gong making

A unique CRaft - the art of gong making

The art of making gongs was surrounded by great secrecy and mysticism. Making gongs required great skill and only certain families specialised in their manufacture, much like the making of samurai swords in Japan. The methods were handed down from father to son and many believed that the making of gongs required help from a ‘higher source’. Hence, the process of manufacture became more ritualistic with meditation and offerings by the gong smith. Some considered that they were open to attack by malicious spirits and adopted other names during the forging process.

Most gongs of good quality were made from bronze using a formula of around 80% copper and 20% tin (sometimes known as ‘bell metal’). Lesser gongs had smaller amounts of copper and extra amounts of tin, iron or lead. Occasionally, precious metals such as gold, silver or nickel were added, resulting in beautifully sounding but expensive gongs.

 The main five processes in making a cast gong are pouring, hammering, smoothing, tuning and polishing/decorating. First, the constituent metals are heated together until molten and then poured into moulds or cast into a cake of metal. Then the metal is repeatedly heated and hammered – each hammering session lasting about 30 seconds with up to 150 sessions for a large gong – using a variety of hammers and anvils until the final shape is formed. Next the gong is quenched from a high temperature (the metal is cherry red in colour at this stage) by cold water. This renders the metal elastic but still strong, ready for the next process of hammering. Any major dents or peaks were filled with a resinous paste applied by red hot iron rods or smoothed by files and then the gong is allowed to rest for a period of time. It is then hammered by expert hammer strokes to produce the final tuning. The gong is then re-heated and allowed to cool slowly to give it a measure of hardness. Finally, the gong may be lathed, polished and decorated.

Modern Western gongs tend to be made from sheet metal, typically Nickel Silver, an alloy of copper, zinc and nickel. Some are also made from brass and many are made from stainless steel. The metal is specially made in rolling mills ensuring a closely packed and aligned metal crystal structure. The discs are then cut to size, heated and the edge folded over (where an edge exists). The face is then hammered from the rear to smooth out any large bumps and to ‘tune’ the gong. Once rested, a final tuning takes place and the gong is then decorated, cleaned and polished.