brass anyone

[v-6]

does anyone here melt down there own brass?
how do you do this and what do you use as a mold and to melt it in?
thanks vern

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Vern,
While brass can be melted fairly easily, there is little point to it.
Good ,clean brass is pretty cheap, and comes in practically any size needed.

To melt it you would need a graphite crucible, some melting equipment ( either a melting pot or a melting torch), and some sort of mold to pour the ingot into.

There are concerns about the fumes, and, of course, the risks in dealing with molten metal (red hot steel doesn't splatter all over the room when you knock it off the anvil...molten brass does!).

Add to this that there are many types of brass alloys, and all are not useful for knife furniture. Then, in melting and pouring the brass you may add a considerable amount of oxides, perhaps resulting in a strange color.

BTW, While there is some disagreement on how much of a problem it will cause, it is best not to melt brass or put any copper alloys in your forge if you intend on welding damascus in it.



Stacy

 

[v-6]

Vern,
While brass can be melted fairly easily, there is little point to it.
Good ,clean brass is pretty cheap, and comes in practically any size needed.

To melt it you would need a graphite crucible, some melting equipment ( either a melting pot or a melting torch), and some sort of mold to pour the ingot into.

There are concerns about the fumes, and, of course, the risks in dealing with molten metal (red hot steel doesn't splatter all over the room when you knock it off the anvil...molten brass does!).

Add to this that there are many types of brass alloys, and all are not useful for knife furniture. Then, in melting and pouring the brass you may add a considerable amount of oxides, perhaps resulting in a strange color.

BTW, While there is some disagreement on how much of a problem it will cause, it is best not to melt brass or put any copper alloys in your forge if you intend on welding damascus in it.



Stacy

thats good enough for me :thumbup:
thanks stacy
vern

 

[smitty0331]

In melting brass, you'll have to alloy it. The melting process raises the temp. of the brass to well above what would be considered overheated. If you don't have a background in metallurgy, and have the right equipment, I wouldn't do it.

 

[atakach]

Vern,

I built a vertical forge out of a small hot water tank, i cut the top off, and hinged it, then poured a 3-4'' thick floor of castible. I then took k-wool and put a 2'' thick blancket all the way around the inside. The legs were 1''x1'' angle iron, i made it tallenough that you didnt have to bend over very far to get the crucible out. Also i cut a hole in the lid right in the middle maybe 1 1/4'' dia. to act kind of like an exhaust, if you dont do this gas will build up in there and become very dangerous.

I used forms i made from 1''x4'' boards, that had pegs in them to make sure they only went back together one way, or you can really screw things up.
I bought a crucible from rio grande, not real expensive. And i got oil sand from a place in Pa., i cant think of the name of the place but it's the same distributer Kim Thomas deals with.

It's fairly cheap to get into casting and have all the equiptment to do basic sand casting, and some nice artistic hardware can be made for knives, that you cant create with just plain bar stock. But it's a time consuming task, and unless your building artistic knives, that require unique and one of a kind guards for every knife, it's not likely to be the best way to go about making guards, and hardware.

I think that sand co. was called Petrobond, and i believe it was around $50 for a 5gal bucket of the stuff, and it's almost endlessly reusable, when it starts to loose it's ability to stay molded, you add motor oil it and that will bring it back to life.

In the end i sold the forge off, and later the forms and sand, just wasn't my thing, though i did make a real nice set of knuckles for a guy.

hope this helped a little,

andrew