Talk:Tombac

Merge into Tombak

The German trade name registered was not tombac, but tombak. Tombac is the rarely used French derivative of the German Tombak, itself derived from Dutch tombak, from the Indonesian temabaga- copper.Starstylers (talk) 17:29, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

Ballistic application

I am a little concerned by the line:

armaments in the form of ballistic projectiles at Barnaul Machine Tool-Plant Zavod, in Russia, where Tombakis bonded via heat process with steel to produce a bi-metallic projectile, which combines the favourable qualities of steel and copper.

This makes it sound as if "Barnaul Machine Tool-Plant" is doing something special (and actually sounds a little like advertising, what with including their address and all...) But as I read the definition of tombac, gilding metal is a type of tombak, although it is never referred to as such. And gilding metal is the most commonly used jacketing material for all types of small arms bullets (including steel-cored AP rounds being described above), as well as driving bands on larger ones. Unless someone knows some subtle reason why gilding metal should not be considered to be a type of tombac, the line should probably be replaced with "Gilding metal (a type of tombac with 5% zinc) is the most commonly used alloy for bullet jackets." -- 202.63.39.58 (talk) 21:20, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Piggot's definition really problematic?

The text says Piggot's definition of tombac is "problematic at best". I don't see that. It's unclear to me whether he means "per pound of copper" or "per pound of alloy"; in the one case he means zinc content from (all percentages approximate) 1.5% to 24%, in the other case he means 1.5% to 31%. It should be easy enough by reading more carefully or more widely in his writing to figure out which way he intended it. But note also he makes it clear he's discussing "what people CALL tombac"; apparently he has seen products offered under that name with some rather extreme percentages. He isn't necessarily saying he approves, and he isn't saying this is his own definition. He's describing things that were on the market under that name, in his day. Maybe he should have ended with "caveat emptor". TooManyFingers (talk) 17:12, 15 September 2023 (UTC)

My main question (pound of copper or pound of alloy) is directly answered on p.354 of Piggot: 1 pound of pure copper plus the stated amount of zinc. He also makes it clear by implication that his definition is as good a survey of the world metallurgical market as he was able to put together, giving examples from different locations. At that time, definitions varied much more from place to place, and he reported what he had encountered. The fact that his results don't correspond with a standardized modern definition is not his fault. TooManyFingers (talk) 17:32, 15 September 2023 (UTC)