[Bell Historians] Re: Devon Bells

[Anne Willis]

Yes, I'm aware of that. I wonder how those bellfounders figured how 
much new tin to add, and how good a job they did of getting the mix 
right - much more difficult in this situation than when casting a 
bell from all new metal.

Has anyone ever done metallurgical studies of old bells to see how 
much variation there was in the ratio of copper and tin? especially 
in terms of "new" versus "recast" bells from the same founder? 
What's the smallest size sample of metal that's adequate to perform 
such a quantitative analysis? (QA was not covered in my college 
chemistry course, and I've never explored the subject.)

CSZ

 

 

There's a fascinating section in Trevor Jennings' 'Master of my Art' in
which the pattern of boiling when the metal mix is just right is described.

 

What intrigued me is that it sounded very like Mrs Beeton's description of
jam boiling when it has reached setting point, which works very well.

 

Anne

           
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