How to bend aluminum bronze S guard

[PaulDiStefano]

Hello everyone, I bought this big bar of aluminum bronze with the hopes of making some super curvy S guards out of it but I'm unsure of how to bend it properly. I've done one out of brass where I cold forged it to bend it because when I tried to forge it with heat, it just crumbled into pieces. I assumed bronze was the same and it would just break apart with forge heat. But as i tried to cold forge it, I hammered the lug right off. Even with annealing in between bending strikes.
Then today I just saw a thread where Phillip Patton forged a bronze sword. Would it be better to stick the bronze in the forge and shape it. ( I was afraid to do this because I thought it would act like the brass and get really brittle and break)
How do I beat go about bending the guard into shape basically.
Thanks guys.
Paul

 

[joedhiggins]

Some aluminum bronze alloys forge quite nicely. Without knowing the exact alloy, I can't say what this particular one will do. That being said, all bronzes will crumble if you get them too hot. I can't give you an exact temp, but both the silicon and alumnum bronzes I have worked hot will crumble somewhere north of an orange heat.

I would just take a small piece and test. try how it moves at dull red, then again at bright red, then again at orange. Keep testing until it crumbles. THen you will know your safe working range. For forging, I generally pull the bronze out just after it goes to orange. At that temp it should move like butter under the hammer.

 

[PaulDiStefano]

Some aluminum bronze alloys forge quite nicely. Without knowing the exact alloy, I can't say what this particular one will do. That being said, all bronzes will crumble if you get them too hot. I can't give you an exact temp, but both the silicon and alumnum bronzes I have worked hot will crumble somewhere north of an orange heat.

I would just take a small piece and test. try how it moves at dull red, then again at bright red, then again at orange. Keep testing until it crumbles. THen you will know your safe working range. For forging, I generally pull the bronze out just after it goes to orange. At that temp it should move like butter under the hammer.

I'll definitely have to try forging it at lower heats then and test out what it can handle. Knowing now that it can be forged is a big help, without your answer I would have felt like I was just wasting it trying stupid things.
Thanks for your help!

 

[me2]

I dug into aluminium bronzes a while ago for blade purposes. They are hardenable as well as responding to cold working. I'll see what info I can dig up.

 

[PaulDiStefano]

I dug into aluminium bronzes a while ago for blade purposes. They are hardenable as well as responding to cold working. I'll see what info I can dig up.

Thanks. Looking forward to it

 

[Raymond Richard]

S guards have always been a favorite on my larger knives. I used a block of mild steel that is 1 1/4" X 2" X 6". On one end I ground a radius on it and use it as a die. I'll put this block in a vise and clamp what ever metal I intend to make the guard out of to this block. I always heat the end of the metal with a hand held propane torch and when its turns red I'll hammer it to this block. Use a piece of wire to figure out how much metal you want to use for your guard. Hope this makes sense although I have manage to confuse myself.