[Bell Historians] Gun metal bell

[Richard Offen richard.offen@iinet.net.au [bellhistorians]]

Gun metal is a form of bronze with about half the tin content of bell metal with 1-2% zinc added. 

It is the high tin content which gives bell metal its resonance and therefore a bell made of gun metal will sound much duller than one of bell metal. This is probably fine for small bells, but for larger ones the sound would not be good. Bells by Murphy of Dublin are known for their low tin content, which does not make for a pleasant sound, as anyone who has rung on the eight at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne will testify!

Richard

Sent from Richard Offen's iPad

> On 14 Sep 2019, at 11:05 pm, Ted Steele bells at tedsteele.plus.com [bellhistorians] <bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com> wrote:
> 
>  Bagden Hall hotel in Yorkshire (near Barnsley) has displayed a small 
> bell which formerly hung over the chapel of the former hall. The bell is 
> said to be made of gun metal and dates apparently from around 1850. The 
> picture shows no markings of any kind but I am more curious as to 
> whether the claim that it is of gun metal is realistic. What would such 
> a bell sound like? Much less resonant I would assume, but I wonder if 
> this claim is actually just a mistake made by the owners when the bell 
> was recovered. Are there other examples known of gun metal bells?
> 
> Ted Steele
> 
> 
> 
> <Bell at Bagden Hall 2019 (10).jpg>
> <Bell at Bagden Hall 2019 (11).jpg>
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