BlueDogKnives

George, I appreciate the feedback. I have the knifemaking version that's rated to 2200°F, so that was a consideration but not a heavy concern for me. I just cooked a rasp file at 1800°F yesterday, and regularly run in the 1650-1700 for O1. I have zero experience with casting or molten metals, but my thought was cook the whole "build" around 350 with the door open to remove any and all moisture, kick it up to 1850 to melt the brass and soften the copper, let it stay there for about 30 mins, and then kill the power and let it cool on its own so I'm not sloshing around and metal. Mostly because I have a cheap set of tongs that came with a small crucible I ordered from Amazon for some silver casting I'm planning on doing. The only other items I have are blacksmithing tongs, and I'd be way to concerned about the slipping on the graphite. Thomas, I appreciate the info, and I'm aware true Mokume Gane is made in a process similar to Damascus. However, I don't have a clean enough or hot enough (reliably) forge to do that. I realize it's not *true* Mokume Gane, but it would hopefully look similar and look good. Or it might be a waste of some scrap I have laying in my shop that would be dumpster fodder anyhow.

Howdy folks, I've looked around and haven't been able to find any info, hence my post. I'm looking to use Mokume Gane in my knife making, but the prices are currently prohibitive. That being said, I do have brass from reloads that are worn out, and instead of throwing them away I'm thinking about melting them down to make my material. I have two graphite containers for casting bars, but no furnace or hand tools to heat up the metal and give it the proper twists and twirls and whatnot. My question is can I line up the brass and copper in the graphite bar maker, place it in my heat treat oven (Evenheat KH414), and take it right up to just above the melting point to slump it all together? Or is this a good way to blow up my heat treat oven and destroy my $1300 investment? Thank you for any help or suggestions, they are much appreciated. Sam