Material for gears

[Ed T]

Working on an engine that uses brass gears which I am learning to make. Going well so far (one test piece). My question is whether bronze would make a suitable substitute for one of the gears. So, it would be bronze on brass. Don't know the alloy; it's an old propellor shaft. Aluminum is also a potential, but I like the bling from the yellow metals. Comments??

 

[portlandron]

They used various bronzes for prop shafts all of which would be harder then brass so the brass gear would wear faster.
However the amount of run time most of our engines see I don't think it would make much difference.