So far, I've only made two dinner bells, one was from 3/8" round, and rings nicely, and another I made from 1/2" round already sold it, but it didn't ring very well. So what makes a dinner triangle ring well? have the ends touching? use smaller stock rather than larger? what do yall do? I have heard that the higher carbon content the better it rings, so maybe something like rebar? although I don't really like the texture of rebar.......this may be a shot in the dark, and I apologize. Thanks in advance! I'll try and post picture of the one made from 3/8 round, although it's a bit embarrassing, as it was something I made early on, and ain't to good look'n.

                                                                                                              Littleblacksmith

Firstly, you have to support the triangle from a soft cord.  If you have metal-to-metal contact, it kills the resonance and gives you a clanker rather than a ringer.

Secondly, you've got to quench the steel.  I usually quench the triangle after doing the second bend even though the thing's at a black heat.  

so you also don't want the two ends to meet? right?

Littleblacksmith

Very true.  If the two ends are rubbing together, it acts like a resonance dampener.  

Another trick besides quenching the corners is to make it so each leg is a different length so you are producing a cord rather than a single note.

you definitely don't want metal to metal contact whether it is the triangle itself closed or hanging from a metal hook. I hang mine from a piece of leather cord that I treat with linseed oil so it lasts longer. I used to make mine out of 3/8" and thought it sounded pretty good until I tried 1/2"...HUGE difference in volume and tone.

Here is a "dinner bell" shaped like a bell, of course.  Made this one for a blacksmith meeting trade item.  Each side is about 12" long.  Surprisingly, it actually rang like the traditional triangle.

 

 

I just used 3/8 hot rolled for one in High School, hung by a leather thong and it rings really well. 

 

Each leg a little different length and you can get away with hardening the corners. You CAN hang it from a wooden peg but it's not nearly so good as a thong, leather, twine, poly line, all work well.

Triangles sell reasonably well though they're not big movers.

Frosty The Lucky.

I stopped by the blacksmith shop at the Anoka county fair a few weeks ago. The smith made a huge one out of 1 inch 4140. I was a foot and a half long on each side. That thing was cool. It sounded like a church bell and loud. 

5 hours ago, Kevin_Olson said:

I stopped by the blacksmith shop at the Anoka county fair a few weeks ago. The smith made a huge one out of 1 inch 4140. I was a foot and a half long on each side. That thing was cool. It sounded like a church bell and loud. 

I'd loved to see and hear that. 

How about a stick of RR rail? Maybe that's what Sherman was doing bending rails on the march to the sea, he was tired of missing dinner!

Frosty The Lucky.

*Must* be true---I read it on the internet!

Because I say so.

My paternal Grandmother's maiden name was Sherman. Guess it still is even though she passed some time ago. Her mother's maiden name is Cody. No good stories though. <sigh>

Frosty The Lucky.

 

It might be a long shot but:

The concept of musical tone and the length of the string (in this case metal bar) was discovered by the Greek philosopher Pythagoras (of Pythagorean theorem fame).  He discovered that there was a relationship between the length of the string and the various tones.  Certain ratios created harmonies and others were dissonant.  Music theory is based on the concept.  If you were able to create triangles that followed those same ratios of length they would be musically "correct" and could be labeled as creating a perfect fourth or perfect fifth tone.  There are loads of resources for the desired ratios online and a tuner (even an app on your phone) could be used to check the accuracy.  Would certainly broaden your market for dinner bells!

This was the first resource from my Google search for the ratios: http://www.aboutscotland.com/harmony/prop.html

 

Not sure if you have the time, interest or energy to experiment with the concept...but I just might when I have the workable set up with a bending jig!

 

Lou

While not a dinner triangle, per see, Cajun music triangles are typically made from horse-drawn hay rake tunes, pretty high carbon stuff.  Since the hay rakes are getting harder to find, a newer substitute is to use 1/2" cold-rolled 1018.  This triangle is 9" by 9" by 9", with even length legs on the open side.