Custom MHS in other metals?

[Onlyone]

I looked around but saw no sign of this...
Is it possible to get custom MHS parts in any of these other metals?

One thing holding me back is I have this thing for all brass.

I'm sure others are interested brass, copper, bronze, and I've have seen some really nice alloys before too, like copper/nickel/zinc aka nickel silver aka german silver.

What type of metal are MHS parts? Stainless steel?

[Jedi-Loreen]

MHS parts are made of aluminum.

You could always get parts powder coated to look like other metals.

Some of those metals would be very expensive to buy in stock big enough to turn down into some of the parts, especially some of the blade holders.

[Onlyone]

Oh yeah...

My concern with that is if you mixed real brass with it you'd tell them apart. I thought the same thing about spray paint and it looked different but I like it.

I guess you could use a powder coat that looks like tarnished brass and put actual polished brass pieces over it.

[Lord Dottore Matto]

Onlyone, I know there is a mountain of information on this forum, but if you spend some time going through and reading (in the gallery especially) you will begin to discover what can be done with Powder coating and with brass overlays. This is not new information, you just need to invest some quality time with the forum to discover it.

[Clockwork]

Another more fundamental problem with making MHS parts out of other metals is bi-metal reactions. I know I for one would be tempted to build a saber that mixed metals. This of course has the chance of creating bi-metal reactions that could cause parts to do anything from Corrode to lock threads (and I mean LOCK threads).

[Onlyone]

I've seen alot of powder coated saber but don't recall seeing brass powder coat and brass overlay. Otherwise I'm all too familiar with overlays, but when you want 100% brass...it takes some compromise.

The main issue is no matter how much you match powdercoat to brass it won't tarnish. Which could be ok, but something to be aware of.

I've been reading 3-6 hours a day here. For over a week....I've actually been loosing sleep over it.

[Onli-Won Kanomi]

A number of smiths use "translucent gold" powdercoating in concert with de-chromed brass sinktube overlays to good effect. It requires extra polishing though and isn't a powdercoating option that TCSS offers yet.

As for brass and other non-aluminum parts I do think there might be a place for them particularly in pommels where the extra weight could help the balance in certain designs. But balance is a very subjective thing and can be changed other ways so I realize heavy pommels is probably not adequate reason for TCSS to make brass etc. MHS parts. Also brass contains lead so machining it could pose additional health issues that make it more trouble than its worth perhaps? And as mentioned there is the expense...would TCSS sell enough to be worth it?

[Onlyone]

Cool I'll have to see how that looks....Not for my current project but possibly the next one I'm casually researching.

Sounds like if it was an option business wise a more practical option might be brass coating if that's possible...I'm not exactly a metal smith...yet.

LDM .... a reasonable place to look for powder coating would be in the powder coat section. I already looked there.

[Clockwork]

A) Please remember to edit posts rather than double post

B) Brass. I would like to consider myself one of the Brass using saber smiths (I like to do steam punk sabers - so brass is almost a must). There are brass overlays out there (I have done 2, LDM has done at least one, probably more, and Jay-Gon Jinn has done like 18..etc.). You just need a 1.5 brass sink pipe from a local hardware store. Not all of these will fit over MHS parts, so you might have to get them milled down (I believe this is what Jay-gon does). As for insisting an entire brass saber I see two options. A) you can insist that only those visible parts are brass, thus having MHS parts and a shroud that covers them all. Or B) you can not use MHS parts. Simple as that. There is nothing wrong with doing an entirely custom saber, and some times it is necessary if you have a very specific idea in mind. My opinion is use MHS parts with brass overlays. It's the only way to have it all look like natural brass and be cost effective.

[Barmic Rin]

Two words.

KILLER PENNY.