Sunday, October 2, 2011

Scrap Copper Pipe Washers

Some followers of this blog may recall mention some time back about some scrap copper pipe I scrounged.  The outside diameters are 3/8 and 3/4 inch.

The 3/4 inch pipe was annealed and the coloration comes from that process.

Random lengths were cut from each, and without regard to cutting exactly straight.

Then the cutoffs were placed in a dapping block, again without regard as to even dapping.

Next, the cutoffs were flattened with a small brass mallet, resulting in the odd shapes.  Which was what I wanted.  Perfectly round ones would be boring!

The bottom row washers are partially textured.

The smaller washers at the top and right came from cutting a longer piece off the 3/8 inch pipe.  They have considerable, but interesting distortion.

An interesting experiment which, I think, hold some promise.