I’ve been trying to come up with a less failure-prone means of making mokume gane and wondering if anyone has any input on what I’m about to attempt. My plan is to use copper, brass, and nickel silver, all 0.060 sheet. I’ll foil wrap the stack between pressure plates and put the whole thing in my electric oven at just below the melting point of brass so it can have a good soak, at least 15-20 min, to make sure the entire stack is at the same temp. Hopefully this eliminates the problem with liquifying the brass in the forge, and having even temperature throughout should reduce the chances of lack of fusion in the center of the stack from not being up to temp. Once the stack is fully stuck I’ll take it out of the foil and work in the forge as normal, being careful to not get too hot. Has anyone else tried this way and been successful?
Somewhere on this forum I did a how-to on making mokume gane by almost the very same method you describe. Except, I do it in the forge and don't bother using brass. I cannot locate the post now, even using Google Site Search. Maybe one of the mods can locate it and post a link. In the meantime, if nobody can locate the post, shoot me an email and I try and find the photos of my process for you.
This is very doable, and anything I can do to help you, just ask.
“So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.”
BTW-What method have you been doing?
“So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.”
Thanks Josh. I tried the search also and didn’t find it. I’ve only had success once and it was using a handheld torch with the stack and pressure plates in a little firebrick cave. That stack was subsequently ruined when I tried to move it a little too much between annealing and cracked it. I’ve tried three times in the forge and had either poor fusion or melted brass every time…hence the reason to move to the oven. I like the idea of eliminating the brass which should make it less prone to melting. The rest of my metal sheets should be delivered this week and I think I’ll try both ways, forge and oven, without the brass. If I can get enough good material made I would like to try a couple different patterns too. One question for you on your starting pieces, what grit do you sand to prior to stacking?
I always sanded the precut 2"X3" pieces to 220 grit. I recently took a class with Mokume expert Todd McDonah and he has a different method of cleaning. He buys 6"x 12" sheet and scrubs them with scothbrite grill cleaning pads in soapy water first, then cuts the pieces and scrubs again with small pieces of green scothbrite pad. Three stages to remove all excess soap and contaminants. That worked really well in the class and took far less time than the method I previously used.
Anyway, here is a link to my method from a few years ago that always worked well for me: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1qLs_k3TQZGDmcRgNi8XeAPKRTC9e4l33?usp=share_link
“So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.”
Thanks a bunch Josh! I’m looking forward to finally having some success
Thank you very much. I downloaded description. I will try it one day.
One question. When you write about stainless foil do mean heat treating or simple cooking foil?
Thank you very much. I downloaded description. I will try it one day.
One question. When you write about stainless foil do mean heat treating or simple cooking foil?
Stainless HT foil. Cooking foil is aluminum
“So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.”
Thanks
