Thread: Annealing brass - too hot?

The Art and Science of Annealing

Couple of relavant quotes from the above articel

"Brass, on the other hand, cannot be made harder by heating it--ever. Brass is always made softer by heating."

"Unlike steel, which will be made harder when it is cooled rapidly, brass is virtually unaffected when it is rapidly cooled. Annealing brass and suddenly quenching it in water will have no measurable effect on the brass"

Originally Posted by Cordite

No quick quenching. Quick quenching is only for hardening or tempering. Annealing is for softening the brass.

The case neck will either way cool relatively quickly. Brass is a good heat conductor so the heat escapes into the body of the case.

If you only heat the neck, the subsequent cooling of the neck will be too quick, and effectively it will become a neck hardening procedure, not an annealing procedure. So heat up both neck and shoulder.

Bullshit!

Originally Posted by sneeze

The Art and Science of Annealing

Couple of relavant quotes from the above articel

"Brass, on the other hand, cannot be made harder by heating it--ever. Brass is always made softer by heating."

"Unlike steel, which will be made harder when it is cooled rapidly, brass is virtually unaffected when it is rapidly cooled. Annealing brass and suddenly quenching it in water will have no measurable effect on the brass"

cheers for the link, some good reading . . . . R

Thanks for all the inputs. I see there are a lot of different ideas out there.
From all the reading ive done the data on brass annealing and quick or slow cooling supports the post from @sneeze above. Rapid cooling is not effective. And that’s been basis of my approach & set up to date.
I put out the original post and photo to seek advice and do so without any bias on my part.
I think i can rule out the “over cooked” scenario I’m my split necks.

Originally Posted by chainsaw

Thanks for all the inputs. I see there are a lot of different ideas out there.
From all the reading ive done the data on brass annealing and quick or slow cooling supports the post from @sneeze above. Rapid cooling is not effective. And that’s been basis of my approach & set up to date.
I put out the original post and photo to seek advice and do so without any bias on my part.
I think i can rule out the “over cooked” scenario I’m my split necks.

Do you have any un annealed cases left? May have been a coincidence?