[TheForge] Anyone tried to cut 24 gage brass sheet?

[Bruce .]

Sounds like a fair bit of brass -- too much to waste.  A dime is maybe
1/16" which would make it about 16 gauge.

Localized heat will work fine for annealing brass.  Ideally, you'd
anneal it under an inert atmosphere to minimize zinc burn-out, but as
a practical matter just don't heat it longer than necessary.  If this
were my task I'd first heat just enough -- and where needed -- to
unwrap the bundle, then use maybe a rosebud to bring the thing to
annealing  temp. for flattening. I've always annealed copper alloys at
a red heat, but it might be worth trying to use a lower heat.


On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 7:17 AM, Ron Childers <ron at munlaw.net> wrote:
> This is a large piece of sheet brass that looks like someone rolled it
> then almost flattened the roll. Sorry I didn't make that clear, but I
> don't think the snips will work; however, the suggestion to anneal is
> probably the first step in the process of unrolling it. Since it must be
> annealed to work anyway there is no lost motion. It is too big to fit in
> any of my gas forges so it appears localized heat from a burner may be
> the only way. It is about the thickness of a dime; what gage would that
> be? If approached as a purely practical matter a trip to the scrap yard
> would yield the perfect piece, but I have an aversion to wasting
> anything.
>

-- 
Bruce
NJ