| Manufacture
of White Bronze |
White Bronze is malleable between 550 and 750 degrees
Celsius. Within this range, it can be hammered into any
desired shape, while below red-hot temperatures it
entirely loses this quality and becomes highly brittle.
This is why most White Bronze vessels present sharp-edged
cracks and breaches, whereas low tin content bronzes
(other bronze types) are much ductile, merely becoming
dented by impacts.
High tin content of these objects makes them brittle malleable,
resulting in their little diversity of shapes, expected in
the case of items. As concerns their manufacturing
methods, White Bronze artifacts fall in two categories:
Cast
Items
These objects are thicker and heavier than their hammer
forged counterparts. Some have subsequently been heated
and hammered, resulting in an aesthetic improvement
created by the artist.
Hammered Items
These objects are thinner, lighter and simpler in shape.
Occasionally, the artist has used a sharp burnishing tool
on the finished object so as to obliterate the marks of
his hammer blows.
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