How to straighten a brass handle.

I need to straighten this brass handle before it can be refixed. I do not want to break it by going about things in the wrong way.

Do I need to heat it ? I have a gas blowlamp at my disposal and the oven.

Your collective advice valued. Thanks Adrian.

I would be hesitant about using too much heat ... The zinc content is likely to boil-off before you do much good.

It presumably bent cold, so will probably bend back cold.

I would secure a couple of flats to it and use them as levers to manipulate it back to shape.

... Clamp a suitable wooden 'stake' in the vice, and work freehand.

MichaelG.

I would follow Michael's tip & persuade the bent end back into position gently, try a square piece of timber held in the vice as a stake with a smaller piece protecting the brass handle top & apply gentle leverage.

George.

Why not heat it up to make it more pliable? When we braze things together with brass rod the brass melts without the zinc boiling off.

Rob

I would think that the original was cast not bent. I would heat gently and try to bend carefully whilst heating

And the best of luck

Roy

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... Avoidance of unnecessary risk

The material from which this handle is made is unknown; but it is evidently quite ductile

MichaelG.

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P.S. ... This link may be of interest to some:

https://www.copper.org/resources/properties/microstructure/brasses.html

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 30/09/2017 14:59:14

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Roy,

Are we perhaps at cross purposes ?

... I was not suggesting that lt had been made by bending ... merely that it bent.

MichaelG.

Job done. Thanks to all for the advice. Two schools of thought on this one , to heat or not to heat ?

I screwed it to a block of wood in the vice to see if it felt cooperative, and with very little persuasion was returned to its former self without the use of heat. Result.

Regards, Adrian.

My method would be to attach two longish flats , as per MG , with one held in a vice , and the other having a weight at its end . I would then apply a strong flame to the inside of the curve for a short while , and then leave the combination of the contracting metal and weight to SLOWLY remove the be d . Repeated applications may be neccessary .

MichealG My apologies. I was thinking that you meant that the handle was bent in manufacture

Roy

Not needed now but for info brass is softened by heating until it goes blue and then quenching in cold water. You can usefully make it hotter, but not red hot. Also, some brasses harden very quickly when they're worked and it may be necessary to re-soften them more than once.

No expert - I've only done it 6 or 7 times - but I got it to soften.

Some flavours of brass are what is called hot short, at red heat it will crumble rather than bend, other flavours are cold short and snap if bent cold. I don't know how to tell which is which though. You may find out.

Mike

Edited By Mike Poole on 30/09/2017 20:32:47

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No need for apolgy, Roy

... I just thought it worth clarifying.

MichaelG.

For future reference, follow this link. By about the 5th response, there is an answer to Mike P's Hot and cold short etc.
**LINK**
BobH