Mokume Gane

[ps_bond]

Good stuff; how many layers, what size & what other metal(s)? Any signs of delamination?

When I did my bowl the whole lot was hammered to sheet - it was very quickly far too wide for my rolling mill.

[Carl Grigg]

23 10*50 mm sheets of 0.5 mm copper and brass. I have been keeping any eye for de lamination and have found the zoom on my phones camera very useful for this but so far so good.

Have been very surprised at the even thickness I am getting from the hammering but could not easily handle a large sheet as I only have a small square at the back of my vice to use as an anvil.

Thanks again for your support.

[ps_bond]

You should be able to wash the edges with easy solder (need to double check the melting point of the alloy formed at the interfaces) - that gives a bit of protection from delamination. The other thing to be aware of is the shear caused by the different ductilities of the metals - the copper will extrude far more than the brass and obviously it is stretching the boundaries. Frequent annealing is good!

Your vice is quite probably cast iron, so can't take much abuse in hammering. If you can get hold of a suitable tinsmith's stake - EBay for example - and set it in a log you'll have a better surface to forge on.

[Carl Grigg]

Patterned and down to about 1.5 mm. had a couple of small bits of de-lamination at either end so cut them off, did not loose much metal and may even roll them out to see what happens. need to decide what to make with it before going any further.

Carl

[Tabby66]

Looks good Carl,............any decisions on what you're going to do with it??

[Carl Grigg]

I really want a ring but am not sure this is the piece I will get what I want from, I want to avoid the obvious join and perhaps should not have rolled it this thin in the one direction, no matter I am doing this to learn.

My first thought was just to make a large bangle but rater alot of copper to be that close to the skin. So from this piece I have started by cutting a bit off one end so I could roll it in the other direction as it where to make a simple pendant.



This is what this bit looks like at the moment, I was thinking of riveting the layers with a spacer to give some depth but having spent so much time on the Mokume gane am reluctant to drill it so am still thinking.

I am also planning some lentil earrings, another pendant this time connected to other metals very loosely to give some movement and I will do a ring if only to practice the techniques thinking of silver plating the inside or possibly a silver liner.

I am probably most excited by the idea of the next billet more layers and different metals.

Carl

[caroleallen]

There's an interesting discussion about not using a mixture of copper and silver for making rings on Ganoksin at the moment. Here's a link to James Binnion's blog http://ganoksin.com/blog/binnion/201...h-a-good-idea/

[Carl Grigg]

Thanks for the link it's fascinating how something as strong as metal can be so delicate. To me it adds to the charm of the piece but as the blog says not ideal for a wedding band.

Carl

[medusa]

There's an interesting discussion about not using a mixture of copper and silver for making rings on Ganoksin at the moment. Here's a link to James Binnion's blog http://ganoksin.com/blog/binnion/201...h-a-good-idea/

I've seen a few of these rings on Etsy. The Mr is rather taken with them, but my thoughts were... do you really want to turn yourself into a battery?

That said, I have to say I really like the copper etched effect!

[ps_bond]

Jim's absolutely correct, but it should be said that this is a *very* aggressive test; there's relatively few individuals with skin chemistry that'll destroy a Cu/Ag ring within a year. That said, there's "relatively" few who are allergic to nickel - they still exist though!

Sleeving a ring will reduce the effect a bit, but it is still in contact with the other fingers.

I've tried to put a lot of people off Cu/Ag for anything in skin contact - my suggestion of 18k seems to make them balk though