"Robert Swinney" wrote in message
...
Bob Sez: "Well, it might, but so slowly as to be irrelevant. I have
melted
aluminum in sawed off propane torch cans (20 ga?) without any noticeable
thinning of the steel." That seems to be consistent with results of
aluminum melted via a rosebud
acet heater in a crucible.

This gets back to Harold's answer where he said (implied ? ) that
aluminum melted without a
sufficiently higher temperature than it's melting point would yield a
great deal of dross. At least
that is what I think he said. (Harold you want to jump back in here?)

Bob (easily confused) Swinney

That was Andrew, and it revolves around the huge surface area of thin
objects, which readily oxidize to form aluminum oxide. Once formed, it is
reduced only with an extremely high temperature, usually accomplished with
an arc furnace. It's not materially different from the reduction of
aluminum from ore, in other words.

Harold