[Jewelry making - Article 00494] - Re: [Orchid] Brass melting problem

[geo]

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    Paul Lee, I've had some experiance melting brass, copper and
    bronze. Brass, being an alloy of copper and zinc melts at a lower
    temperature than pure copper. I wonder if you might have a
    problem with heat dissipation, using such a small torch, or
    perhaps have not fluxed completely. I find that with castings up
    to 8 pounds of metal that brass and bronze are much easier than
    copper due to easier flow characteristics. But I use a big
    acetylene torch or a propane foundry when melting it. 

    There is a health warning about these metals. Zinc vaporizes and
    if one overheats the metal they can get metal fume fever, the
    same fever they get from welding galvanized steel. Also, if one
    melts coppers and bronzes from unknown source they run the risk
    of getting in to some beryllium copper. Beryllium is terribly
    poisonous, gets in the lungs and destroys them over several
    months. It is popular nowadays, used in part fabrication by big
    corporations which don't give a d*mn about whether the people
    who recycle their parts die or not. There is no easily available
    test for it as far as I know. IMHO it should be banned. 

Geo.

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