If you were very Rich in the 1800's

[A. Pettyengineer]

If you were Very Rich in the 1800's
 Why settle for brass and copper or even silver when you could have Aluminium ?
just found this on wikipedia.
Quote"History
The statue of the Anteros (commonly mistaken for either The Angel of Christian Charity or Eros) in Piccadilly Circus, London, was made in 1893 and is one of the first statues to be cast in aluminium.

Ancient Greeks and Romans used aluminium salts as dyeing mordants and as astringents for dressing wounds; alum is still used as a styptic. In 1761, Guyton de Morveau suggested calling the base alum alumine. In 1808, Humphry Davy identified the existence of a metal base of alum, which he at first termed alumium and later aluminum (see etymology section, below).

The metal was first produced in 1825 in an impure form by Danish physicist and chemist Hans Christian Ørsted. He reacted anhydrous aluminium chloride with potassium amalgam, yielding a lump of metal looking similar to tin.[45] Friedrich Wöhler was aware of these experiments and cited them, but after redoing the experiments of Ørsted he concluded that this metal was pure potassium. He conducted a similar experiment in 1827 by mixing anhydrous aluminium chloride with potassium and yielded aluminium.[45] Wöhler is generally credited with isolating aluminium (Latin alumen, alum), but also Ørsted can be listed as its discoverer.[46] Further, Pierre Berthier discovered aluminium in bauxite ore and successfully extracted it.[47] Frenchman Henri Etienne Sainte-Claire Deville improved Wöhler's method in 1846, and described his improvements in a book in 1859, chief among these being the substitution of sodium for the considerably more expensive potassium.[48] Deville likely also conceived the idea of the electrolysis of aluminium oxide dissolved in cryolite; Charles Martin Hall and Paul Héroult might have developed the more practical process after Deville.

Before the Hall-Héroult process was developed in the late 1880s, aluminium was exceedingly difficult to extract from its various ores. This made pure aluminium more valuable than gold.[49] Bars of aluminium were exhibited at the Exposition Universelle of 1855.[50] Napoleon III, Emperor of France, is reputed to have given a banquet where the most honoured guests were given aluminium utensils, while the others made do with gold.[51][52]

Aluminium was selected as the material to be used for the 100 ounce (2.8 kg) capstone of the Washington Monument in 1884, a time when one ounce (30 grams) cost the daily wage of a common worker on the project;[53] The capstone, which was set in place on December 6, 1884, in an elaborate dedication ceremony, was the largest single piece of aluminium cast at the time, when aluminium was as expensive as silver.[53]" end quote
OK so it is a bit better price wise these days but no one seems to be using it to any extent it shows up in a search of this forum as a passing bit.
What are your thoughts on using it to better advantage.
I liked some of the work done in Spain by Rafa Maya, He's work is in Card board and a great paint job and I decided to try a guest book for my studio in Aluminium .



Yes I know it is not up to scratch with Rafa Maya (and I thank him for the getting into my head ) but it is workable and with the right gear weldable.

[Capt James Salt]

Bravo !!

Great information.

[Maets]

Beware that if you are working with aluminum the fumes can be VERY dangerous as is the dust.  You MUST have a very good respirator if you are welding aluminum.

Great info on its history.

[Dr Neko]

My only problem with aluminum is my tendency to anodize the pieces and that I start considering the manufacture of thermite. 

[Argus Fairbrass]

Very nice, big aluminium fan here. I must confess I prefer the type of finish you have there to the brushed effect all too common today. I really have no idea as to when that was first introduced though.

[Mr. Winter]

so does anyone here know how the word aluminium lost it's second "i" when it crossed the Atlantic?

honestly curious if someone can answer.

[A. Pettyengineer]

Etymology

Two variants of the metal's name are in current use, aluminium and aluminum (besides the obsolete alumium). The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) adopted aluminium as the standard international name for the element in 1990 but, three years later, recognized aluminum as an acceptable variant. Hence their periodic table includes both.[59] IUPAC prefers the use of aluminium in its internal publications, although nearly as many IUPAC publications use the spelling aluminum.[60]

Most countries use the spelling aluminium. In the United States, the spelling aluminum predominates.[14][61] The Canadian Oxford Dictionary prefers aluminum, whereas the Australian Macquarie Dictionary prefers aluminium. In 1926, the American Chemical Society officially decided to use aluminum in its publications; American dictionaries typically label the spelling aluminium as a British variant.

The name aluminium derives from its status as a base of alum. It is borrowed from Old French; its ultimate source, alumen, in turn is a Latin word that literally means "bitter salt".[62]

The earliest citation given in the Oxford English Dictionary for any word used as a name for this element is alumium, which British chemist and inventor Humphry Davy employed in 1808 for the metal he was trying to isolate electrolytically from the mineral alumina. The citation is from the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London: "Had I been so fortunate as to have obtained more certain evidences on this subject, and to have procured the metallic substances I was in search of, I should have proposed for them the names of silicium, alumium, zirconium, and glucium."[63][64]

Another Quote from Wikipedia.
Davy settled on aluminum by the time he published his 1812 book Chemical Philosophy: "This substance appears to contain a peculiar metal, but as yet Aluminum has not been obtained in a perfectly free state, though alloys of it with other metalline substances have been procured sufficiently distinct to indicate the probable nature of alumina."[65] But the same year, an anonymous contributor to the Quarterly Review, a British political-literary journal, in a review of Davy's book, objected to aluminum and proposed the name aluminium, "for so we shall take the liberty of writing the word, in preference to aluminum, which has a less classical sound."[66]

The -ium suffix conformed to the precedent set in other newly discovered elements of the time: potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, and strontium (all of which Davy isolated himself). Nevertheless, -um spellings for elements were not unknown at the time, as for example platinum, known to Europeans since the 16th century, molybdenum, discovered in 1778, and tantalum, discovered in 1802. The -um suffix is consistent with the universal spelling alumina for the oxide, as lanthana is the oxide of lanthanum, and magnesia, ceria, and thoria are the oxides of magnesium, cerium, and thorium respectively.

The spelling used throughout the 19th century by most U.S. chemists was aluminium, but common usage is less clear.[67] The aluminum spelling is used in the Webster's Dictionary of 1828. In his advertising handbill for his new electrolytic method of producing the metal 1892, Charles Martin Hall used the -um spelling, despite his constant use of the -ium spelling in all the patents[57] he filed between 1886 and 1903.[68] It has consequently been suggested that the spelling reflects an easier to pronounce word with one fewer syllable, or that the spelling on the flier was a mistake. Hall's domination of production of the metal ensured that the spelling aluminum became the standard in North America; the Webster Unabridged Dictionary of 1913, though, continued to use the -ium versi

[Aleister Crow]

so does anyone here know how the word aluminium lost it's second "i" when it crossed the Atlantic?

honestly curious if someone can answer.

We told him if he kept messing with that BB gun he'd put his i out, but he didn't listen.

[Argus Fairbrass]

Just remember, a lot of aluminum cans died to make that aluminium!

[Augustus Longeye]

It's actually quite an interesting question. I've always wondered why it was missing a letter in America. Some words (like colour) you can understand a letter dropping, but aluminium chancing to aliminum? Doesn't make sense!
~Longeye~

[bicyclebuilder]

It's actually quite an interesting question. I've always wondered why it was missing a letter in America. Some words (like colour) you can understand a letter dropping, but aluminium chancing to aliminum? Doesn't make sense!
~Longeye~

There are more things in English that doesn't make sense: "Why does your nose run and your feet smell"

[The Inventor]

pretty interesting history there.
Something I shall have to look up,
cool book by the way.

[Captain Braid]

[Pedant mode] Surely this should be:

"If you were very Rich in the 1890's"

Otherwise you are refering to the Napoleonic period.
[/Pedant mode]

[A. Pettyengineer]

No you must read all of the first as

Before the Hall-Héroult process was developed in the late 1880s, aluminium was exceedingly difficult to extract from its various ores. This made pure aluminium more valuable than gold.[49] Bars of aluminium were exhibited at the Exposition Universelle of 1855.[50] Napoleon III, Emperor of France, is reputed to have given a banquet where the most honoured guests were given aluminium utensils, while the others made do with gold.[51][52]

[Steelheart]

For me it comes down to aesthetics. There is nothing wrong with using aluminium (which is much more fun to say than aluminum), but I prefer the golden tones of brass.

Aluminium is self-passivating, but freshly machined or sanded material can turn your fingers black when handled. Anodizing (anodising for the Brits) was developed in the 1920s to increase the thickness of the oxide layer. If you are making items out of found or re-purposed items, it is likely anodized. Anodizing also makes aluminium easier to dye, but I am not sure when that became a common practice.

Duraluminuim, a trade name for an early age-hardened alloy, was developed in 1903. This was used in many of the rigid frame airships for the high strength to weight ratio.
So while my (fictional) airship is made of duraluminium, many of the smaller items I construct are made of brass, especially where weight is not a concern.

We know better, but many people see aluminum as a modern metal. Brass seems to be the default metal of the Steampunk genre – after all we are using site called Brass Goggles.

[Captain Braid]

Brass seems to be the default metal of the Steampunk genre .

Because;-
 A) Brass polishes up nicely
 B) Polishing Brass can be theraputic.

[A. Pettyengineer]

I like this as a badge

May have to get out the red stuff and cast a few.
Why do Americans always make badges look like some one in a Blue uniform should be showing it off?
mind you I wont be going near a fire while it is on my person.

A chunk of the Hind'ie Burg

[SPBrewer]

I like the Aluminum manufactured by Adolph Coors! 
They are called "Silver Bullets", and I must confess that I have never been attacked by a Werewolf while drinking one!