Brass Rail Replacements/Schaff/annealing

[Carl Meyer]

I spoke to a metal specialist about this some months ago.  As I recall he recommended heating brass to 1200 degrees F and cooling it over 6 hours.  The problem is that brass work hardens from being bent or under stress for long periods of time.  Done properly, I see no reason that it wouldn't last  another 50 years or more.  Heating it and quenching it doesn't sound like the right way to do it although I'm sure it would help since brass doesn't harden like steel does during that process.  We all know that bending a wire or piece of steel repeatedly will harden it (work harden) until it finally breaks.  It works with other metals too.  Some metals only work harden.  That's the only way it can be hardened.  Metallurgy is an interesting but foreign technique for most of us.

Carl Meyer  Assoc. PTG
Santa Clara, California
cmpiano@attbi.com   

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joseph Garrett" <joegarrett@earthlink.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 11, 2002 5:57 PM
Subject: Brass Rail Replacements/Schaff/annealing


> Silver solder melts at a very low temperature. Annealing requires very high
> temperatures to be effective. Therefore, if the rail is not INTACT before
> annealing, no amount of silversolder is going to do one damned bit of good.
> Just my opinion. My feeling is just get a replacement from Schaff, do the
> necessary fitting and be done with it. Another thought: No one has been able
> to tell me how long re-annealing will last, therefore, I don't trust it.
> Best Regards,
> Joe Garrett, RPT, (Oregon)
> 
> Been There, Didn't Like It, So I'm Here To Stay! [G}
> 
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