Old brass hinges

[Ttrees]

Hello folks
Doing a bit of spring cleaning, and have been pondering about this for some time.
I have a large box of brass hinges from salvaged doors and such, that I was thinking of doing something with.
I had toyed with the idea of melting it down into bar or plate format, but I dont have any of that equipment.

Would it be much easier to melt than steel, and would I be able to obtain good metal from these,
or is there other impuritys in these hinges also.

If its not feesable to do on my own...
I dont expect the following to be likely at all, and possibly an insult
so I am asking here first incase this is not the case.

Would I be a cheeky scut giving it to a blacksmith in exchange for a small plate 4 or 5mm ish, I can do the milling part myself.
How much weight in brass would be a suitable exchange for a wee plate the size of your hand be?

Thanks for reading
Tom

 

[Tasky]

Well, it'd be pish-easy to melt.... but that's the easy part.
Friend of mine is into silver-smithing and I got him a crucible-kit for reclaiming silver junk off eBay, which included a Rothenberger MAP gas torch that claims to burn up to about 2400ºC.
That will melt a brass or copper washer within seconds!!

For reference - Melting points in ºC:
Low carbon steel - 1464
Brass - 1025
Copper - 1083

Other variants are even lower.

However, there are always impurities and you'll need a graphite rod or something to help remove it. You'll want a crucible dish to melt it in and pour it from, and a mold of some kind.

If you have a lot of brass, a blacksmith might have kit to do this with and may be interested in taking the rest off your hands in payment for making you a plate. Dunno - Worth phoning a couple up and asking, though.
Might be more likely to if you're able to hang around and lend a hand, or something.

 

[Ttrees]

Thanks Tasky
Sounds like a blacksmith might be interested, by the sounds of things, if I dont get around to smelting it.
I was thinking of making planes with it, but I may just fall in love with steel if I manage to make some planes well.
I might take a closer look at these hinges to see if I could rip some strips for some other wear strips on tools in the future.

Tom

 

[adidat]

I could swap you some plate if you want. Give me an idea of sizes you want.

Adidat

 

[Ttrees]

Wow
If I lived in England, I could go on a big swap meet road trip to all you guys, with all the lovely gestures and offers
on this forum.
Thanks for your very kind offer Adidat
I'm in no rush as I'm in the beginning stages of making a mild steel shoulder plane.
I was mainly curious if there was a huge copper content or some other contaminent with the brass, making it not worth
hoarding.
I think it may have some potiental for some fun at a later date, I might just store it elsewhere or outside for the next while.
Thanks for your insight guys

Tom

 

[AndyT]

Some grades of brass do contain lead. If I were you, and assuming the hinges are too battered to sell as good old hinges, I'd take them to a scrapyard and sell them. And while you're there, see what bits of steel plate they have!

 

[adidat]

I have a largish bucket of scrap brass made up of all sorts hinges, door handles, plumbing fittings. My colleagues think i'm a bit mad when I go through the skip to save a pair of hinges or a small valve etc. But over the years the collection has grown to be rather sizeable. I usually find a few pieces a week, and I always keep brass screws and put them in a jar as it may be that I require 3 certain sized screws to finish a job!

The other day one of the young lads knowing that I would keep any bits of hardwood came to me with 2 3m lengths of mahogany hand rail complete with 8 chunky brass brackets and 24!!!! brass screws hallelujah!!!! [-o< [-o< [-o<

I realise this only compounds my hoarding issue further but at the age of 27 I feel I stand a good chance of using this stuff.

The plan is to one day cast a fairly large ornamental cannon, Going through the whole process of turning a wooden pattern casting and then machining on the lathe and making a nice base for it.

Andy i will take heed of the lead issue if I ever get around to it!

adidat

 

[Lons]

You're already a lost cause adidat. :wink: I started hoarding in my 20s and it just gets worse, you really don't want to see how it ends up.
I'm clearing out a bit at the minute as when we come to downsize, if ever it will be a daunting task, however for every 10 things I throw away I'm probably bringing in another 8 #-o

The self satisfaction of using something out of my hoard rather than buying it is worth it all though.

Bob

 

[julianf]

All my brass goes into a bin for when I eventually sort out my furnace.

I have the burner sorted, and the sand casting kit. I have a CNC machine to make patterns on. I just need to line the furnace with high temp cement and get going on it all!

Brass will probably melt with a mapp torch, but not in useful quantities without additional equipment. Sure, the flame is hot enough, so melting a bit of wire will not be an issue, but for any quantity, the losses without insulation are just too high.

Remember, any scrap (pretty much) is always worth more sold for it's original function than as scrap. So, if the hinges are still functional then selling then, and probably just buying plate may work out better? The scrap I have is way past useful function so it's only value is the alloy it's made of.

 

[Tasky]

I was mainly curious if there was a huge copper content or some other contaminent with the brass, making it not worth hoarding.

Quite probably... But there's probably a reason for the other content and smithing it may be a better method of evening out the distribution, while melting/smelting and then casting it could mess it about too much.
I don't know for sure, but that's what I suspect is the case... having seen similar 'impurities' floating atop molten silver.

Certainly hang onto the hoard until you have a definitive answer, though.
I wonder if a smithied, folded brass plane body would be 'cool' like folded steel in a sword?

The plan is to one day cast a fairly large ornamental cannon, Going through the whole process of turning a wooden pattern casting and then machining on the lathe and making a nice base for it.

Oh good LORD, no....... !!!!!! :shock:
Sir, I must insist that you delete this post immediately, lest any of my more eccentric friends see it.... because if they do, they'll want one and muggins here will be asked to build it!!

Seriously, they'd just rock up at my place with a bag of sand, a lathe, a box of junk brass and an inarticulate pen drawing on a bit of notepaper...
I already have enough trouble with idiots wanting zero-gravity wood panels!! :lol: