Bending Brass?

[Greg Covington]

At about what temp does brass become pliable. I want to make some bends in a 1" wide by 3/16" bar and I have had less than good experiences on bending brass when cold.

Any suggestions or input?

Greg C

 

[MaxTheKnife]

Well, I've never tried this myself Greg but this is what I've heard. The best way to work that brass is by annealing it first. Then you can work it cold. Just heat it to where you first begin to see a dull red heat and then quench in water. That's supposed to make it dead soft so you should be able to bend it then without cracking. But, I don't see any reason you couldn't do it the same way as iron or steel. Just get it hot where you want it to bend and bend it. Like I said I'm talking out my butt here because I've never done it. That's just what I've picked up on the various forums I visit. So far, I've never had a reason to bend brass. Good luck.

 

[Bruce Evans]

Max has the annealing part correct...I used to think the same way about heating it and bending it..But that doesn't work real well,The grain grows real big on you and it just sort of crumbles on you.
The best way to bend it is to anneal it..Which I heat my piece of Brass, copper, Nickel Silver to a cherry red then quench in water...
Then start your bend,It will work harden on you so if it starts getting stiff stop and anneal again,or if you bend it farther than you wanted anneal it again and bend again.You can hammer it out cold also as long as you keep annealing it as it hardens up under the hammer...
Bruce