With years of experience hand forging belt buckles, Alex Maughan of Maughan & Co has identified which metal is the perfect fit. Traditionally an advocate of 304 stainless steel, Alex has additionally embraced the aesthetic advantages of Coldur-A®, a silicon bronze available exclusively from Columbia Metals.
“This bronze definitely has a particularly rosy colour to it when cleaned which I really like,” recounts Alex. “It’s not far away from rose gold, when other bronzes that I’ve used in the past tend to be a yellower tone.”
Alex uses solid round bar to start the buckle making process, and then forges this into the flatter, rectangular profile needed for the buckle. After chamfering the corners, the bar is heated and shaped with a hammer on an anvil.
“Bronze I’ve used in the past has a tendency to crack or crumble if overheated,” continues Alex. “This often makes for a very slow and laborious forging process as you’re too cautious to put any real heat into the material. Traditional hand forging subjects material to a lot of atypical stress, and methodical and careful as I am the main issue with using bronze for hand forging is always its propensity to crack.
“The Coldur-A® I’ve had from Columbia Metals has a noticeably broader working temperature range, which significantly reduces the jeopardy of any human error regarding the heating.
“Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, the broader temperature range allows for more control of the movement of material during forging.”
Coldur-A® is renowned as one of the easiest of all copper alloys to fabricate due to the addition of small amounts of silicon and manganese. It can be hot worked up to 870oC and can also be readily cold formed.
Once Alex has forged the buckle, rivets are added and it is then pinned to leather belts sourced from the last remaining traditional oak barn tannery in Britain.
“Coldur-A® was a real joy to work with throughout!” concludes Alex.
About Maughan & Co
Maughan & Co is a Scottish forge manufacturing belt buckles. The forge manufactures riveted and filed buckles from either 304 stainless steel or Coldur-A® silicon bronze. All buckles are handmade and can be customised to user requirements.
About Coldur-A®
Coldur-A® is a silicon bronze alloy renowned for its combination of strength, corrosion resistance and formability. Its attractive golden bronze colouration makes it a firm favourite with designers, sculptors, metalsmiths and fabricators alike. Columbia Metals holds stocks of Coldur-A® in the half hard condition in sheet form and from 1/4″ to 2” diameter.
