A Simple Brass Project that Makes Money
Using one 12-inch piece of brass that you can purchase for $7, I’ll show you how to create a set of hooks that can sell for $30 – $35.
You would net $20 after Etsy’s fees if you’re selling there. For 20 minutes of work.
A dollar per minute is pretty great.
Stay to the end of the post and I’ll tell you where to buy the right size brass stock in bulk.
How to Turn Brass into Cash
Here’s how to make the simple brass hook:
First, cut your 12-inch brass stock in half, each piece equaling 6 inches.
Next, file or grind the corners and sharp edges so they’re smooth to the touch. This will give us a much better finished product.
Then, take your pieces over to your anvil to start the texturing.
You can use the flat space on the back of a vise for this if you don’t have an anvil.
We’re working the brass cold so you’ll have good control over the piece if you need to work on a small surface.
Using a ball peen hammer, lightly peen the brass starting 2-inches from the end of it.
Work your way to the other end, overlapping your peening blows. You can leave gaps if you like, but stacking pebbled hits looks better to my eye.
Next, flare the bottom end that will be the hook tip.
Using the curve on the back of an anvil or other slightly curved surface, hammer down on that tip to curl it outwards.
Then, we’ll use a piece of bar stock bent into a U shape to make the hook bend.
Next, we’ll cut the hooks to length (I cut mine to 3.5 inches long) and flare the top of the hook where the hole will go.
Finally, we’ll drill out a 5/32” hole to fit a #6 brass screw.
Use a little steel wool to polish the brass and bring out its shine.
And that’s it. Hopefully, this gives you some ideas for making your own simple projects out of brass.
Price them correctly based on your time, materials, and customer feedback and you’ll be earning money from your handmade hardware.
To buy your brass stock for this project, follow these easy steps. I’ll also put them in the description below:
To buy your brass stock for this project, first go to diyblacksmithing.com/om
That will take you to Online Metals, our supplier of choice.
Metal Selection
On the home page, you will enter these options:
Material: Brass
Shape: Bar-Rectangle
Alloy: 360
Thickness: 0.125” – this equals 1/8-inch
Width: 0.5”
Then click the Search Now button.
That will take you to a page where you can select the brass bar length you want.
The best pricing when it comes to shipping is on 36” or 3-foot bars.
They ship from multiple locations in the US: Atlanta, Dallas, Seattle, and Toledo are a few.