Brass

[Red Badger]

What do I need to start making brass fittings at my forge?  and remember we are talking cheap here not some of the $300.00 crucibles I see on the internet...

[monkeywright]

good question Red I still want to play around in some brass myself if I can ever get some time back in the fire hope all is well there on your end of the world Hoss pass my hello's to that wonderful gal of yours

[gunmaker]

Forge brass, got me.  I have been known to make a brass fitting or 3.  I'm a welder not a blacksmith, so I cut out the pieces of a butt plate or tgr. guard & braze 'em together, file away until you like it--or throw it away. In the old days they carved a wood pattern & sand cast their parts off that.    ....Tom

[beowulf]

you dont actually forge brass, bronze ,or copper ! hammering them to shape hardens the metal ! heating it and quenching it in water anneals it . that`s how the bronze and copper swords our ancestors used were made ! the piece was cast , and the final work done with the hammer .

[Otter]

For the moulds either lost wax with a plaster coating or as has been said a wooden pattern and green sand. Not too sure about a crucible. The temp involved is approaching that of iron so it is NOT a place to skimp. Get a good durable model! The flasks to hold the moulds can be just about anything from a wooden box to a clay flower pot. If your heat source will get material to a white heat then it should melt brass ok. I will have to read up a bit on a good low cost flux. Some old window screens can provide material for screeds to sieve the sand, talcum powder makes a good pattern release. Old coat hangers can be sharpened to use as vent picks, it is important to let hot gases escape. That will aid in keeping the finished casting smooth. Pour hole cutters are usually tapered tubes but a short run could be done with some scrap straight thin wall tubing. Some old pieces of wood can be shaped into rams.
One mention about safety. If brass blows out of a flask the molten flow does not hit the floor with a splat and freeze. The surface tension of the alloy causes it to bounce around in molten balls until they collide with a surface such as say your cloth shoe covered foot. Then the splat and freezing occurs. Usually at several times the charing temperature of said foot inside the shoe. Be serious about safety, please!! It is fun and safe with some forethought.

[Hawken50]

Also go to youtube and watch The gunsmith of Williamsburg.He makes all hi brass fittings with sand moulds.Quite interesting.Also check out Ebay,there's been several crucibles on there.

[Red Badger]

You all know by now that Old Salt and I are seriously anal about safety but the points are well taken... I used to live near a small iron foundry and knew about the casting sand and forms... My uncle got me a summer job in the foundry making the wooden forms and packing the sand in the forms so were staged before the casting process - never got near that end of the business... Now I wish I had just to learn a bit more about it....

Thanks for the tip on ebay I may check it out even though I l(ike most of us) frown on ebay and their anti firearm stance...

[c-wiseman]

Since you already know about setting up molds for sand casting, the rest can be done on the cheap quite easily. For a crucible find an old kiln brick. A school art dept may have some broken ones, or buy from a ceramics supply house for around $5.00. It need to be a SOFT kiln brick. You can shape it with a hacksaw to make it more managable to handle and use a spoon to dig/drill out a depression to act as the bowl of the crucible. Fill with brass scraps. Use Oxy-Acetylene to melt then pour into molds.
Brass contains zinc. Zinc fumes are KILL YOU DEAD POISONOUS. So always smelt brass outside, with the wind carrying the smoke and fumes away from you.
The kiln bricks can be carved to make simple open molds or you can try carving cuttle bone from the pet store. Do a search online for cuttlebone casting to get info on the process, or email me and I can talk you through it.

Hope this helps
Chris Wiseman

[Red Badger]

Since you already know about setting up molds for sand casting, the rest can be done on the cheap quite easily. For a crucible find an old kiln brick. A school art dept may have some broken ones, or buy from a ceramics supply house for around $5.00. It need to be a SOFT kiln brick. You can shape it with a hacksaw to make it more managable to handle and use a spoon to dig/drill out a depression to act as the bowl of the crucible. Fill with brass scraps. Use Oxy-Acetylene to melt then pour into molds.
Brass contains zinc. Zinc fumes are KILL YOU DEAD POISONOUS. So always smelt brass outside, with the wind carrying the smoke and fumes away from you.
The kiln bricks can be carved to make simple open molds or you can try carving cuttle bone from the pet store. Do a search online for cuttlebone casting to get info on the process, or email me and I can talk you through it.

Hope this helps
Chris Wiseman

Thanks Chris! it does indeed and I happen to have about 30 soft kiln bricks laying around that I was going to use to make my gas forge....

I also found a site that has crucibles and green casting sand at reasonable prices

http://budgetcastingsupply.com

I do all my casting outside as even lead vapors are harmful and I am too cheap to build a roof over my forging area because tyey increase property taxes around here based on the square footagfe of roofing.... so that will be no issue !