melting brass padlocks

mongke 22 years ago

Hi all

Today I tried melting brass for the first time. I had some nice heavy brass padlocks around and so I dumped them into my 4" pipe crucible. After

2 hours and several pounds of charcoal the padlocks were orange but simply the brass did not flow. I did not took the steel pieces apart since I'm lazy and I expected to fish them out when the brass melted. Is padlock brass the yellow brass novices are cautioned against? If so, what would be a common scrap source for silicon bronze? Taps, hinges, fittings, something?

regards,

Mongke

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Tim Williams 22 years ago

Hotter. More charcoal (more underneath?), lid, more air. You're almost there!

Tim

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John Hofstad-Parkhill 22 years ago

Mongke:

I can melt brass w/charcoal, but I have to do it on the first load of coals, adding more isn't enough. I agree with Tim. More air, better air flow - that's part of my problem adding more coals, the ash starts filling up. And a top.

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DoN. Nichols 22 years ago

Are you sure that they are not bronze, instead? I'm not sure what the difference in melting point is between the two, but I know that my old Yale padlock is bronze, not brass, and I would expect others to be as well -- at least those intended to be out in the weather and to take a beating.

Good Luck, DoN.

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mongke 22 years ago

Actually I can't say. I remember the packaging of at least one read "brass". All they are yellow tending to slight green. Some of them were outdoors and came in fine.

regards,

Mongke

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