Melting/pouring brass

[Darkhorse]

Just wondering, but; I would like to melt and pour some brass like I do pewter. Such as a Chevron nosecap, inlay, stuff like that.
So compared to pewter, what is the melting point of soft brass? And what other problems might I get myself into?

[tuffy]

Brass has a melting point of 1652 - 1724 degrees Fahrenheit. Not sure you could put something that hot next to wood without doing some damage. I'll leave that up to the experts here on the forum.

[Brian]

I'm certainly no expert, but I don't think you can do it.

Pewter has a melting point of 225 to 240 degrees C.

Wood will spontaneously ignite (no flame required) at temperatures above 600 degrees C.  It will char (damage) at temperatures much less than that.

Brass melts at about 950 degrees C

You can get away with the pewter because it melts at a temperature well below the spontaneous flash point of wood, but even then you need to be careful.  You’d never get away with molten brass.  Instant campfire!

You’d also need considerably more sophisticated equipment to melt brass than you’d need to melt pewter.

[Acer Saccharum]

You can do it, but it will char the end of your stock off. 

Sand casting brass is fine fun. Probably a bunch of youtube videos on it. You will need to make your parts oversized to allow for shrink and filing.

Tom

[smart dog]

Darkhorse,
Forget about casting brass as you would pewter.  Brass melts at about 1650 degrees F but must be much hotter when poured (1900 degrees F) to flow properly.  To work with brass you have to create molds in sand, delft clay, cuttlefish bone, or in an investment mold. That said, you don't need any really expensive equipment to cast it.  A mapp gas torch with a "swirling flame" tip will work for small chunks in a crucible.  Larger castings need an oven or gas welder for the heat source.  Sand and clay casting equipment are available from jewelry suppliers like Rio Grande (www.riogrande.com) or Gesswein. 

dave

[brokenflint]

Seems simplier to just file chevrons in an existing cast part, unless ya just gotta have the fun of molten metal

Broke

[Darkhorse]

Just what I needed but didn't want to hear. A chevron nosecap won't look very good with all the wood burned out.

[David Veith]

Just poured some brass in the last few weeks fun stuff to work with. Even at a hobby level you will end up with over $ 300 to get started. We poured some Ohio cap boxes and butt plates that came out. none of or trigger grauds made it.  Woring up some wax molds right now for some of these parts.
David Veith

[Acer Saccharum]

Dave, guards are tough to cast successfully. You need more gates than you think you need. Gate the front extension, inside the bow, inside the grip rail, and lastly, one on the lug of the rear extension.

Most of the sandcast guards I have seen are also bulkier to allow better mold flow. This means a lot more filing than with a wax cast part.