Hey I have a question
I have made a lot of tattoo machines from scratch- there’s some electrics and coils and machine tolerance stuff but beyond functional geometry it’s basic metalworking and some of the same design flourishes and finishing techniques transfer to what we do nicely. Some stuff maybe not so much!
One thing I liked to do (working in mild steel with no hardening or heat treat considerations) is hot inlays.
My process is to carve the inlay out of the steel, ox/a braze or silicon bronze tig over the carving, then sand back until the image is revealed and clean.
I’m thinking quench heat might be too hot for yellow metal? So let’s say I wanted a brass inlay in a ricasso touchmark. I could carve before quench, sandblast for tooth after tempering, and inlay with the blade in water or on a heat sink, then grind/polish to reveal the image? Or would a brazed inlay survive a quench cycle (like say 1084)
I am not trying to reinvent the wheel- should I look into cold inlay processes with softer metals (cut grooves, press in soft metal, peen over edges, polish flat)? Or is my hot work technique one people successfully use on blade work?
Of course I can do as much of this stuff as I want on iron and steel fittings but I’m only looking for subtle touches right now not full blown ornamentation.
Any replies greatly appreciated!
Kevin
Some of the guys who do Nordic swords do a similar inlay on the blades with Futhark Runes. Somewhere on this forum is a tutorial by JS Matthew Parkinson doing non-ferrous inlay into steel. If I remember correctly, the process is to engrave before HT and undercut the lettering/design. Then after HT, hammer the softened copper/bronze/nugold/whatever material into the engraving and sand flush.
Joshua States
www.dosgatosforge.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdJMFMqnbLYqv965xd64vYg
https://www.facebook.com/dos.gatos.71
Also on Instagram and Facebook as J.States Bladesmith
“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.â€
Yeah I’ve seen that technique done. I guess I could whip up some tiny engraving chisels and try doing it like that but I had such good luck doing it with a hot process I wondered if it is a common/known technique around here. It would be slick, easy, and repeatable to just hot stamp the inlay recess and melt some brass or copper into the relief after a samdblast.
I haven’t tried the cu-mai (first try spelling it too hope I got close) thing where there’s copper in a layer showing on the blade, but obviously it’s a forge braze and not technically a forge weld. I don’t have a kiln or fancy pyrometer in my propane forge- I have had almost nothing but good results forge welding so far and doing heat treats on simple carbon steel. I guess I’ll start by reading up on melting points and see if it would even make sense to experiment with the process or if a cycle at quenching temp would burn or wash out a copper brass or bronze applied hot.
It would have to be a worked at a yellow metal melting point with a physical bond like soldering, not an alloying or melting of the steel to the yellow metal with a brazing process. The cleanest would be to apply the soft metal after quench and before final sand/polish, into a clean sandblasted mark.
Further thought- silver solder or tin/pewter might have a lower melting point to make the process even easier, but bright instead of golden.
Being new to bladesmithing is exciting because there are so many techniques to try but I know anything I dream up was probably old hat before the industrial revolution.
Unless somebody chimes in with an established process I’ll have to do some melting point research on the alloys I have or can make then try some experiments!
Thanks for the reply
|quoted:
Yeah I’ve seen that technique done. I guess I could whip up some tiny engraving chisels and try doing it like that but I had such good luck doing it with a hot process I wondered if it is a common/known technique around here. It would be slick, easy, and repeatable to just hot stamp the inlay recess and melt some brass or copper into the relief after a samdblast.
I haven’t tried the cu-mai (first try spelling it too hope I got close) thing where there’s copper in a layer showing on the blade, but obviously it’s a forge braze and not technically a forge weld. I don’t have a kiln or fancy pyrometer in my propane forge- I have had almost nothing but good results forge welding so far and doing heat treats on simple carbon steel. I guess I’ll start by reading up on melting points and see if it would even make sense to experiment with the process or if a cycle at quenching temp would burn or wash out a copper brass or bronze applied hot.
It would have to be a worked at a yellow metal melting point with a physical bond like soldering, not an alloying or melting of the steel to the yellow metal with a brazing process. The cleanest would be to apply the soft metal after quench and before final sand/polish, into a clean sandblasted mark.
Further thought- silver solder or tin/pewter might have a lower melting point to make the process even easier, but bright instead of golden.
Being new to bladesmithing is exciting because there are so many techniques to try but I know anything I dream up was probably old hat before the industrial revolution.
Unless somebody chimes in with an established process I’ll have to do some melting point research on the alloys I have or can make then try some experiments!
Thanks for the reply
Depending on the alloy you can inlay before heat treat just need to make sure the melting temp is above the hardening temp. Harden in an oven or salts to control the temp and use coating to protect from scale.. if you are etching after your ferric will be corrupted from brass or bronze and will plate anything else etched in that bath, silver even sterling doesn't seem to be an issue.
