Brass or copper for spacers.

[velociraptor]

I have a damascus tanto that I am making a handle for. The handle will be made from black buffalo horn. Under the horn will be a spacer that extends past the edge of the scale on both ends, and will be visible - 1/2" or so.

My questions is, which is the better material for the spacer - both ease of work/nice final product, and overall appearance?

I know the differences between copper and brass, I just am not sure which is the best choice.
Copper would be easier to work with, but not as tough as brass. My concern is beating up the copper in tooling, and brass being harder to work with. The final product will just be bare metal, left to develop a tarnish/patina.

Any advice would be appreciated.


ps - I think Im leaning more towards brass.

[Eli Jensen]

Brass is pretty easy to work with, its not that much tougher than copper. I personally advise everyone to avoid brass for cosmetic reasons and go with either copper, or bronze if you need something more durable.

[Cthulhu]

Originally Posted by Eli Jensen

Brass is pretty easy to work with, its not that much tougher than copper. I personally advise everyone to avoid brass for cosmetic reasons and go with either copper, or bronze if you need something more durable.

Out of curiousity, why avoid brass? I thought Brass was pretty much ubiquitous.

[Imakethings]

Eli has a personal vendetta against brass, in generally I'd agree with him though. But if all you have is brass sheet and not bronze, go with the brass.

Now in regards to what materials you want to use for the spacer I can see some benefits and drawbacks to all three of the metals suggested.
1. Copper, easier to work with, will take a good patina real quick, and will be the easiest to find. It will scuff, mar, dent, and damage much easier than either bronze or brass though, so consider the area where it will be and if it's going to see much use. Also the patina will rub off pretty easy if it's going to be handled. Work hardened.
2. Brass, harder than copper, but also more brittle. It will wear better and won't damage as easy. Problem here is that it's a work hardened material, and it also doesn't take a patina nicely. It will take decades to build up a nice color and even that is questionable as it doesn't really stay there well unless you do a chemical patina.
3. Bronze, a nice trade off between brass and copper. It's between the two of them in terms of hardness and malleability, but it takes a patina better than brass and holds it better than copper. Given the choice I'd go with bronze for both the workability, hardness, and potential for a good patina.

If you want a non-standard patina color let me know, I've got a few in my pocket that might be pretty nifty.

[R. Yates]

Originally Posted by velociraptor

I have a damascus tanto that I am making a handle for. The handle will be made from black buffalo horn. Under the horn will be a spacer that extends past the edge of the scale on both ends, and will be visible - 1/2" or so.

My questions is, which is the better material for the spacer - both ease of work/nice final product, and overall appearance?

I know the differences between copper and brass, I just am not sure which is the best choice.
Copper would be easier to work with, but not as tough as brass. My concern is beating up the copper in tooling, and brass being harder to work with. The final product will just be bare metal, left to develop a tarnish/patina.

Any advice would be appreciated.


ps - I think Im leaning more towards brass.

I do not know if you can draw or not . However many knife makers like to draw out their new styles of knives in pencil drawings and color them out to see what looks best . this is what i do very often just as a doodle and a finished knife it gives you a advantage of working with many different materials to see just what a knife will look like .

Sam

[WBE]

Personally, I hate copper as much or more than Eli hates brass. Brass is certainly not brittle after being annealed. Copper turns dark and dingy, and any fresh scratch stands out like charcoal on a snow bank. Brass is easy to patina, if you use the right stuff.

[Crex]

They all have their place. Just have to decide which you like the best and use it. We can't make the choice for you, it's your knife.