Is Brass An Alloy?

Let’s start kicking some “brass” today! Brass is an alloy (remember, alloys are made up of different element metals) that comes in various forms. Brass is generally made up of copper and zinc, but depending on the application, there will also be other metals inside.

Brass is a very common item that can be found throughout your house, in industrial applications, and in many day-to-day items that you use. Let’s go over a few places inside of a house where you can find brass.

  • Faucets- Almost all faucets are brass with chrome plating.
  • Beds- Many bed frames are made of decorative brass pieces.
  • Handles/Knobs- Many in your kitchen are brass and can be recycled.

Brass is a very common metal that you can really cash in with, make sure you let us know where else to look for brass.

If you need some tips for scrapping your brass and copper (as they are commonly found together), keep everything separate. Copper tubing will often have solder that connects to the brass fittings at the corners of the pipes. If you have a large amount of copper pipes with brass, it will be beneficial to get some pipe cutters and separate the two. The #2 copper tubing is worth more by itself than with the bras attached.

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03/14/2024 05:55 am GMT

Also, by separating the brass from the copper pipe, you can see the color difference in the metals. Brass will have a yellowish tint because it has more zinc than copper inside. The copper pipe will have that reddish color to it. If you aren’t sure, you can take a metal file and scrape the side to see the color of the metal.

Hope this helps. Scrap ya later!

-Tom