these, I find Alaskan Copper has good 
stock, and they will cut pieces down and ship them UPS in mailing 
tubes, I think up to 6 feet long.

>
Ries Niemi
Industrial Artist

http://www.RiesNiemi.com