[Bell Historians] Rust (was Randwick, NSW)

[bill@hibberts.co.uk [bellhistorians]]

Thanks to all for the details of Randwick - I received several sets of info, all gave identical weights and diameters. The weights were estimated by Eayre and Smith some time before the bells were removed. 

 Andrew Higson> Not forgetting of course that a corrosion coefficient needs to be applied to estimate the losses.
 

 I won't write too much on this now, as I have an article about to be published in the RW . . . Scientific research tells us that provided steel is kept dry (i.e. not rained on) and the atmosphere is fairly clean, with no salt air or pollution, the corrosion rate of steel is low once the skin of rust has formed even in high humidity. When I lived in Houston it was noticeable that the steel used in highway bridges wasn't painted or treated because it was known to be unnecessary.
 

 The relevance of this to bells is that there are tuned true-harmonic steel bells from the 1940s - 1960s which are visibly rusty, and yet the partials are as good as when they were first tuned. We can't blame the tonal deficiencies of Naylor Vickers bells on rust, even though it is traditional to do so.
 

 Regards,
 

 Bill H
 

   
  
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