Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Mokume Gane


Fe-Wood

Recommended Posts

  • 1 month later...
  • Replies 107
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Sounds like a heat issue. Need more ;)

Let the material get to a nice bright orange and when the edges get that glassy look- take out your billet and hit lightly but firmly with a hammer or press in a vice.

I usually make a little cage out of 18 or 22g sheetmetal for the quarters or dimes and press it in the vice.

Try a little experimenting with just a few quarters to see how hot you can get them and if your forge is hot enough.

Good Luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At the risk of tickling any legalities, I choose to call my materials, "Quarter Shaped Objects." That being said, I just held six QSOs with a pair of channel-locks and heated with a small rosebud. (Wasn't at home shop and no forge available) but still the same techique; heat till they looked "wet" and orangey. Then, I hit once or twice, lightly but with a heavy (3#er) hammer hitting as much of the surface as I could w/o hitting the channel-locks. Tested the integrity of the "weld" and then repositioned my grip and re heated and forged out to where I wanted to add the pattern. (Used a die grinder and cut-off wheel) Reheated and forged flat then trimmed edges. Some delamination had occurred at the very edge but I still ended up with a disc about 1.5" diameter x maybe 5/32" thick. The texture for the yin and yang design was a combo of scratches with a scribe and a vibrating type engraver. I thought it was pretty easy for a first attempt. Main thing is there's a fine line between too cold and too hot, but the "glassy, wet" look is the key.

post-38-12699679369807_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess that's a tear droop shape, nice! I put a dime through my rolling mill until it was about two feet long, that laminated stuff holds together pretty well, the government did a good job of getting it to join. ;) I suppose that if I ever got my piece to fuse into some sort of pattern I could roll it out too. :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

thanks bentiron. Sounds pretty neat to have a 2 ft dime! Bet that is hard to spend. not exactly pocket change at that point. :lol:
I saw a program on tv where they showed the process of fusing the nickel and the copper and they do it in large plates using explosives :blink: at a quarry. Really amazing. the fused up plate then gets rolled all the way down to coin thickness. must just stick better than I can stick them in my shop.
I know if I try and hammer it cold it moves a bit, then even after repeated anneallings it will crack and seperate on me. others might have luck doing it cold, but I can't.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On my big Cavallin rolling mill I used to take the quarters and run them through till they were thinner than foil and about 5' long and they never de-laminated so I'm not quite sure what is going on when we "forge weld" them together and they de-laminate. I have made some very small sections of silver and copper mokume-gane and it does just fine in the rolling mill if you anneal it often. Maybe one of the real metal gurus can answer that one for us. :blink:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Teeny now it sounds like you may be getting your anneal heat to high. Slightly more than a dull red is all I do, then quench. If it gets to hot, the copper changes and begins to crumble.

Nice looking progress on the shapes and designs!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I dug out some old sterling silver candlesticks and think that I will melt them down and roll out some 16 gauge sheet and see if I can't do some copper/silver. I have just not had any success with the nickle/copper bonding together. :(
I did some copper/silver/brass soldered together with hard silver solder, rolled it out, cut it in half and solder it again and rolled it again to twice it's length and it didn't come apart, then took it out on my old, ancient broke *ss anvil and whacked in all of the cut marks and filed it down. looks pretty cool but it ain't true mokume gane. <_< Think I'll put it in the dapping block and dome it and make some buttons. :mellow:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I made some quarters mokume today, and I cannot discern any pattern to it, it is all copper colored. I thinned it rather far for a stack of $3, it was only about 1/16 thick, nearly 4 inch circle, well, before I melted half of it away.

Did I overheat the metal and wipe out the pattern or did I over thin the metal and wipe out the pattern? Or both? Or is the pattern not visible until it is etched with an appropriate acid? What acid should I use?

I am disappointed and thrilled at the same time. The metal welded like a treat. I loaded my chances by washing in vinegar, then a solution of borax and water. I stacked the coins wet and bound with wire between 2 pieces of 1x1/4 a36.

I think I will try again and stop when I have a billet about 3/8 inch thick.

Phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

after you welded the billet and flattened it a bit, did you work one of the surfaces to reveal the layers below? I have not tried just welding and flattening without working one side or folding/twisting. You didn't use solid silver did you :o

If you distress one surface 1/3 to 1/2 into the thickness before you fully flatten the piece you should have amazing "grain". to reveal the grain sand the worked side with something like 120g and hold in front of the forge or torch to heat it... Its just like Christmas to watch the pattern appear...

I hope you don't get discouraged and try again. at $3 bucks its cheep entertainment :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I tried incising with a chisel and spreading, but I think it was too thin when I started this. I was shocked how fast the billet flattened. I will try grinding the piece and see what I get. $3 is cheap fun and I will try again!

Phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...