So brass, copper or steel.

[JohnC]

Most of my plates are steel, I have done some in brass and one in copper. Man, I really dont like copper. What do some of you more experienced engravers think?

 

[Chujybear]

Depends what you plan on working on.
If jewellery then copper is a pretty good practice

 

[Sinterklaas]

Forget copper! Buy Phosphor bronze it 1000x better than copper.
It does not oxidize overtime so your engravings will stay shiny.
It cuts beautifully nice long curls.
Bright cuts will be bright and stay bright. So you can show them to people without having first to remove the black layer like copper develops over time.
When practicing stonesetting the prongs are much stronger. Unlike copper where it is very easy to push a bit to hard and it breaks off.

 

[sam]

Copper has been used by engravers as long as there have been engravers. Yeah, it can be gummy but it cuts beautifully and bright. I have copper sample plates that are over 100 years old with amazing engraving on them.

For me, I prefer mild steel. Cuts like a dream but it can rust of course.

 

[Eric Olson]

I sprayed my copper practice plates with clear fixative and they are still nice over 5 years later.

 

[monk]

where did you get the phosphor bronze? i never knew it was available in sheet form.

 

[tdelewis]

Yes where did you get it? I have done searches for other types of bronze and the only thing I can find is rods, bars, and tubing. Many are for large orders for industry and not sold in square foot sheets.

 

[Goldjockey]

Just did a search, and it's available on Amazon, and at MSC Metals.

phosphor-bronze-sheet.html

Did a search for Phosphor Bronze in 18 gauge sheet and found this too:

https://www.onlinemetals.com/en/buy...MIjMH9noCY6AIVaR6tBh2-OAEMEAQYASABEgKtufD_BwE

 

[Sinterklaas]

where did you get the phosphor bronze? i never knew it was available in sheet form.

I live in Holland/The Netherlands. I brought them at a metal store that specializes in all kinds of metal.

Phosphor Bronze also has a technical name/number. I dont know what it is but it might make searching for it easier.

OttoFrei sells them in small pre-cut sheets. Search for JURA PRACTISE PLATES.

 

[sam]

I've engraved a bit of phosphor bronze back at New Orleans Arms Co because we had a ton of it used to make bronze castings. It cut really well but tarnished to a deep dark brown color. Not sure if all phosphor bronze is like that, but nowadays I'd use some GRS brass practice plates instead. They tarnish a bit, but nothing like that bronze.

 

[monk]

thanks guys. i'll be checking that out.

 

[mdengraver]

Phosphorus is often added, as a deoxidizer, to Copper-tin alloys. Two common phosphorus bronzes (94.8 Cu, 5 Sn, 0.2 P) and (88 Cu, 4 Zn, 4 P, 4 Sn) can be enameled with the higher expansion enamels normally applied to copper.