The common way to dissolve away steel taps, drills etc., from either aluminum or brass/bronze, is to immerse the workpiece into a hot saturated solution of potassium aluminum sulphate, which is commonly called alum. Alum should not be hard to find. It is used in pickling and canning food items, among other uses. Note that the solution won't work unless the solution is saturated. It would work cold but would take forever and a day... Keeping the solution at 60 - 70 deg C is better. JerryK MODEL ENGINEERING DISCUSSION LIST. To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send a blank email to, modeleng-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.