Steve Sells Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 I reuse the plates, its the bolts that normally get cut off and replaced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinobi Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 So here is my first result from making Mokume (QSO style trainer, if you will) planished the edges off the metal because iv had some trouble getting them to stay lined up when stacking and clamping in the past. cleaned with borax and rinsed in rubbing alcohol clamped the stack (10x total) in that 1/8" plate jig from a page back with a whiteout/paper liner between the stack and the plates heated with a MAPP torch as evenly as i could while resting on my firebrick set it on top of the vice jaws to overhang the bolts and gave it a few whacks with the cross pein after heating for what felt like about 15 minutes. after taking it out of the clamp and reheating the stack split 6 and 4 which later became 5 and 4. half of the 5 stack folded up on itself (no bond) when i tried to square it up, so i ended up sawing off the folded part and the rest held pretty decently, though im pretty sure the bonds are mostly incomplete. the circular one is the 4 stack and the rectangular one is the trimmed remains of the 5 stack, torch oxidized the circular one for contrast. I cant wait until my copy of Ian Fergusson's book arrives! edit: the 1/8th plate clamp seemed to do the job well enough, though i might have gotten better compression/results from a thicker section. they did end up bowing by about 1/16th or less. the bolts came off just fine too, can they be reused or is that an accident waiting to happen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Nice job! I turned my first try into a puddle. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fe-Wood Posted August 21, 2012 Author Share Posted August 21, 2012 Chinobi- Do you know about Adam's Forge? There is a guy named Pat Downing who works and often demonstrates there. Pat has been working with Quarter Mokome and getting great results. Pat lives in San Diego. Might try to hook up with him and Adam's forge. They will have a better way to heat the billet than a mapp gas tourch. Keep after it! I real like the round piece's design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinobi Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Phil, Fe, thanks :) Ah Phil, if only i had the raw BTU's (or a way to more effectively contain the ones i do have) to melt them :) Despite past actual attempts to intentionally slag quarters (not in a crucible, just on my firebrick, probably not the wisest of ideas in retrospect) the best i have gotten was to cause the layers to bubble up and separate, though with the mapp torch i could probably get the job done. On the plus side, through the process of heating to fuse and subsequently heating to forge those pieces my firebrick developed a crack and eventually split, so now i have roughly 2/3 in one piece and then two smaller 1/6ish bits that i think i can use as a three sided refractory until i can secure something more efficient :) I do indeed know about Adam's Forge, a tip o the hat to SoCalDave for referring me. I actually attended their 'discovery day' intro to blacksmithing course two sundays ago and made a letter opener :) i posted a pic in my thread in the introduce yourself section. Sadly my schedule doesnt line up well with their open forge nights (tuesday 7-10pm), i might be able to get in for their open jewelery nights (wednesday, also 7-10pm IIRC), the only tiny caveat would be the 100 mile drive from work to the class and then another 70 or so back home afterwards =/ i spoke to some of the instructors when i was there and i will be keeping an eye on the class schedule as they said they were trying to line up some more theme oriented sessions/classes in the future. Coincidentally i will be in san diego this weekend, but it will be a really short trip so i dont think there would be potential to try and schedule any side trips. I prefer the design on the round one as well, the other one was an attempt to go for the more traditional 'wood grain' effect, but was no where near dense enough. Also! Best timing ever! before i had gotten more than a line and a half into this post my doorbell rang and my neighbor dropped off a package containing my copy of Ferguson's Mokume Gane Handbook! :D so i have my reading material for the immediate future :ph34r: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketman Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 Jbin-- what do you mean by copper nickel alloys as opposed to cupronickel??? I am unable to differentiate between these two terms on an online search, and am hoping you could be specific.. Thanks Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 you are not likely to get an answer from him, as Jim has not been online since November 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 Jim (James Binion) is still online, just not this forum. Try him on facebook or his website. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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