The same methods of piercing and cold drawing described for making steel tubes are used to make tubes of copper and brass. Billets of brass are sometimes turned in a lathe to remove the rough outer surface before piercing.

Fig. 73. - Mannesmann Piercing Rolls.

Fig. 73 shows plan and side views, partly in section, of a pair of Mannesmann rolls much used for piercing billets of copper and brass.

Brass pipe cannot be made by welding. It is made by piercing (or casting hollow) and then cold drawing. It is usually sent from the factory partially softened by annealing after drawing.