Has anyone made copper nickle?

S

skillgannon

Joined
Apr 27, 2009
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I have been messing around with making copper bars in my forge. The first time I did it i was trying to melt it with a bunch of nickles but didn't get it hot enough and it had a lot of voids. It also looked like brass. I have done some work in a shipyard and loved the color of copper nickle. Is it possible to make it and cast it ? Or if that doesn't work does anyone know where to buy barstock?
 
Aren't nickles mostly zinc? So if you smelted copper with a bunch of nickels you made brass.
 
kuraki said:
Aren't nickles mostly zinc? So if you smelted copper with a bunch of nickels you made brass.
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Google says they're copper and nickel. I know folks make copper nickel mokume-gane by forging quarters.
Wikipedia said:
A nickel, in American usage, is a five-cent coin struck by the United States Mint. Composed of 75% copper and 25% nickel, the piece has been issued since 1866. Its diameter is .835 inches (21.21 mm) and its thickness is .077 inches (1.95 mm).
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Ah, well then you just want to smelt nickels, and not add additional copper, since cupronickel is around 75/25.
 
I once smelted plumbing parts in a jewlery furnace, cast a solid copper bullet for kicks. But then I tried some 'copper' wire and couldn't get it to melt at 2000F. It doesn't take much to push the melting point beyond the reach of non-industrial tools.

Curious to see some results if you end up with pix.
 
I have a atlas mini forge and have melted copper wire and pipe.

I have forged the quarters and have added nickels. I look cooler that way with big silver stripes
 
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kuraki said:
Ah, well then you just want to smelt nickels, and not add additional copper, since cupronickel is around 75/25.
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I have read that as nickel copper unlike quarters that are nickel copper plated and copper nickel in the center.
 
I finally checked again and I was wrong. Sorry kuraki.
It looks like i just need to add a little bit of copper to get the color.
 
Sounds like you are talking about plain old nickel silver.
It's readily available from knifemakers' supply houses.
 
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Stacy- have you ever successfully cast nickel silver?
No one I know has. White brass, yes- but no nickel silver.
 
Watching this thread, I have around 75lbs of copper I need to smelt down into something usable.
 
JTknives said:
Watching this thread, I have around 75lbs of copper I need to smelt down into something usable.
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You can definitely melt it in a forge. I ordered a graphite thingy from Amazon so it doesn't run out of my forge next time.

P.S. I have been trying to get a hold of you to see if you are still selling steel. My phone is 360 305.6225 and my email is callmestorm@hotmail.com. thanks
 
If you use nickels from different years, you will end up getting an unpredictable recipe
 
Bill DeShivs said:
Stacy- have you ever successfully cast nickel silver?
No one I know has. White brass, yes- but no nickel silver.
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When a friend had an electric auto centrifuge, we did dome nickel silver castings. IIRC, we had to put a graphite layer over it to keep it fluid.
 
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So it works. I think I spent 50 cents and 1.5" of 3/8" copper pipe. I need to use some flux next time since it's a little porous. The color is perfect.
 
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