On Sun, 25 Jan 2004 02:19:12 +0000, DoN. Nichols wrote:

In article ,
mongke wrote:
Hi all

Today I tried melting brass for the first time. I had some nice heavy
brass padlocks around and so I dumped them into my 4" pipe crucible. After
2 hours and several pounds of charcoal the padlocks were orange but simply
the brass did not flow.

Are you sure that they are not bronze, instead? I'm not sure
what the difference in melting point is between the two, but I know that
my old Yale padlock is bronze, not brass, and I would expect others to
be as well -- at least those intended to be out in the weather and to
take a beating.

Good Luck,
DoN.

Actually I can't say. I remember the packaging of at least one read
"brass". All they are yellow tending to slight green. Some of them were
outdoors and came in fine.

regards,

Mongke