Thissideup

Built this tonight, turned out good I think, used 2000F fire brick, and angle iron to tie it together. I thought my tiger torch woud be the cats ass but it doesn't suck in enough air, so tries to burn the gas outside the forge. Got much better results chasing it with compressed air though. So wondering, should I build a tube with an air pump or shoud I try to build something naturally aspirated? sorry for the fuzziness, phone doesn't take the best pics.

also built a forge today, will post again in the appropriate section.

I found the pennies didn't melt as nice, but the tubing melted real nice, pooled almost like lead. Then solidified almost instantly with a skin almost like a mig weld puddle.The brass would pop and crackel a bit so I sprinkled some borax on it and it seemed to behave more like the copper. As for my ring, I'm just experimenting right now, not certain what the composition of the wedding band will be, but I most likely wont have copper in it, might be nickel and brass, or nickel and silver, might even try some stainless steel damascus. I made this ring as an experiment to see if I have any issues with any of these metals, heard of nickel alergies, so will wear it for a few months to see if anything happens. The ring will be for me, little lady wants a gold band. If i can find some poor sucker in need of cash I might try buy some gold for pennies on the dollar. She's got a couple rings from her previous marrige but we both figure that'd be bad luck, actually she thinks It's bad luck and I am told I have to agree. I'm told alot of things ;)

I melted the tubing into puddles then hammered them out, same with the brass fitting, brass was a XXXXX because it just wants to crack. stacked them up in a sandwich between two plates of steel and heated it with a tiger torch. once it got orange I sprinkled borax on it and heated again. once I could see the edges of the coins start to liquify I ran to the press and gave it the squeeze. came out with a place about 1/4 thick, then drilled the center with a step bit, made an arbor for my drill press out of a bolt and some electrical tape, put the ring over that and turned down the outside with a grinder and a flap wheel. final rounding was done with a metal file and sand paper, then a buffing wheel finished the deal. from start to finish took about five hours. I'm amazed at how strong it is for how thin I made the band, Just hope it dont crack.

Here's a better pic, was using my phone for the others, pattern is basic, didnt want to twist it up as i wasnt sure it was stuck, will get a little crazier on the next one.

made it stick! pics are a little fuzzy though, used five loonies, a copper penny, some copper tubing and a brass fitting.

So I pickle in muratic or ph down, rinse, mix borax with water to make a paste, paint on between layers, heat and press?

Hello all, I'm new here. found this site off youtube of all places. I'm getting married in Feb and would like to make my wedding band. I started out thinking of meteorite, then damascus, but seems I have decided I like mokume the best. So today I did a little test, I have a set of propane demolition torches, and a 30 ton press, we took a few loonies ( $1 canadian coin ) and stacked them, ( composition 87.5 % pure nickel with 8.5% bronze plating.) heated them white hot and then pressed them, they seemed at first to have stuck together but upon re heating and hammering they started to come apart and get brittle. Now obviously I have no clue what I'm doing but am wondering if the pure nickel has anything to do with it? more likely my torches are no substitute for a forge? every thing I read about mokume with nickel is nickel silver, wonder if that matters? I'm going to keep reading and see what I can learn, think I might try again tomorrow with a copper penny in between the loonies to see what happens. also will try quenching, didnt know it helps keep these metals soft until tonight. Any direction would be appreciated.