Posted by John Swensen on January 09, 2002 at 16:16:25:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: 'Why Brass?' posted by David on January 09, 2002 at 15:22:11:
I believe that nickel silver and German silver are different names for the same family of alloys. My experience with leaded nickel silver is that it is similar to leaded brass, but is much tougher to cut (I can cut brass stock all day with a wood-cutting bandsaw, but one 12" cut of eighth-inch nickel silver will ruin a bandsaw blade running at wood-cutting speeds).
I am almost certain that the Conn 8D is solid nickel silver (~15% nickel, ~15% zinc, balance copper), and the white-colored St. Petes are nickel plated brass. Nickel in plated form is very hard, and would be very difficult to scrape off, even if plated using imperfect Russian workmanship.