Bronze flashlights?

This is somewhat inspired by the "what if / dream flashlight" thread.

my little fantasy was a bronze light. and that made me wonder...

I was wondering why we dont see bronze (likely custom) flashlights?

seems the material would be easy enough to work with and not too terribly expensive, (its just an alloy of copper and tin and a few other things, nothing holy...) and forms its own protective coating without rusting, very durable and looks great. it would allso age very well, even with some abuse.

im sure i cant be the first one to realize it might be a great material for flashlights, but what i cant think of is a reason why it is not done.

thoughts anyone?

I agree that it would look great and be durable, but it wouldnt be ideal due to the weight for me. Maybe in fancier light you dont plan to use that much, but otherwise it would be too heavy.

Many (most?) of the small lights from Peak LED Solutions are available in your choice of metal: aluminum, bronze, or stainless steel.

Paul_in_Maryland said:

Many (most?) of the small lights from Peak LED Solutions are available in your choice of metal: aluminum, bronze, or stainless steel.

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Interesting! ill have to look them up and perhaps drool a bit.

EDIT: they describe their bronze lights as brass, but do list special order info, so perhaps they might sell you a different alloy.

Paul_in_Maryland said:

Many (most?) of the small lights from Peak LED Solutions are available in your choice of metal: aluminum, bronze, or stainless steel.

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Brass, not bronze.

Peak offers a lot of brass lights – not sure if that close enough to what you were looking for. (oops GP beat me to it.)

They might be able to make something custom if you ask. (Looks like you just found that out as well. Guess I'll go back to lurking.)

Don_Redondo said:

Peak offers a lot of brass lights – not sure if that close enough to what you were looking for. They might be able to something custom if you ask.

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this is moving fast!

im not looking to buy anymore lights, but really kicking an interesting idea around. it looks like they offer a bounty of brass lights, for sure!

price?gc.

golden_creature said:

price?gc.

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copper goes for a couple of bucks a pound, scrap. (the main component of bronze, along with tin... brass is copper with zinc) new materials would obviously be more, but a hunk of metal for milling isnt going to be the dealbreaker, i imagine...

orionlion82 said:

I was wondering why we dont see bronze (likely custom) flashlights?

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Two simple but important reasons.
Bronze, Brass and Aluminum Bronze are all very heavy when compared to aluminum.

And worse, all three metals tarnish badly.

CR2 Ion (Alu Bronze).

Edit - photo here:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/146254

Anglepoise said:

Two simple but important reasons.
Bronze, Brass and Aluminum Bronze are all very heavy when compared to aluminum.

And worse, all three metals tarnish badly.

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Say - a light with some heft to it was what you were after.
something beefy, and solid to make the hands happy.
aluminum is heavy comapred to tiatanium, eh?

brass and bronze will form their own coatings, much like aluminum, from what i understand, and less like iron, (what we call rust.)

not to mention a laquer dip can fix that- or a good poishing and a coat of wax.

IIRC bronze is actually pretty hard on tools.

Bronze is a great non corroding material, has good heat transfer like copper, it has a nice golden color to it, and it can be chemically stained. I know I can get bronze pipe, tube if you will, it isn't the cheapest stuff around, but it would make great dive lights.

I made some flashlights/parts in brass along other materials/coatings:

Neoca Wood



Neoca BL


Pineapple - E-series 2x123 body



Pablo

Calina said:

IIRC bronze is actually pretty hard on tools.

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Brass is as easy to machine as Alu, maybe even easier...


Pablo

I would love to see a Bronze Cree light

Anglepoise said:

Two simple but important reasons.
Bronze, Brass and Aluminum Bronze are all very heavy when compared to aluminum.

And worse, all three metals tarnish badly.

Click to expand...

I actually like the look of tarnished brass/bronze...in fact, at some point, I'm going to get one of the Peak brass LEDs just for that reason. I've had my eye on them for quite some time now. Hopefully, they will put out a 1AA or a single 123 version with a Cree at some point!

I think things made of brass/bronze look best when the recessed parts of them are badly tarnished and the raised parts that are handled the most are kind of shiney. Guess it's the contrast or something that draws me to things made of those materials...that's the main reason I started collecting old padlocks...I just think they look cool when they're old, beat up and tarnished.

Edit: Torchboy posted the same wish I had while I was typing this post! A brass Cree would be SO COOL!!!

The Bronze padlocks and various marine hardware were really what got me thinking about it. Toohoturk said it pretty well.

the Bronze would be somewhat heavier, but this is why we take aluminum cheapies camping.

on the other hand - a bronze light does not have to sit on the shelf and look pretty under a coat of laquer or polish, and with use it would develop some really interesting charecter, that in my opinion - would look great.

and PEU! those lights are magnificient!

orionlion82 said:

Say - a light with some heft to it was what you were after.
something beefy, and solid to make the hands happy.
aluminum is heavy comapred to tiatanium, eh?

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Aluminum is actually light compared to titanium. The specific gravity (weight compared to water) for Ti is about 4.5, Al is 2.8. (in comparison, steel and aluminum-bronze are 7.7, brass is 8.4, gold is 19.3...) If you have the same flashlight out of each metal, the Ti light weighs significantly more - the Draco in Ti weighs about 12 grams, in Al it weighs about 7. If used structurally, though, you can USE less Ti than Al or steel - higher strength. LOTS of other factors are involved in those choices though. Hope this was SOME help...
gjg