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What type of Bronze is best?

Lwittmer1

Plastic
Joined
Apr 20, 2020
Hey everyone. I'm looking at making a couple of woodworking planes out of Bronze. I am looking at 1/8"-thick bronze for the body and 3/16" thick for the sole. I am a little confused about what type of bronze I should be getting for this. The gentleman's planes that I am basing this off of uses "Phosphor" bronze, however, it seems that he can get it easily in the UK where he's located. In the US, I am finding a lot of different bronze alloys. All the work will be done by hand - Can anyone suggest a bronze alloy that cuts well (by hand), bends OK and, most importantly, peens well? The alloys I am looking at are 932 bearing bronze, 854 Aluminum bronze, or indeed 510 Phosphor bronze (I cannot find 3/16 for the sole - I might switch it to steel). Can someone give me input if the 932 or 854 would work well with hand tools?
 
You are asking for oppositional qualities. Materials designed to be formable (peening)and are ductile so as not to crack while being worked. Materials designed to "cut well" often have additives to allow for easier shearing action at the cut with the trade off of being less formable. The material selection process for this project should begin with you deciding what challenge do you prefer to face, tough material to cut or material that could crack if worked to hard.
 
You are asking for oppositional qualities. Materials designed to be formable (peening)and are ductile so as not to crack while being worked. Materials designed to "cut well" often have additives to allow for easier shearing action at the cut with the trade off of being less formable. The material selection process for this project should begin with you deciding what challenge do you prefer to face, tough material to cut or material that could crack if worked to hard.

Completely understand. I guess I should have clarified that I know there will be tradeoffs. I would prefer a material that is easier to work but harder to cut.
 
hi Lw, without knowing more about exactly what you are making and how, it is really tough to say. some kind of drawings and description, some clues as to your skill set and available equipment as well would help us help you.

I would use 955 silicon bronze, mostly because I have some around, but it would be a decent choice, I'd think. redly available in various sheet and bar sizes, welds nicely too.

almost anything can be "cut", but with what, and how complex a cut? what do you need to peen on it?

bearing bronze would be a poor choice i'd think. the properties of a bearing are kind of opposite a fabricated structure.
just as a thought experiment, if Babbit type metals make a good bearing.. I.E. to some extent, soft and mushy makes a good bearing.

aluminum bronze can be strong, but can tend to be brittle with cold work, so probably not a good choice either.
 
have you considered casting? I don't know what your design is but I have had very good luck with sand casting bronze. For small objects it is easy to do in just about any well equipped shop.
 
hi Lw, without knowing more about exactly what you are making and how, it is really tough to say. some kind of drawings and description, some clues as to your skill set and available equipment as well would help us help you.

I would use 955 silicon bronze, mostly because I have some around, but it would be a decent choice, I'd think. redly available in various sheet and bar sizes, welds nicely too.

almost anything can be "cut", but with what, and how complex a cut? what do you need to peen on it?

bearing bronze would be a poor choice i'd think. the properties of a bearing are kind of opposite a fabricated structure.
just as a thought experiment, if Babbit type metals make a good bearing.. I.E. to some extent, soft and mushy makes a good bearing.

aluminum bronze can be strong, but can tend to be brittle with cold work, so probably not a good choice either.

Do you mean 655 silicon bronze?


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You can buy small pieces of 655 from a place like Farmers or Atlas. Or even from me if you need 1/8” and 1/4”!


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Stephen Thomas should be able to help.

Yes, Stephen has a lot of experience and knowledge with plane making. Google "Stephen Thomas Loopy"
You are more likely to reach him in the woodworking forum on this site, make sure to mention planes in your title.

Are you going to dovetail the body? Who in the UK are you looking at?
 








 
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