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Beaten copper sheets?
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Posted by plateaugal (My Page) on Fri, Nov 19, 04 at 19:49
| I am a novice trying to duplicate the texture of our beautiful beaten copper sink for a fridge panel. I have a 20 gauge copper sheet and bought some liver sulfur. But I have problems trying to beat the copper with a ball hammer. You all will understand right away that my copper becomes distorted as it becomes a little larger (locally) with each hammer strike. I did some more homework and learned that I need to anneal it when I am finished beating, but this is beyond my capability. Now I wonder if I can just buy a beaten copper sheet locally. Where would I look for this? I saw the recent thread about copper sheets, but did not see anything about beaten copper. (We live in the SF Bay area.) |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Beaten copper sheets?
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| The copper is beaten over end grain wood to develope the shape. You will only need to anneal it if it work hardens more than you want. If all you want is a flat panel the work hardening should not be a problem. |
RE: Beaten copper sheets?
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Not to sure what exactly you need, but this I know, when copper gets hard from
hammering and you want to soften it up, then heat it up to a dark red and quickly
cool it in cold water.
Konrad |
RE: Beaten copper sheets?
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| brickeyee, Could I use my Butcher block which is endgrain hardwood or would that be too hard? Konrad, My sheet is 3' x 4', so a bit large for heating evenly. I assume I would have to heat the whole thing at once. Is that right? |
RE: Beaten copper sheets?
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Endgrain softwood is used if you want to develope a texture. If you do it on the butcher block, be prepared to replace or resurface it.
Unless you ned to bend or form the sheet, you are not likely to need to anneal it. Work hardening of a sheet that will be used flat is not much of a problem. |
RE: Beaten copper sheets?
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I found a large stump, borrowed a ball pin hammer and beat away. Alas, the texture is nothing like that on my copper sink. We figure it was not beaten. All the thin "walls" separating the dimples are the same width. The shapes of the dimples are not all the same. Some are elliptical, some almost hexagonal. When I beat copper with a hammer my dimples are all the same shape (round) and the walls separating them are random in their widths, depending on how the hammer fell. None are as thin as those I see on my sink. So what is up?
Do professionals use some preformed pattern to press into the copper? |
RE: Beaten copper sheets?
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A sheet that size, a bit larger for doing it at home for heat treating.
You could have it done by a Heattreating Facility.
In School, we made some cooper bowls, many years ago, I'm not to sure anymore what we used for, (behind) to beat on.
I think it was lead or sand bag??
Konrad |
RE: Beaten copper sheets?
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A ball pen produces a particular look. If it is not what you are looking for, you can try some other tools.
The factory items are done with a planishing hammer (often compressed air powered) and a shapped face.
A hardwood dowel can easily be shapped, then used with a deadblow hammer to create nearly any pattern you want. Use a deadblow to save your arm and shoulder if not using powered equipment. It also tends to give more control for a uniform result. |
RE: Beaten copper sheets?
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| that's "ball peen", in case you are using a search engine. Also, a factory "beating" would probably use a method that exactly spaces the blows, to get even dimpling. < from Merriam-Webster's: : a usually hemispherical or wedge-shaped end of the head of a hammer that is opposite the face and is used especially for bending, shaping, or cutting the material struck .> |
Here is a link that might be useful: Merriam-Websters Collegiate dictionary, my fave
RE: Beaten copper sheets?
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| help...i had a local sheet metal guy make me a great copper surround for my new wood insert, but he laquered it first, and now with the heat, it is sticky and discolored...how, and what can I use/do to remove it..I don't mind it aging (like me) without the finish... |
RE: Beaten copper sheets?
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| Here is the problem with hammering copper by hand: You are constantly shrinking and stretching the material, thus it is really hard to keep flat. Acccording to the fellow that built some item for us. The way that some of the companies that do this all of the time is to roll it through special rollers or they have developed their own special ways of keeping the copper flat. It is really hard to work with copper sheet that you hand hammer. Just an FYI. You may be able to buy it from companies like Firestone Una-Clad, Circle City Copperworks,Nemec Supply, or the Copper Shop. |
RE: Beaten copper sheets?
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| "help...i had a local sheet metal guy make me a great copper surround for my new wood insert, but he laquered it first, and now with the heat, it is sticky and discolored...how, and what can I use/do to remove it..I don't mind it aging (like me) without the finish..." Lacquer thinner will dissolve the old lacquer. You should really use it in a very well ventilated area since it is very flammable, and you want to avoid breathing to many of the fumes. They will give you a splitting headache and worse. |
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