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

[Jerry Frost]

Okay, I had a different picture. Bruce has a good point about keeping layers 
together under a reciprocating saw.

Can you build a fire in your yard? A couple bags of charcoal and something 
to put over the roll say sheet steel roofing to help keep ambient air off 
should anneal it enough to unrole. If you sprinkle a good dusting of borax 
over it it'll keep the oxy off the brass, where the layers are in contact 
aren't going to suffer too much. Just keep the fire burning a little rich, 
that's not enough air to make it happy. I'd just build a smokey wood fire 
but I live in the woods, the neighbors can't even see us. Oh yeah, you don't 
really need to quench it to anneal but it sure doesn't hurt.

A weed burner and do it a layer or two at a time will work too.

Don't be shy unrolling it but don't get too rough, it'll come if you're firm 
but brass work hardens just out of spite if you try bullying it. Unwrap it 
far as possible on the first pull, you'll only get 2-3 and it'll get hard, 
you'll feel it. Thinking about it here, each layer will have it's sweet time 
and not work harden when you unwrap the one out from it.

Yeah, it'll be some hassle but it's just a job, nothing seriously technical.

Jer
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron Childers" <ron at munlaw.net>
To: "Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, September 07, 2012 3:17 AM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Anyone tried to cut 24 gage brass sheet?


> 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.
>