Steel pipe removal from brass

[daysaver1]

When thinking of buying our boat the common testimonial from those who knew her all had the same comment: "you're going to love the whistle". Yes, it's an amazing three chime whistle with a sound purists and bystanders alike love. But it looks horrible after many years of neglect; so this morning in the process of taking it apart, the 1/2" nipple between the valve and whistle twisted apart.

Attempts to remove the two stubs with an internal pipe wrench have required muscles I haven't needed in years and both nipple parts are still in there. Yes I can drill them out but would rather turn them out if possible. I've in the past been successful by using a hack saw blade and cutting into the steel enough to drive the nipple into "mush" until it drops out, but I'm trying to treat the whistle bell gently so as not to mark it up.

The question to you is if liquid wrench type oil is effective where the steel pipe has "rusted" itself in the brass valve.

[Aheadslow]

In the past I have had some success removing steel pipe from brass. By first cutting threads with an opposite twist to the original thread on the inside of the steel pipe. And then inserting a shoulder bolt into it to use for grip to remove the offending peice of pipe.
As to the use of penetrating oil to loosen the steel from the brass. It works best if you can submerge the entire piece in the oil and let it sit for a few days. this allows the penetrating oil to soak completely through the layer of rust and will generaly work. Actually any thin oil works well for soaking the parts . Parts cleaning fluid is good to ,but it is mildly caustic and will dull your brass something fierce.

[daysaver1]

Thank you for that reply regarding submergine the parts, but I got in a hurry to took care of it. The bell of the whistle had the nipple broken off flush, so using a hack saw blade, I cut two grooves just down to the peaks of the threads at about 60 degrees apart. Using a tiny chisle I curled the small piece inward until the remaining 300 degrees came loose whereby I could merely turn it out.

On the valve, the broken nipple was sticking out about 3/8", so I cleaned up the metal and welded on an old automotive lug nut. This gave me something to put a wrench on and muscle the second offending broken piece out.

I've now replaced that steel nipple with a schedule 40 stainless nipple so next time it really shouldn't break.

[fredrosse]

Something much better than ordinary penetrating oil is the firearm solvent "Hoppe's No 9", available at any gun store, or even WalMart. Many a hopelessly stuck part has be set free with this solvent. There is also a solvent, I think the same stuff, called "Kroil" available in some hardware stores.

Temperature variations sometimes help free a part, brass expands at about twice the rate of steel on a temperature increase. Applying heat will tend to increase the clearance tween the steel nipple and brass female pipe threads. Be careful here, some whistles use soldered parts, and you don't want to risk damage to the whistle.