Artists of the Rockies

I'm curious - how do you know when the "process" starts? What do you look for? Also, do you use any flux or do any kind of prep to the metal any special way?

Hi I look for what I call the right color . Not very teck and probably is not the correct way to do it , but it seems to work for me . I take all the metal slabs and hand sand the surface to get any crud off then wash them with dish soap and a good scrub brush . Im not putting any flux in the tube . since they are sealed in the tube the metal does not seem to get any fire scale . I hit the tube pretty lightly so as not to blow it apart . and just draw it out little by little .I don't know if what im doing is right or wrong , but it worked so I'll do it again .Wayne

Hi all Im a new member here , but have been making Damascus art knives for several years . I also wanted to do a billit with copper included . The first few trys were a bust but a learing experiance . what finally worked for me was to make up a damascus bar with 1095 and nickle . I then put a layer of nickle on both sides then a layer of copper on top of the nickle more nickle on the copper and a final layer of damascus as the outside layers on both sides of the bar . I placed the stack in a steel tube and brought it up to a bright orange-red pulled it out of the forge waited about 4 or 5 minutes and hit it lightly on all four sides . I stuck it back in the forge and brought it back to a dull red . (just barely hot enough for shaping steel but plenty hot enough for the copper and drew it out into a long bar about 1" square and about 10" long . then while still in the tube got it hot and did a twist in the vise . after it cooled down I put it in my mill and cut the twisted bar down to a slab about 1/4" thick . Yep, I know I waisted a lot of material , but this was an expermint to see if it would work . I bent the slice around a braclet mandrel and then shaped it to my satisfaction . it made a really neat piece the nickle stuck to the steel and the copper fused beautifly to the nickle .It made a pretty unusal piece . I sold the piece before I got a chance to pothograph it . But I will do the process again in the next copple weeks as time permits and post the results on our web page . www.artistsoftherockies.com try it it is a fun project . Wayne