Turning Brass

[Martin Lawrence]

  Has anyone tried turning Brass with wood turning tools ?  I have done aluminium but before I purchase a bar of brass best check if it is possible.

Cheers  Martin.

[fuzzyturns]

Yes, I have. There are substantial differences between aluminium (all grades) and brass. Alu will make nice, flowing shavings, whereas brass will produce small little chippings. Speeds tend to be a lot slower, and you can only take small cuts. I probably would not recommend your standard wood turning tools. You're much better off with carbide tipped tools or scrapers.

[Paul Hannaby]

I turned a brass candle holder from brass to go in the top of a big 5' candlestick. As Fuzzy said, it cuts in chippings (if you buy the right sort of brass - CZ121). It turned easily enough with my standard HSS woodturning tools. I don't think there's any need for carbide tips.

This place has a good selection of brass rod http://www.metalandplastic.co.uk/brass/shopby/mp_type-rod.html but he minimum is 12" length.

If you want a bit of 35mm dia. bar, let me know!

[seventhdevil]

i'm not even sure there is even a need for HSS, i cleaned up the faces of nine 4" discs with an old robert sorby round nose scraper and i don't recall sharpening it that much more than normal.

i'll see if i can find a pic.

[Bryan Milham]

Not turned Brass, but I do turn Bronze (welding rod) all the time, which is a harder material.

As said above about Brass, it comes off in small chippings.

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Martin when I have turned brass in the past I lowered the speed and took very fine cuts. HSS scrapers do the trick quite well but as said it comes off in small chips so watch your eyes.

[Les Symonds]

As I rider to this thread (...sorry Martin, but it does have some relevance) a friend of mine used to make brass knife-scales. He would collect old electrical fittings, especially plugs, and melt the brass down using a home-made furnace fired by a plumbers gas torch. OK, he didn't turn the brass afterwards, he made his patterns close enough to the finished object to simply be able to drill and file them into shape, but he saved himself a fortune on brass......it really is shockingly expensive stuff!
Les

[Martin Lawrence]

  Many thanks for the advice.

Martin.

[rick_dobney]

Vaguely continuing the theme....I've bought a few engineering bits and bobs from Chronos Engineering Supplies, in the latest parcel was a sheet listing a whole host of materials including brass, aluminium, copper to name but a few. Supplied in 300mm (12") lengths they appear to be well priced. Minimum order value is £15 which includes postage charges.
Could be of interest if you fancy turning soft metals or incorporating different materials into your work.

Have a look at http://www.chronos.ltd.uk/acatalog/Metals___Raw_Materials.html

Cheers Rick

[ColWA]

The few times I have turned brass I used a 12mm round nose scraper.
At a great Vaughan Richmond demo on turning brass he says he usually uses  a small bowl gouge.

Each to his own.
HTH
Col