Firehole ring

After annealing the ring I tried to compress to shape and size in the vice and this happened .What Have I done wrong?

It does not look like it behaved much like an annealed piece of copper. How did you anneal it? Heated cherry red throughout for some time to let it "soak" then toss in a large bucket of water?

The curvature still evident next to the cracks indicate the piece did not bend much at all, as if still non-annealed.

Maybe try annealing the next one a couple of times to make sure?

Are you sure that is copper and not a copper alloy ?

It was Phosphor Bronze. Heated till red hot.

Edited By Packmule on 12/03/2019 13:53:12

Why make it of PB when copper is more than adequate. Waste of PB

This thread "Bending Cast Gunmetal" suggests that bronzes don't like being hot worked **LINK**

Brian

To anneal a piece of copper, heat till cherry red, let it soak for a time, let it cool naturally to black then quench in cold water. The quenching usually removes most of the copper oxide due to thermal shock. DONT quench from red hot; it does not effect the annealing process and it may crack the copper! I have rarely annealed phosphor bronze, but I believe the same applies. If you doubt the bit about not having to quench it is easy enough to test with a couple of small strips of copper. Heat them together, keep them hot for the same time then quench one and not the other. You will find they bend in the same manner.

Regards Maurice

Hi all,

Thanks for replies. I'm afraid it was me being a numpty.I could have sworn it was PB for the ring ,just checked and yes ,its copper. Lesson learned at least I know now you can't squash Pb .

Lol. At least you know the next one will be easier!