Evan Estern writes:
>I've been heating and reusing the copper washers on oilfill plugs for 
>years.  I used to be a goldsmith, did alot of model making in copper.  
>Copper gets brittle when worked and requires annealing by heat to make it 
>soft again.  As you continually reheat and reuse (i.e. reharden) the 
>metal it will start to get flatter and wider.  After 3 or 4 times you'd 
>be better off replacing the wAsher with a new one.
So do you quench them or let them "air cool"?  :-)

Pat Walsh, '71 Westy, walshp@ippdsgi3.nawc-ad-indy.navy.mil