Copper Yale Padlock

[Adrian Weber]

Interesting Max and thanks for sharing!

Could you send samples of these three when also shipping another item for me? That would be great and like this it would be easier to tell them from each other.

I know that a German lock manufacturer called "Burg Wächter" used and I believe still uses "Antinitstahl" for the steel pins in locks (I am not certain if they still use it). Some locks even had both driver and key pins with this material. The only thing I could find out about it so far is that it was used for guns in the past and is highly corrosion resistant.

Adrian

[Doug MacQueen]

I don't know what wine you are drinking Max (Cheers!), but I was under the impression that Claret was the English term for a Burgundy, or is it Bordeaux. Fresh (untarnished) phosphor bronze looks a bit more like a Blush, or a Rose as it used to be called here in the US, only a little more orange than red. As a matter if fact the 10 lever Mersey that I am currently cutting up has Phosphor Bronze springs. Fresh pure copper has a definite orange tint. Generally speaking the lower the copper content in both brasses and bronzes, the less red it is. High zinc brass is quite yellow and is typically seen in furniture locks. Here the zinc may be 35-40%. Once a heavy patina has occurred, it can be difficult to determine the alloy. And the type of patina that occurs is affected by the environment. It has been many years since I assembled the Yale locks spoken of here, and I did quite a few, but I doubt they where Phosphor Bronze. However my goal is to establish the exact composition used on locks, so if anyone has spectrum gun, I would be happy to proven wrong. Doug

[Adrian Weber]

I go to a jewellery fair sometimes (it is once a year and only for people of the trade), friends usually invite me to join them there once a year. There are some companies selling guns like these, they are very expensive. I look forward to testing them on a few padlocks where I badly want to know what kind of material it is. The S&G 951 for example.