brass?

[noob blacksmith]

i'm fairly new to smithing but i got my hands full of scrap including brass but i don't know much about it and wiki nor other websites have explained much beyond what it's made of so does anyone got any useful websites or info?

[ThomasPowers]

The big problem is that there isn't "brass"; there are hundreds of alloys of brass: some will hot forge, some will not; some will cold forge, some will not, some will cast well, some will not; some (a few) contain quite toxic elements (Be); thankfully most do not.

So unless you know what you actually have you end up having to experiment to see what it will do.

Note that bearing alloys may contain lead and spark proof tooling may contain Be---DO NOT MESS WITH Be CONTAINING ALLOYS!

So for casting I would suggest searching for backyard metal casting sites.

[fat pete]

i have lots of brass that came out of a machine shop 40 yrs ago ... i also have a small sheet of berillium.....so to find out whats in the brass since there is no spark test what'll a smith to do?

[noob blacksmith]

all i know is it was the rods they used to machine a lot and if the Be possibly in it i think i'll just stick to plain copper or steel instead of possibly breathing in a dusty death x.x

[Glenn]

Noob
Go to the top of the forum page and click on user cp
click on edit profile
go to the bottom of the page, enter your location, and save.

We would like to know where in the world your located.

[Farmer Phil]

You lucky guys!

I'd be pleased if I had any of your brass scraps. I've melted a bit down over the years, mostly old plumbing stuff. I'd avoid breathing any of the fumes, no matter what the alloy is. Zinc was what we mostly worried about. What diameter are the rods? Gee, you'd think if the stuff was being machined it'd be alright. Of course you're right, copper would be safer and beautiful too! It's just too soft for a lot of applications. Would either of you be willing to cut some of the brass stuff up and fill a flat rate priority mail box for us in Hawaii? We'd be please to pay a fair price.

Thanks, Phil

[noob blacksmith]

lol well if it's really that hard to find that you'd pay the crazy shipping i bought it from an old junk yard near where i live the guy has 40 or 50 old brass rods that were to be machined there about 3 inchs in diameter and 4 feet long and weigh ALOT and for 2 dollars a pound i'm not sure it's worth it

[Farmer Phil]

Is that $2 per lb for the brass or for the shipping? The flat rate priority mail box is less than $9. It can weigh up to 70 pounds and still the same flat rate. But if you paid/need $2 per pound for the brass, you're probably right, I couldn't afford much. I might have to take my words back, maybe I can't pay a fair price. Do you have a band saw? Could you cut into 1 foot lengths to fit in the box?

[noob blacksmith]

it's 2 dollars a lb of brass and nah i ain't got a band saw in fact i'm still working on getting my forge togethor i'm about 93% done with it but school and work doesn't leave alot of free time x.x

[Farmer Phil]

How much does one of those rods weigh? If you could get it cut into 1 foot lengths I'd buy a flat rate box full. Got any copper or aluminum?