Brass
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, similar to bronze which uses tin instead of zinc. It has long been a popular material for decoration due to its bright, gold-like appearance. Although forms of brass have been in use since prehistory, its true nature as a copper-zinc alloy was not understood by metallurgists until the post-medieval period.
By the first century BC brass was in sufficient supply to use as coinage during the Roman Empire. As production methods improved, good workability allowed Medieval Europe to develop decorative brass objects known by the French term “dinanderie”. By the Renaissance and post-medieval Europe processes were developed to allow greater control over the alloy which opened the door for its use in expensive objects like scientific instruments, clocks, buttons and costume jewelry.
Today, almost 90% of all brass alloys are recycled. Brass is collected and transported to a foundry, where it is melted and recast into billets. We use these billets of solid brass to create all of our custom hardware.
Examples using Brass:
