General Metal Specific Discussion

Can magnesium plates be used for anything in blacksmithing? thank y’all

Hello everybody, I'm really stumped. I purchased a cupric sulfate solution from rotometals. I tried applying it to an existing zinc table (after exposing shiny zinc using 00 steel wool) I left it on for about 1 minute with no dilution, however, the color did not change at all. How come the metal isn't changing color? Does the patina need to somehow soak longer? Is it a different metal underneath the zinc that I'm hitting after using the steelwool? All help is appreciated!

Hi All, I'm thanking you in advance(in antisipation) for help. One of my mates would lide to have a bash at making up some real stained glass panels for his farm's chapel! This is to replace some windows that were damaged and replaced with tiffany style 'leaded' windows. I have managerd to source him glass from a mate of mine in Kuwait. The lead came(sort of 'H' section) is where the difficulty comes in. He does'nt want hobby shop strips as this chapel is on his Olive farm in Bloemfontien and could date back to the Anglo-Boer war. Last year when I was in Kings Chapel in Cambridge I saw a tool/machine to roll came in a display case. This case is in the vestibule(sanctu…

My granddaughter wants a knife. Not just any knife. She wants a serpentine blade dagger in feather cable damascus. I have some old silver spoons that I'd like to use on the guard and a bolster near the pommel. I plan to use some horn scales. I typically braze a guard in place before heat treating. I braze a length of 1/4" brazing rod on either side, smash them together where they extend past the blade, braze/weld the pieces together then grind and polish as needed. I know silver CAN be brazed, but I've never done it. I was thinking of making a model of wax on the blade, packing tight in green sand (Mississippi River sand is very fine grain down here) melting ou…

I have seen a YouTube video where a guy made Damascus from copper and nickel (mokume gane). I love the contrast it had between the two metals but after looking at prices to be able to duplicate it seems a bit too expensive. Does anyone have any suggestions as to other metals that would have such a contrast like this combination that would be more cost efficient? I’m looking to make knives using the Honsanmai technique and would love to have a beautiful Damascus piece for the sides. Also any input on this idea would be most appreciated. Here is the link for the video I mentioned:

I'm sorry if this is somewhere else, but I am quite interested in the properties of platinum from a forging perspective... ( I know its ridiculously expensive. 13 kilos = 690k dollars. ) Anyone know anything?

I live in coal country an there is a lot of heavy mining equipment to cut coal, sandstone or whatever else that run into miles underground. Here's my question they're are cutting teeth on the head of the continuous miner called Bits here's what the look like new, bad link 404 These things have diamond tips and eventually break the base is made from tungsten carbide, can I forge this? is it safe? is it going to give of deadly fumes? I don't know anything about this stuff. the mines throws these things away. I was seeing I could forge these things into useful tools that I could use around the shop. If not they have plenty of 1090 stuff laying around gathering rust…

I recently had some fun making some quarter/50 cent mokume gane, and want to try making some with sheet metal. Does anyone know of a good place to buy copper/brass/nickel/silver sheets? Everywhere I look seems to charge ridiculous prices over the value of the metal. Thanks.

I recently acquired about a 3"(Diameter)x10"(length) round bar of K-Monel. I have found a bit of information on here about Monel, but I haven't been able to find anything about K-Monel or Monel K500, a bit of information about it: Monel is a nickel-copper alloy containing small amounts of small other materials. It is extremely corrosion resistant and can be used for highly acidic systems. K-Monel has the properties of normal Monel, with Aluminum and Titanium added for extra strength. My questions: 1. Can you forge K-monel? 2. Does it get malleable enough to move by hand, or am I going to need a power hammer for this? 3. Would this hold up well as …

Two friends, who I love dearly, are getting married at the end of December. They have asked me to find for their bouquet several medals of certain saints, and I am not having luck locating them wherever I look. I also can't seem to find any silversmiths, only jewelry shops. I would like to, at this point, have them made just for them. Can anyone direct me to a silversmith who may be willing to make four small oval medals (3/4" or smaller) and with whom I can speak to about this? Thank you all in advance for the help! Ridgewayforge

Want to melt down some of the unused family sterling silver cutlery to cast into jewellery (fibulas, bracelets, pebbles). Any advice (treatment, degassing, moulds sand/lost wax) are more then welcome. Cheers, Hans

Hello everyone. I have a strange project in the process right now, and im in need of some solid gold wire, preferably pure gold, and preferably 22 gauge. I dont need a whole lot, maybe 12-14 inches in total. I have been unable to locate a reliable source. How difficult would it be to forge gold down into wire? Or draw it through some sort of die to reach the desired dimensions? Or, better yet, does anybody know a reputable source of such wire? Thank you in advance.

Hello friends. A brother of mine has an idea. He'd like to have his sterling silver purity ring melted down and made into an engagement ring for his lady. It would have a stone set in it. Is this possible? What are the problems?

I have not found jewelry department and gave the belt here, if what I ask for a transfer. Thank you. Belt done in brass for a Celtic warrior of America .... or rather his wife because this type of female.

Hi everyone... Can any one tell me where I can buy tin plate and what are the going price...thanks

My forge is probably not intended for fine silver work, or I am not intended for fine silver work. Either way I am without an anniversary present for my wife. My wife is an avid reader so I thought it would be thoughtful to make her a special bookmark. I order some PMC3 silver clay (Great stuff for people with zero silversmithing skills). rolled it out, embossed it with my special love you saying. Added a couple other things, including our sons' finger prints. I did everything I was supposed to do up to the firing. It was too long to fire on the camp stove as I have done for small things so, me being me said "hey I have I forge". I got the smallest flame I coul…

I am buying a bunch more scrap from work, and I have an opportunity to get some 1" diameter Inconel 718 bar ends that run around 2" - 5" long. Even as scrap it is pricey, so before I get it I was wondering is anyone may have some ideas for uses first. I have been thinking of high temp applications,but kind of drawing a blank at the moment. It has a ton of nickel in it, so any good for Mokume? http://www.hightempmetals.com/techdata/hitempInconel718data.php

Hi there, First of all....I have no any experience in forging or in blacksmithing at all. I'm about to make a guitar and gonna need some help. I want it to be special so I would like to use special materials. Especially, for the frets. The frets are that metal parts on the guitar neck that looks like lines. 22 or 24 of them placed in specified distance to each other. I hope you know what I mean. Anyway... I'm looking for some material which hard and durable and special. I was thinking maybe white gold or platinum but I have no any clue about them. Can they take lots of abuse? Or could you advise me any hard metal like stainless steel but a bit mo…

I got an email asking for a referral to goldsmiths on the site. Any of you folks work gold? If so please explain what you do in enough detail that I can make the referral. Thanks

Workable?

I'd like to try forging some silver. Never tried it before, so this would be entirely new to me. Any difference in forging 925 or 999 silver? Is one or the other preferred? Do you forge it cold, then anneal, or forge at very low heats? This would be more than thin sheet silver type of stuff. I'd like to buy something like 10oz and then forge it to the applicable bar size I'm looking to use.

I have had a stockpile of old 90's computers sitting around for years and recently have taken interest in deplating the components for gold retrieval. I've watched a few videos on the internet on doing it using various acids, which were very helpful, but I was curious if any of you were doing this and had any helpful methods for doing it. -Rich

Has anyone ever welder with certanium rods?

Thought I'd share some of my work. Mostly cold worked copper, some silver, simple soldering, a couple of chainmail items. Some of the older work is rather crude.

need to find the weight of a 100mm cube of lead, can anyone help?