For thousands of years now mankind has been using bronze for different reasons. The development of bronze is connected with humans understanding of metallurgy. Bronze as far as we know was the first alloy that ancient folks developed. They discovered by mixing copper and arsenic you could get a metal that was stronger than copper. As time went on in some countries the use of tin was discovered to make the alloy stronger.

It was discovered that tin was stronger than arsenic and not nearly as toxic, as time went by and when the Iron Age started bronze was still being heavily used because it was found to be stronger than iron or wrought iron. So we see that even when civilizations moved well into the Iron Age, bronze was continually being improved by adding, manganese, phosphorus, and silicon.

Although the early use of bronze was strictly for making weapons, and tools, slowly the use spread to more artistic areas such as making statues and handles for trunks and doors and various types of musical instruments. Making of bronze from copper and tin alloys as opposed to copper and arsenic, first started in Persia and Thailand. The reason being that these were the only places copper ore occurs near tin deposits.

So not surprisingly the earliest works of bronze takes place in these countries. One of the main attractive features of bronze is that it tends to expand a little just before setting, thereby filling up the cast and giving it a more finished look. That is the reason why out of all the metals and alloys bronze was the most favored metal for artisans to create any type of art work whether it was just a piece of art to look at or something that had a functional use. Because compared to other metals bronze has a unique rustic beauty to it.

In the 20th century knowledge of such techniques such as electrolysis came about and taking advantage of this, metal smiths started creating metals that were coated with different metals. That is when steel based oil rubbed bronze cabinet hardware was born. After the electrolysis it was polished with a lacquer which gave it the oil bronzed look. As far as authentic oiled bronze goes, they apply black nickel and then rub it with oil for the finish.

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