I have forged some Titainium. I have no idea what alloy, as it was scrap I bought at SOFA. A 1/2x1/4 piece moved about like 4" square under my hammer! I managed to forge a leaf and bell for a windchime out of it but it was pretty awfull. It moves wierd and reacts to heat wierd. Every hammer blow left a black spot that remained until it went back in the fire. Wierd when I am used to buiding heat back into a peice with every blow. I have heard other smiths claim that Ti is easy to forge so it may be the alloy I had. The stuff also was near impossible to machine. I burned through a half dozen solid carbide drills making a 1/8 hole in a thin part of one of these forgings. Grinding it was exciting too, plumes of white sparks four or five feet long . Im not sure what the sparks were from , after four belts I had barely scratched the burr I was trying to grind off.

I have forged monel 400 a few times. It seemed tough as any other stainless. A bit harder to move than 3xx but not as bad as ATS34/CPM154. Didn't come close to H-13 either.

I must have a different Monel alloy because H-13 is an absolute dream to forge compared to the Monel I have tried (it is from down well applications in the oilfield industry. no idea what alloy #).

This is my crab grill I forged some years ago. All monel with mortice and tenon joinery. I made a fireplace door with a shrimp boat on it at the same time using monel. I will try and find the photo of it.

This is my crab grill I forged some years ago. All Monel with mortice and tenon joinery.

Now that took some work. I sure like it though! I imagine it is simply joyful to not worry about rust.

Yes that grill is a very nice piece of work and being made of Monel makes it an awesome feat! Sure is nice though once it is done! Expensive material in terms of original cost and forging labor!! Not practical for most projects I would think.

It really is great to work with. I made a set of andirons and used 1" round monel for the log holder. Never will sag or burn out.

It really is great to work with. I made a set of andirons and used 1" round monel for the log holder. Never will sag or burn out.

What alloy are you using?

Monel 400

Yup that's definitely not CP 1 or 2 Titanium; I bought a chunk of unknown Ti at QS too and ended up selling it on at cost to my apprentice as he loves a challenge; I love forging the CP alloys as I'm all by hand right now.

Monel 400

Thanks, I will look for some of that to try.

Dad worked with monel while he was at Mare Island Naval Shipyard which was making nuke subs at the time. He mentioned rounding the tips of the new carbide inserts before maching a piece on his horizontal boring mill. Ifthey were left sharp the chip would gall onto the cutter, but not if they were rounded off some.

I remember seeing large plates of monel ( well over 2" thick, and approx 5'x 20') at the DRMO auction yard. Scrapped for some reason. Even in the 80's scrap was valued at $2-$3 a pound.

I have an opportunity to get some .500" diameter A-286 scrap from work. Anyone work with this?