February 11, 201016 yr I found this short video on how a German makes a Mokume Gane billet, never thought to do it this way. http://media.goettgen.de/video/208/Feuerverschweissen--Mokume-Gane-2
February 12, 201016 yr The technique seems fairly standard to me. What do you find unique about it? Looks like he is using a weedburner for a heat source.
February 12, 201016 yr His approach is inspiring in a way. If you have the will and the vision then nothing keeps you from doing it. Most people think "That`s really nice.I`d like to try that but I don`t have a forge or the proper tools or"... Here`s this guy using an old plant stand,scrap rod and a weed burner to make his idea a reality. Good for him! Makes me wish I could read German so I can see what he does with the billet and more importantly what other tricks he has up his sleeve.
February 12, 201016 yr He also just tied the billet together with wire, no welding a cage or building a bolt press. I am rather impressed by the simplicity of his process. Phil
February 13, 201016 yr Author It was interesting to me as making the billet has always been presented as being formed in between two steel plates, all kinds of special precautions as to atmosphere and such and here is a guy who just heats it up on a steel grid with a torch, takes it the anvil, a few taps and has a billet. Nothing extra special like some would have you believe you is necessary for success in making mokume gane, nice.
March 8, 201016 yr It was interesting to me as making the billet has always been presented as being formed in between two steel plates, all kinds of special precautions as to atmosphere and such and here is a guy who just heats it up on a steel grid with a torch, takes it the anvil, a few taps and has a billet. Nothing extra special like some would have you believe you is necessary for success in making mokume gane, nice. There are many ways to skin a cat. As long as you are satisfied with small billets his technique works just fine (BTW he is very good at what he does). In this video he in effect is using sterling silver to act as a "solder" by heating the stack to the point where the sterling just begins to melt and fusing the billet. There are several potential drawbacks to the torch fired method but it definitely works on small scale. More complex methods are needed for larger pieces and some alloy combination's. There is also a very steep learning curve for torch firing. If you lose a little copper alloy billet no big deal but if you want to use precious metals the cost of failure can climb rapidly so extra effort and special tools and such for insuring a reliable bond is well worth the effort. A typical small billet that I work on in gold & silver it is 1.75" x 0.625 x 0.75" and is somewhere between $3000 and $8000 in materials. In that video if that is a precious metal billet he has likely has 3-4 times that amount of money in materials there. You don't want an oops with that kind of investment.
March 16, 201016 yr Author "between $3000 and $8000 in materials"....Thanks for the reminder that simpler is not always better. When you are using US quarter dollars as opposed to silver and gold there is a vast difference between steel grid & torch and controled atmosphere & electric kiln. Two dollars in quarters does not in anyway compare with three to eight thousand dollars of gold! :blink:
March 16, 201016 yr I suggest people take a moment and look at his web site. He deffinatly has an understanding of the proccess judging by the work presented. http://mokume.erlebe-es.de/ I so want to learn how to do this but I just don't have the T&M at the moment :(
March 17, 201016 yr Author He has a presentation with picture and word here http://mujodogane.erlebe-es.de/synapsecore.php?dateiname=2_Einen_Block_schweissen.html&mainnode=synapsepath/Informationen_ueber_Mokume_Gane/
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