What type of brass for helm bling?

[Sean Powell]

Hello,

I need a piece of brass large enough to do a custom cross on a Zweihammer topfhelm kit. The pieces I have are large enough for the side and back but not the central piece of the cross. I swung through Home Depot on my way to work today to pick up a brass kick-plate. All they had were brass coated aluminum crap. :/

McMaster-carr caries 040" and .062" Alloy 260 (Formable) and Alloy 464 (Weldable). Both are sold 'half hard' The formable is of course easier to form (40ksi yield to 55ksi) but the weldable has a B80 rockwell hardness rather then a B55 so it is probably less prone to scratching during combat.

MetalExpress.com sells brass in .050" but not .062" but for the same size piece is about half the price and I'm not certain what alloy (labeled cartridge brass).

Anyone have any experience with any of the alloys and which ones are preferable for SCAjun combat intensity?

Thanks,
Sean

[TakedaSanjuichiro]

If is is backed by steel, it realy does not matter for brass sheet.

Unsupported or brass only bits, a harder and thicker alloy is better, but as long as a piece is tacked down well and well fit, it;s strength is not going to matter much to its longevity from abrasion.

That said, I soldered on some brass bits to a friends helm with plumbing solder years ago, as far as I know they are still on there nearly 15 years later.

As far as cartridge brass goes, some of the fittings I have done are out of spent casings for small bits, works fine.

-Takeda

[Zweihammer]

Sorry, Sean, I wish I realized what exactly you were going for, I would have put something in big enough. I thought you where just doing something on the muzzle. I just pulled something out of my drop rack. If you think it would get to you in time, I could send something else.

[Cet]

Sean how big a piece do you need? I have soem pices kickign around .

ave

[Sean Powell]

Sorry, Sean, I wish I realized what exactly you were going for, I would have put something in big enough. I thought you where just doing something on the muzzle. I just pulled something out of my drop rack. If you think it would get to you in time, I could send something else.

NO! I asked you to sell me a piece of brass and you shipped it for free. I refuse to let you send me more brass until I pay for the pieces you already gave me. Sorry, just the way I am.

The brass you sent WILL be used on this helm... this is just scope creep. I've realized that I don't know enough to salt-water etch the stainless cross so brass and some wiggle work for added details is the new solution... we'll see if that design concept lasts more then 2 days.

Besides there are plenty of other locations I can get it from faster locally, I just need to know if it matters what type I get. ie it's cheaper to get brass with a satin finish rather then a mirror finish and I don't know if I can preserve the mirror finish through the shaping process.

I had assumed I could get actual brass kick plates. There are some places that I haven't checked yet and I'm thinking of having the prototype shop order some "brass shim stock" for a mechanical test that randomly gets canceled after the material gets ordered... that sort of thing happens occasionally.

As a minimum I need a 12"x7" piece. More realistically I want some around the shop for other projects like gauntlet knuckles, edges of fans, roundels etc... I just need to know what type to get. Any and all advice is welcome.

Sean

[Cet]

If I buy it new I get either 260 brass for yellow or 220 commercial bronze if I want something more reddish. For high strength parts 510 phosphor bronze

[Derian le Breton]

FWIW my local Lowes still carries solid brass kick plates.

-Derian.

[Halberds]

My local hardware store had real brass kick plates.
I bought two of them.

Much cheaper than McMaster Carr.
However, they have holes in them that reduces the usable square footage.

I prefer bronze myself... as it has that nice golden glow.

Best of luck on your project pilgrim.

Hal