Mokume Gane Copper & Brass

[DanCom]

Ok, so I've never done this before, but certainly did lots of reading and asked some questions on this forum (Thanks Tim). Here's my evening of making mokume gane with copper and brass sheet.



I started with one sheet of copper and one sheet of brass. Nice and clean.
This was overpriced at the hobby store, but I figured it was saving me the the scrubbing.
These sheets are 4 x 10" which should make five 2"x2" pieces per per sheet.
The copper is a little thicker than the brass, but we'll live with it.


With a ruler or square and a permanent marker, layout the 2" squares.



Do this for both the brass and copper sheets.


You can probably cut this with some snips, but I choose the porta-bandsaw,


Same 2" square pieces for the brass.


Here I am holding a nice stack of alternating copper & brass plates.


I squeeze them into my handy compression plate thingy.
It's really two pieces of 1/4" plate with four 5/16" bolts to squish the copper and brass.
Clamps also work, but whatever you use has to fit into the forge for heating.


As per Tim's suggestion, I got some Borax. No, not that crazy comedian from Sloblazekhstan, but rather a trip to the Walmart in the laundry isle.



I mixed a small amount of Borax (3 teaspoons) with a smaller amount of water to make a paste.



With the brush I applied the paste Borax to the perimeter of the stack. All the way around. Covering everything in the cracks.


On one of the longer bolts I fitted some scrap steel and a nut for a handle and tossed her in the forge.


Once in the forge, watch. Turn like a hot dog. Even heat through the billet is the aim.


Now the whole thing is glowing yellow, pull the billet before the brass melts and leaks all over.
(personal experience).




2 B Cont'd...

 

[DanCom]

Ah yes... part II.

Billet is cooling on the floor. Beer time. Steinlager?
WTF. Oh yes, New Zealand won the Rugby World Cup.


I did a quick dunk in the quench tank thinking that it may be easier to take the nuts off.
WRONG! Plan on cutting these off with a hacksaw.


So far all this hard work has produced this. A crude lamination.
The fun resumes shortly.


Over to the drill press to pop a bunch of semi-random, PARTIAL holes. I am using a 5/16" bit for this.


Now that's a bunch of sort of random dents. Some are deeper, some are shallower.


Now back into the forge until you see it shimmering in the holes.
That's when the billet is dull red.


Over to the post anvil for some flattening with a 3lb hammer.


I did the heat and flatten 3 times. Trying to squash and move the layers up the holes.\
Holes down seems to produce the flattest, best results.

I started some finishing on the 4x36".


After a little grinding I can see the circular patterns appear.


I finished the rest on the 2"x72" with a coarse 60 grit belt.


Then I hand sanded with some water and 150 grit.
Then 220 and 400 grit with a block.


To the buffer for some black compound.


The product turned out pretty good. I will need additional shaping and polishing in situ.
The net result is about 3/16" thick by 2-1/4" x 2-1/4".



That is how I made mokume gane.

The natural oxidization (patina) will tint the metals differently and cause a larger contrast in the pattern.

You can certainly mix up the patterns, add nickel or silver-nickel or any other copper alloy. Basically, anything with similar melting points.

Happy making!

Dan

 

[Janger]

Wow Dan that's a great write up. Did you make your forge? What are you going to make with the end result?

Sometimes posts get stuck in the moderation queue - one of us usually approves pretty quick.

 

[DanCom]

Hi Janger,

Sorry I was a little frustrated getting the red-warning when trying to post or edit the post. I don't normally work in the wee hours of Monday, but it's a long weekend.

Yes. I made the forge and Venturi burners for it. It's a re-purposed 5 gallon air compressor tank lined with ceramic blanket. The burners are my own design, sort of a cross between Ron Reil's and Michael Porter's versions.

I use the mokume-gane typically for knife bolsters or guards.

Dan

 

[PeterT]

Very cool, thanks for posting. So dumb question but what is the decorative stock going to be used for?

Your material requirements kind of look like my issue - not necessarily large amounts of stock, but an assortment of small sticks of specialized alloys. I really don't have many options but have had good results with online metals. The $U is killing us but that's a universal issue. However they do cut a deal on UPS shipping to CAN so you don't get belted with the normal UPS killer fees. (They quote all-in shipping cost at checkout so you always have a bail-out point). I've used them about 3 times now & usually save my list for inevitable discount sale (they have 20% off now). The thing is their base prices are less than MetSup in town (presuming they even have it & the minimum order B.S.). Plus its nice to have a box show up at the door within a week vs. half a tank of gas to drive somewhere during work hours.
http://www.onlinemetals.com/

 

[DanCom]

I use mokume-gane for knife bolsters.
Small amounts of specialty metals (copper, brass, bronze, stainless, aluminum) are available at most hobby stores. If you're going to be buying anything larger, I'd suggest looking elsewhere as it will certainly be cheaper.



Dan