Scrounging for brass & copper?

R

Roamad

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Feb 1, 2016
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I like to scrounge materials, because I enjoy the hunt and saving money. Does anyone know any good used items to look for at flea markets, garage sales and the like to find brass and copper flat stock around 1/4" thick? This would be for bolsters & pommels, primarily. Obviously there's lots of kitchenware made of brass & copper, but most of it's not thick enough. I'm thinking maybe certain electrical parts or panels, maybe stuff from boats or ships...? :rolleyes:
 
Breaker boxes will some times have copper buss bars that the breakers connect to. I use to come across them every one in a while and should snag them when I found them.
 
Go to your local metal recycling center.
They sort copper and brass, and if you take cookies they will let you look through the bins and buy it by the pound.
 
I melt my own down.

Pound a copper pipe flat and fold it over itself or cut it up into pieces. Put it in an Altoids tin and stick it in your forge(if you have a forge.). At around 2000F it all melts into a bar. I use beer caps as molds/crucibles for buttons. That's how I use up all my rivet cut-offs. I keep a "copper box" of scraps.

Throw a couple USD quarters into it for a bit of mokume action.
 
Rick Marchand said:
I melt my own down.

Pound a copper pipe flat and fold it over itself or cut it up into pieces. Put it in an Altoids tin and stick it in your forge(if you have a forge.). At around 2000F it all melts into a bar. I use beer caps as molds/crucibles for buttons. That's how I use up all my rivet cut-offs. I keep a "copper box" of scraps.

Throw a couple USD quarters into it for a bit of mokume action.
Click to expand...

That never occurred to me. Thanks for the tip. I want to try that. It doesn't stick to the tin? Or, is it a "lost-tin" casting process?
 
I've had tins survive several castings... sometimes not. It is important to control the heat. Not precisely, but avoid melting the tin in the process. You have a few hundred degrees to play with but if the tin melts, you'll dump the copper and ruin your forge refractory. It is a delicate operation. I haven't had any issues, yet..... I stress, yet.
 
Roamad said:
^^^Great idea, thanks Rick! Could this be done with a torch instead of a forge?
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I MAPP torch the bottle cap crucibles but the altoids tin is too much. Maybe with an O/A torch it would work. I would place it in a kaowool bird nest to prevent excessive heat loss outside of a forge.
 
TWood96 said:
Go to your local metal recycling center.
They sort copper and brass, and if you take cookies they will let you look through the bins and buy it by the pound.
Click to expand...

Agree

The whole world is scrapping for brass and copper

You'll never be fast enough to beat them.
The time you spend on that you could be actually making something.


If you're buying at flea markets, you will be paying too much.
It's hard to estimate weight.


If you buy from a scrap yard, they weigh, you pay the price, you probably know what alloy it is based on use.

If you buy copper plumbing pipe with elbows and fittings, remember there is solder in the joints that will change your alloy if you melt it all together.
 
Have you melted down copper to make ingots, Count? The solder is long gone before it hits the melting point of copper. All the crud collects on the surface. Unless you are using it to electroplate or something, any minor alloying will not be noticeable. I keep it on hand and do a melt at the end of a forging session. It takes literally minutes and I yield 1/4"+ ingots 2.5" x 3.5". Only a few times have I ever had voids... and you can "heal" those with a MAPP torch and a length of copper wire. I have not purchased copper in over 8 years... and I use it a LOT.

All I'm saying is try it. Copper pipe, electrical wire and rivet cut-offs are my main sources.
 
Rick Marchand said:
I've had tins survive several castings... sometimes not. It is important to control the heat. Not precisely, but avoid melting the tin in the process. You have a few hundred degrees to play with but if the tin melts, you'll dump the copper and ruin your forge refractory. It is a delicate operation. I haven't had any issues, yet..... I stress, yet.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking I'll make some little 304 stainless boxes for doing this, I don't think I can get hot enough to melt them and I've never been able to solder them to anything so hopefully they don't stick.
 
Rick Marchand said:
I melt my own down.

Pound a copper pipe flat and fold it over itself or cut it up into pieces. Put it in an Altoids tin and stick it in your forge(if you have a forge.). At around 2000F it all melts into a bar. I use beer caps as molds/crucibles for buttons. That's how I use up all my rivet cut-offs. I keep a "copper box" of scraps.

Throw a couple USD quarters into it for a bit of mokume action.
Click to expand...

Me too :) In one really big ball bearing you have quality bronze for many knives ..........
 
any reason this couldnt be done in an electric oven? If im already up at 1975 to HT stainless. it might make sense to utilize the energy to get to 2000 and cast some mini ingots.
 
Kevin McGovern said:
any reason this couldnt be done in an electric oven? If im already up at 1975 to HT stainless. it might make sense to utilize the energy to get to 2000 and cast some mini ingots.
Click to expand...

Copper melts at 1984F. That should do it. The longer soak with temperature control should be even better, IMO.

Keep the area well ventilated. Not sure what toxic horror is being released from dirty smelts.
 
kuraki said:
I'm thinking I'll make some little 304 stainless boxes for doing this, I don't think I can get hot enough to melt them and I've never been able to solder them to anything so hopefully they don't stick.
Click to expand...

When you weld them together make the top opening slightly larger than the bottom. This will help release it out easier.

I have plans of building a smelting forge in the not too far future. I have a couple hundred pounds of copper, aluminum and close to 100 pounds of brass I've been collecting for a while.
 
There is a guy on YT that pours muffin tin ingots of brass, copper and aluminum.

I never pour mine. I just slide it out of the forge to let it solidify.

I bet you could cut down a bread loaf pan to make larger flat ingots. It would have the taper... might have to try that.
 
One thing I'd watch out for, with brass/bronze in particular, is some alloys may have lead in them. So make sure you account for that in your ventilation plans, as it will surely vaporize at the temperatures we're talking about.
 
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