Scrap or not to scrap

[Black Ink]

I have some old brass pipe that I pulled from my house I've never really worked with brass so I heated a piece and let it sit for a day.The next day I split a piece and played around with it cold and with some slight heat,and it was just shattering.Is this stuff worthless,should I just scrap it?
TIA
Jason

[easilyconfused]

I've never done any brass or copper work but I know copper for sure work hardens and needs to be annealed after a while. Maybe it needed to be annealed? I think it is opposite to iron and needs to be quenched and not just slowly cooled but I may be mistaken.

[jimmy seale]

what i know is play with it and is work hardened so heat and quinch - get rid of it and tomorrow you will need it- that is the way my luck goes

[irnsrgn]

to anneal any copper based alloy, and silver, heat to red and then quench in water.

[Firegirl]

I've worked with some brass, the bowl pictured in my avatar is brass actually, and you have to heat to red, let cool to pink and then quench, and re-anneal A LOT! It's much more brittle than copper. But depending on the size of the pipe, could be cut into sections and made into nice bracelets or small vases. Have fun

[Black Ink]

thanks everyone i made a sweet chillie pepper today out of copper and i want to use brass for the leaf on top so im gonna try that tomorrow.

[fat pete]

if you were pounding it for a while you needed to anneal it and quench it.....after you do that it gets workable again......but it will harden as you bang

[riverman]

needing some patterns and tips on making a fish gig,heard of using leaf springs,thats a little heavy,want some thing lighter,prefer round tines,something that will stand up to using around rocks.Thanks Riverman

[skunkriv]

Most of the old ones around here used round stock for the tines and they were held together with a wedge. You have probably seen that kind but if needed I can post a pic. Have one hanging on the front of the shop . Have a friend in MO who collects them and as I recall most of his were made the same way. Garage door spring would be good stock to use.

[ThomasPowers]

note that old brass water pipe can have the zinc leached out of it making it more brittle as well.