On Oct 25, 12:49*am, Matty F wrote:

Plain brass isn't a good bell alloy (goes clunk, not ting!) and you
really want a bit of tin (or modern pewter) in there.

Well, I call them brass but they are bound to be the right alloy. They
do make a nice ringing sound. I suspect the foundry does them at mates
rates.

I made these knockers for the bells to match the old one that's been
hitting bells for a hundred years and has got a bit flattened.http://i54.tinypic.com/wa537t.jpg
The bells face downwards and the knockers are hit upwards through a
hole and hit the bell and fall back a tiny bit even if someone holds
on the the pull cord.

I think that's important - from what I gather the best way to crack
the bell is to hit it with something that's not free to rebound
afterwards. Talking to the chap at the Whitechapel foundry I gather
that bell metal is a copper/tin alloy, though it has more tin than the
more common bronzes, which is why it looks yellow like brass rather
than the normal kind of reddish colour. It's a bit of a compromise -
it needs to be fairly hard to ring properly, but if you put a bit too
much tin in it becomes too brittle and cracks
Mike