sidewinder81777 Posted March 14, 2019 Share Posted March 14, 2019 My name is Josh, I'm 41 and from Jacksonville, Fl. I've been interested in blacksmithing for quite a while. Between watching forged in fire and man at arms and Alec Steele vids lol. I finally made myself a little micro forge out of a large dog food can and started playing around with some stuff on a small scale (jewelry mostly) with a decent degree of success. just today I was pleased to discover that though there is no way my current tiny forge is going to get to welding temp for steel, it WILL get hot enough to weld a stack of quarters, so I'm kind of over the moon right now over my little pendant sized mokume billet lol. Can't wait to scale up and start doing some bigger stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted March 14, 2019 Share Posted March 14, 2019 Welcome to the insanity. Your fab skills look good, what did you line your forge with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
contraption maker Posted March 15, 2019 Share Posted March 15, 2019 Nice to have you here Josh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder81777 Posted March 15, 2019 Author Share Posted March 15, 2019 10 hours ago, Charles R. Stevens said: what did you line your forge with? Thank you! We have 4 pallets of perlite aggregate at my work that we got years ago for a project that didn't pan out. I actually scooped a few handfuls from a broken bag off the floor and mixed that with plaster of paris as an experiment. It seems to be degrading fairly quickly though around the point where the torch flame hits the side of the forge so I'll definitely be going with a different solution when I make a larger forge. probably just a soft firebrick lined steel box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 15, 2019 Share Posted March 15, 2019 Yes plaster of paris starts to degrade at temps over 1000 degF below proper forging temps; but their are still idiots on the 'tube" misleading folks about using it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder81777 Posted March 15, 2019 Author Share Posted March 15, 2019 Oh well didn't cost me anything but time really. And every failure is a lesson learned. I'll use it until it fails then do something else lol. After all it's just a dog food can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted March 15, 2019 Share Posted March 15, 2019 Perlite and clay or perlite and fernace cement hold up a little better (not ideal) but Mike has found some soft brick that have good mechanical properties. Check out forge 101 in the gas forge section Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 15, 2019 Share Posted March 15, 2019 Welcome aboard Josh, glad to have you. Nice jewelry, you have a good touch. Next time try flatten it and folding your quarter stack before making things. That will expose the layers in different ways. I hate to administer a stern correction to a new member on his first day. However you just can't let some things slide they're so egregious. That is NOT a dog food can, it's a FORGE! Yeah there're better ways to line a gas forge and we'll help get you up to current speed. This forum is filled with mistakes, some grand some silly but there're all here and we'll help you avoid them. Why you wonder? Well, seeing as many of us have made most of them we're hoping you new guys will make new mistakes we can enjoy. If you start out skimming and reading in Forges 101 you'll want a better burner and can check out Burners 101. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted March 15, 2019 Share Posted March 15, 2019 Welcome aboard. You will not be disappointed with the amount of combined experience on this site or the willingness of the members to to share that experience. I've learned more on this site in a couple months than I would have been able to pick up on YouTube in a year. I'm just starting out and you don't know what's good info or bad or even dangerous not just poor advice. If you plan on building a new gasser check out Wayne Coe. He is a member here and sells small amounts of supplies for building gas forges. Otherwise you'll have to buy more material than you'd need. When I was thinking about building a gasser he's who I was going to get the castable and inswool from so I wouldn't have to buy any more than needed. Of course it's up to you how you go about sourcing your supplies. However you go I wish you the best of luck because you are doing some nice work. Pnut (Mike) .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder81777 Posted March 15, 2019 Author Share Posted March 15, 2019 Thank you everyone. And frosty I haven't done anything else with the quarter billet yet but I plan to ladder pattern it. I'm pretty sure I'll still have enough material left after that for a pendant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 15, 2019 Share Posted March 15, 2019 A friend of mine did some pretty cool rings by punching the billet and turning half of it inside out then forging it back into a ring. When he ground and etched it the pattern was pretty cool. Mokume with nickle in it needs to be forged hot. You only get a little bit of cold work before the nickle starts breaking up. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder81777 Posted March 15, 2019 Author Share Posted March 15, 2019 I may draw it out into a longer bar and cut and stack a few times to get the layer count up before I ladder it. I understand with coin stacks you don't need to flux for whatever reason but does that still apply after the first weld. If i cut and restack or hot cut and fold will I have to flux at that point or is whatever magical quarter properties that applied in the first weld still active? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 15, 2019 Share Posted March 15, 2019 You have to sand it shiny but you don't need flux, a LITTLE won't hurt but you don't need it. There is a lot of good material about mokume gane, here and other places including some excellent books. The process is diffusion welding. I really hate to disappoint you but there's no magic involved, knowledge and practice about like everything else. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder81777 Posted March 16, 2019 Author Share Posted March 16, 2019 Excellent, it's at 24 layers now so will probably stack it a couple times to get it up to 96 cause why not. Will make it look better when i ladder it. Hopefully i still have a usable amount of material when I'm done lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.