Is messing a good material for making potleg? Compared to steel, aluminium or brass? What’s your opinion, please? Regards from Holland. Fjildman. (Klaas)
Hi Klaas, what material is 'messing', internet translation suggests it means brass? Christopher, over the North Sea in Eastern England.
It’s a mixture of copper and zinc. You are right. It is brass.Messing is the Dutch name for it. I used it by mistake.
In that case, it will work for pot legs, it won't melt or corrode. The downside is they will be more costly compared to steel, and expensive if you make a mistake! Brass can be annealed (softened) if required to allow the sharp bends to be formed.
You're welcome. There has been lots of discussion in the past on making legs, including some good guides and photos of jigs, it's well worth doing some reading and it should be easy to find by searching.
To be honest, I don't think brass(messing) is a good material for pot legs. Brass is far weaker then iron or steel and is less heat resistant. The tips of the legs can become red hot, brass will have deformed by then. Don't underestimate how hot these legs can get. I haven't seen brass pot support on any stove before, I guess that has it's reason
@ajvuik That reason was cost, not melting problems. Some later models of RM stoves (and Veritas/Thermidor versions) used aluminium for the pot legs from the factory- melting point around 680 degrees C. Many here also use aluminium for replacement legs. Brass melting point is much higher at around 930 degrees C.
@fjildman for removable pot supports I use stainless steel, but I don't think SS wouldn't be suitable if you have to solder them to the fount.
@Blackdog I did not know that, thanks for pointing that out. I would not have trusted brass or aluminium legs, but my fear was wrong. I stand corrected.
@ajvuik You are quite right in that there is a lot of heat in the area, but even aluminium seems to survive. I wonder if it is whether temperatures do not get quite hih enough, or whether it is due to the cooking vessel conducting heat from the legs in use.
Five years ago I used brass to make the pot rests for THIS Primus 210, not altogether sure how they’d fare, but they’ve been unaffected by many firings since. You’re perfectly right to have doubted their functionality @ajvuik because of that phenomenon we’re familiar with of red-hot tips to steel pot rests in the burner flame. What I think happens is that the superior thermal conductivity of brass (and especially aluminium) over steel results in the pot rests made of either of those materials conducting the localised heat away even before they soften, much less before they melt. John
Very interesting to learn that brass and aluminium will work on a classic disc stove. The idea that the better heat conductence of brass and aluminium works in favour of the legs is interesting. I guess the tank and fuel will act as a heatsink as well, soaking up the conducted heat from the legs. I wonder if the tank gets hotter because of it... I also wonder how aluminium or brass supports would hold on a 111 or 8(r)
Marginally probably, but not obviously so from that actual example. Poorly I expect. They’re thinner and are in contact with painted steel at their mounted ends, so not conducting the heat away so well. 111 steel supports I’ve had oxidise and erode significantly. They lead a hard life.
