Bronze Knife

[Eli Jensen]

So I've been working real hard the past couple of weeks on getting my bronze alloy right. Got that done. Then a while more getting the fusing techniques right. Check. The next thing I wanted was to make an all bronze knife, but with a steel core. "Modern primative." Probably the first 5 tries I melted the blade. Thats no good. This knife is EXTREMELY IMPERFECT, but its my first "success" or rather non-melted attempt. Lots of cracks and pitting in the bronze. I don't know if I will try many more of the all bronze knives, I just wanted to see if I could do it, but I do intend on doing some partial bronze pieces that should be easier. I also couldn't seem to get the steel core thin enough, so its a pretty thick edge, or small scandi depending on how you look at it. The blade is pretty warped. It was warped maybe two degrees to the left and whenever I got it right the tang would be 2 degrees the other way! A back and forth for a while. When I finished it though, its 2 degrees to the right! AH! It's going in a drawer, so I'm not even going to bother finishing the edge. If I was going to keep it I would tuch up the hammered texture on the bronze where I ground the edge, and would do the same texture on the pin. I made that pin myself from my bronze, I'm surprised it came out that well. Ebony handle btw.

[Doug Lester]

Have you tried borax as a deoxidizer? I looked up a casting supply house that I meant to bookmark but I must have been tired and didn't that carried a deoxidizer for copper alloys. I'll try to research it again and post it.

Doug

[Matt Bufford]

Looks pretty cool all pitted up like that. Very primitive cool!

[Ray Rogers]

Well, I'll be darned....

[Eli Jensen]

The pitting does look cool, and the cracks too. The downside is they were unintentional and the other knives I do I may not want the hammered rustic look. My main concern is them being entry ways for potential corrosion.

I tried borax but didn't like it for this purpose. I use an acid free black flux, the label says its good for prolonged high temperatures, up to 1800F. I probably go up to that or a little higher.

This is what I was talking about as my alternative to silver soldering post HT. This is done pre HT and with the exception of the pits and cracks, is completely seamless. It is also a permanent adhesion that I am confident will never ever fail unless the bronze itself is destroyed.

[metal99]

That is so cool man!