u/Doorknob_Towel

I have been making chainmail for over a decade and am practicing making historical riveted maille. I like to be resourceful to reduce waste and material costs. I have a lot of galvanized steel scraps and I have an idea; if I can separate the zinc from the steel, the resulting materials would be steel that is safe enough to work hot, and zinc powder that I can use to give copper rings a brass finish (putting copper in a zinc rich environment with heat causes the zinc to bond to the copper creating an outer layer of brass). Is there a way to effectively and safely remove and collect the zinc, or is it not worth the effort?

TLDR: I got a bunch of galvanized steel and I want to collect the zinc for other purposes.