Behold: Your New Favorite Metal

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Psychlonic
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Behold: Your New Favorite Metal

Post by Psychlonic » Fri Mar 19, 2021 7:18 pm

What if I told you there was a type of metal you could cast with relatively minimal work required that would result in a material that sits between 1045 and 1055 carbon steel in terms of hardness, tensile strength, and weight but with superior corrosion resistance? I'm excited to share this one with you guys, it's been part of a bushcraft study and skill building exercise of mine here and I think you'll appreciate how accessible this is to you. This will allow you to cast a lot of your own equipment you might need that's quality and dirt cheap.

We're talking about bronze... but not the historical bronze you're probably thinking. Instead, we're talking about aluminum bronze and you are capable of making it. All you need are copper and aluminum scraps, found everywhere in today's world.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elaJ7CB8-YU


Seeing is believing, so before you lose interest I give you this resource as a primer on how strong it's capable of becoming as well as what not to do.

Traditional tin-based bronze has two big problems. For one, it's more than twice as soft as aluminum bronze which makes it pretty subpar by today's standards. Better than nothing, but there are too many alternatives out there to want to bother. Second, tin is actually kind of rare today. Your main source of tin will be vintage tinware which really isn't going to be worth melting down just to make a weaker, historical bronze.

"But Psychlonic, won't it be harder to melt down and alloy?"

Nope. Aluminum is still easier to melt than copper, meaning if you can make traditional bronze you can also make aluminum bronze with no problem.

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https://www.onlinemetals.com/en/melting-points
But wait! There's more! As you can see, aluminum bronze can be cast into ingots which are more readily melted than either of the base materials!

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https://material-properties.org/what-is-strength-and-hardness-of-aluminium-bronze-definition/

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https://material-properties.org/hardness-of-materials-brinell-mohs/
Let's break these numbers down.

Traditional bronze as you can see has a mere BHN hardness of 75. Aluminum bronze, on the other hand, is more than double the hardness at 170 BHN. For those interested, you can't really convert 1:1 but that sits right around 53 on the Rockwell rating you might be more familiar with. Now, ~53 isn't super material, but it's more than adequate and sits up there with many steels you've probably used. It's not "close but weaker", it's 100% on par.

But wait... there's more.

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http://www.coyotesteel.com/assets/img/PDFs/weightspercubicfoot.pdf
As you can see, using aluminum rather than tin also trims the excessive weight. In terms of mass, it's also hanging out in the same room as steel in that department.

What we're left with is, practically speaking for cutlery, a steel-like (in terms of strength and weight) material that you can cast from relative garbage.

Aluminum bronze is 11% aluminum to 89% copper, by weight. You can cast both materials to their individual ingots, divide ingots to their proper ratios to alloy together in a foundry - doesn't take much because you can hit the melting point of copper in some really crude set ups - then you can cast your alloy to ingot or straight to your cast.

Casting can be done easily using three proven methods - lost wax, lost styrofoam, or a more carefully made sand cast. I recommend the styrofoam method for starting out. Looking up "lost foam casting" on YouTube will net you endless hits.

The important thing to know is that bronze is cold worked to hardness. That means hammering the material after it's already been cooled down after casting. This too is covered extensively on YouTube. An anvil, improvised anvil, and time spent hammering will give you the strength you're looking for with no need to constantly reheat the material, heat treat, and temper. Much, much easier.

I give you these two sources so you can compare the numbers to 1045 and 1055:

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https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6130

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https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6541
Too good to be true? Nope, this is the real deal, NON. A wonderful metal for you to make whatever tools or weapons you may want without worrying about paying for them. Everything you cast is a ghost item. Every custom feature you want is yours. Of course, nothing is stopping you from casting parts for other steel items too if you prefer. Want a beautiful bronze tsuba or fittings for your knife? There you go.

I hope you guys look into this more and enjoy it, it's been mind blowing for me. I've cast a few bushcraft knives and I'd be satisfied having them alone if forced in a long term scenario with them, let alone much shorter expeditions. Or overnight usage. You're not going to dull these in short order, you're not going to notch the bevel, it's pretty badass stuff.
Knowledge alone is not power, it is the potential for power. That potential can only be unlocked through applying that knowledge and realizing the skill.

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Xanatos
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Re: Behold: Your New Favorite Metal

Post by Xanatos » Sat Mar 20, 2021 2:11 pm

It's a bit early for April Fool's. We're still in March.

Jokes aside, have you tried making anything successful? If it's as cheap & easy as you say, this would be great for thrown weapons like knives & shuriken. Or perhaps even climbing aids which may or may not be left behind at an AO.
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What is locked, can be opened. What is hidden, can be found. What is yours... can be mine.

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Psychlonic
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Re: Behold: Your New Favorite Metal

Post by Psychlonic » Sat Mar 20, 2021 5:47 pm

Oh hell yeah, back when I learned this was a thing and easy to do I jumped right into it. Like a lot of my shit, it started out when I was looking into more primitive living ideas and saw this as a much more practical alternative to the tedium of bloom iron in a stranded scenario since electric wires of various gauges and aluminum cans are strewn all over even in the middle of nowhere.

But yeah, thus far I've made a kukri, a hatchet, and a more standard bush knife. They all get to paper sheering sharp and I have no doubt they could become razor sharp. It's harder than surgical stainless used for scalpels (which is actually pretty unimpressive steel) honestly I'm thinking about making a long foundry core to attempt a black powder barrel. The material is strong enough it's just a matter of casting ability. There's a process that'd be involved but I won't digress unless someone actually cares.

It's better than you'd think, man. This would be great for ANY knife, not just disposable throwing ones although that too is a great idea. Don't even think of it as "bronze" because that conjures up images of bending swords and edges rolling and having notches indented into them. Aluminum bronze doesn't behave like that at all once it's cold worked. It's the same difference between soft annealed iron and heat treated, hardened steel. It has spring ability to it, albeit not long sword quality. Again, it's in the realm of 1045-1055 carbon steel.

I wouldn't hype it up if I didn't know how good it is and the opportunities it presents. I'm sure I haven't even thought of many clever uses for it yet.
Knowledge alone is not power, it is the potential for power. That potential can only be unlocked through applying that knowledge and realizing the skill.

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