Nickel Silver

D

DukeHarley

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Apr 11, 2014
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Is all nickel silver slightly yellow? I always thought it was like a polished sterling silver look. I just used some 1/4 NS pins and they turned out yellow. Not as yellow as brass but just a very slight yellow tint. Does it vary in color by supplier or lot?

Jay
 
Nickel silver is a copper-nickel-zinc alloy, and it turns yellow with age and oxidation. If freshly sanded NS is yellow, it probably got hot. Hand sand with fine paper or buff with a silver polishing cloth and it should turn silvery again.
 
No it was the same color before I worked it as it is now after sanding with 600. Like I said its a very slight yellow.

Jay
 
Nickel silver has a yellowish cast. Silver is much whiter.
The amount of nickel in the nickel silver has a lot to do with the coloration.
 
You may have had a fairly white looking brass, not good nickel silver. Where did it come from?
 
I use nickel silver in place of 416 stainless steel where the bolsters do not have to be subjected to really hard use and I prefer the look of it to any other metal. My own knives all sport some nickel silver or brass. I like the look. Before chrome plating in the late 1920s a lot of really cool motorcycles had nickel plated parts and they look fantastic. Vintage autos as well. Heck, anyone can have shiny silver stainless pins but nickel with a yellow tinge...that's a really neat look. Shove those into some dark burl wood and have some class!
 
Larry, I agree I'm not dissatisfied with the NS I got looks good on the dark cocobolo scales. I just assumed it was brighter than it ended up being.

Jay
 
I too have bought NS from different sources.... it does have a very slight yellow cast... I actually like it and though it was normal....
 
NS to me has always had a slight yellow cast to it. I've gotten it from several suppliers, always the same. I really like it too.
 
Most of the NS we see has 18% nickel.....but there is a version that's 15% nickel, and it's
noticeably more yellow.
 
I have always like "German Silver" aka White brass.

Embrace the hue and depth of it.
 
Nickel silver - German Silver - Irish Silver - Argentan - etc. .....all the same thing. The names mean nothing as to the nickel content.
20% nickel, 20% zinc, 60% copper is the standard alloy. It gets tweaked from maker to maker in nickel content, mostly depending on the intended use. Some is as low as 5%.( Nickel brass has up to 5% nickel.)

White brass is NOT nickel silver, and has no nickel in it. It is a copper/zinc alloy....basic alloy mix is 55% copper, 45% zinc. A few % points of tin is often added to make the color whiter.
 
bladsmth said:
Nickel silver - German Silver - Irish Silver - Argentan - etc. .....all the same thing. The names mean nothing as to the nickel content.
20% nickel, 20% zinc, 60% copper is the standard alloy. It gets tweaked from maker to maker in nickel content, mostly depending on the intended use. Some is as low as 5%.( Nickel brass has up to 5% nickel.)

White brass is NOT nickel silver, and has no nickel in it. It is a copper/zinc alloy....basic alloy mix is 55% copper, 45% zinc. A few % points of tin is often added to make the color whiter.
Click to expand...

http://www.finishing.com/275/88.shtml

" What is White Brass?...

At least 4 alloy groups are known as white brass; some do not contain nickel.

1) 65Sn-(28-30)Zn-(3-6)Cu [compositions in weight %], a hard, tough castable alloy used for automobile bearings,
2) A zinc alloy containing a few percent Cu, castable, used for cheap jewelry and novelty items,
3) 56Cu-16Zn-28Sn, an electroplating alloy � Proc. Amer. Electroplaters� Society, p. 247 (1944),
4) "White nickel brass is a grade of nickel silver. The white brass used for castings where a white color is desired may contain up to 30% nickel. The 60:20:20 [Cu:Ni:Zn] alloy is used for white plaque castings for buildings. Nickel brasses known as German silver are copper-nickel-zinc white alloys used as a base metal for plated silverware, for springs and contacts in electrical equipment, and for corrosion-resistant parts. Extra-white metal, the highest grade, contains 50% copper, 30 nickel, and 20 zinc. The Federal Trade Commission prohibits the use of the term German silver in the marketing of silver-plated ware." � Materials Handbook [link is to product info at Amazon], 14th Edn., p. 970-971 (1997).

Search the Nickel Institute's website: http://www.nidi.org/ for nickel silver.

Search the Copper Development Association's site http://www.copper.org for nickel silver and white brass."

http://chemistry.about.com/od/alloys/a/Brass-Alloys.htm

"White brass- brittle metal containing more than 50% zinc. White brass may also refer to certain nickel silver alloys as well as Cu-Zn-Sn alloys with high proportions (typically 40%+) of tin and/or zinc, as well as predominantly zinc casting alloys with copper additive."
 
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I have seen many websites and other sources in print refer to white brass as nickel silver, because these sites call any metal with zinc and copper "brass". IIRC, the ASM calls white brass a copper-zinc alloy, sometimes containing tin added to reduce brittleness.

I agree that it is all semantics, just as the word "silver" is confusing when used in Nickel Silver. Added to that list is pink "ivory".
However, the main reason for my comment was that I would not want a knife with white brass on it. It is brittle and not attractive unless chrome plated, as it often is on cheap import knives. There are several other problems with working white brass, especially machining, soldering, and finishing. Nickel silver with far less zinc and near 20% nickel has very no problems at all for knife projects.
 
Nickel silver is difficult to cast in a common jewelry-type setup. White brass casts easily.
 
The casting alloy we use in costume jewelry is called white bronze . It is a copper/zinc/tin alloy. It stays shiny and does not tarnish, as well as casts easily. The biggest reason is that it has no nickel. The nickel in nickel silver has skin reaction issues, and does not meet the safety requirements for jewelry wear. Herculloy is its cousin, and by adding some silicon bronze and lowering the zinc, you get a yellow casting alloy.

The term "white metal" in jewelry can mean so many different alloys and types that it is almost meaningless today.
 
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