inquiry as to ''' mokume technique's

L

larry vincent

Joined
Mar 25, 2007
Messages
2
''hello'', my thoughts are to find out more about ....Mokume....
..... i want to use of ,........ brass....nickel silver.... and copper ingredients to fabricate of ?????
has anyone done of this here before, my thoughts wish to be applied to such doings . ''''PLEASE HELP'''''
........ PLEASE IF YOUR KNOWLEDGE IS OF THIS TECHNIQUE PLEASE FORWARD TO FORUM ........
With Many Thanks
Larry Vincent
 
Non-ferrousand non precious metal mokume' is not a huge problem to make ,but there is a bit of a learning curve. The books recommended are excellent places to start.

I will say that it will take proper equipment to make mokume'. The old mokume' equivalent of a one brick forge, is a 50/50 bet at best.

Start with Brass/ copper/ nickel. Silver /copper/brass is trickier.
Stacy
 
Mokume 101

Ok there are 2 things that really matter when making mokume.
#1 everything has to be clean, and I mean very clean.
#2 temperature is everything, break this rule and either you won't laminate, or you will wind up with a puddle.

This method will work with a kiln or with a forge, there will be a small difference that I will describe when it comes up.
You need to decide on a billet size but for the purposes of this discussion we will be working with a billet of 1" x 1" x 6"long
You will need 2 plates of 1/2" thick steel with 6 matching 3/8" holes drilled along the edge, these 2 plates will be bolted together
with 6 5/16" bolts with the sheets for your mokume in between.

#1 cut your sheets and clean them
You can do this with acid(I use nitric) or by mechanical means(ie. sanding clean)
stack your layers in whatever order you find pleasing.
#2 coat the insides of the plates with whiteout and let dry.
#3 Place the layers between the plates and bolt down with the bolts; a torque wrench is valuable here, you need at least 75 lbs of pressure
#4 if you are useing a kiln then place billet in a foil bag with a bit of paper and seal and set kiln to 1500F and cook for 12 hours
#5 if you are using a forge then place the billet in the forge and cook for about 10 min; you will want to cook it until
you see small beads forming on the sides of the billet
#6 pull the billet out and remove the billet from the plates
You now have a billet of mokume
For forging the billet down heat to a dull red and forge to your pleasure


Hope this helps,
Thanks,
Del
 
Larry,

You didn't state what type of equipment you have access to. The easiest way to get started is with hard silver solder ,you can have a billet put together in less than 30 minutes .Then move on to pattern developement and billet reduction.
 
#2 coat the insides with whiteout and let dry.

Insides of what?

Does the whiteout act as a releasing agent on the steel plates?
 
My question also is it the sides of the stack or between each layer and if I do the 1500 for 12 hours is that good for copper/brass or silver/copper or nickel silver/copper


Thanks for the help Jim
 
He meant - " Coat the insides of the torque plates with White-Out."
It is a release agent so the mokume' doesn't stick to the steel plates. I use yellow ocher.
Nothing....repeat NOTHING, should touch the surfaces that you are fusing.
Stacy
 
Yes the whiteout is used on the insides of the plates, it acts as a release agent, and is more readily available than yellow ochre. You should not coat the sides of the billet with whiteout.

Jim, 1500f works for ns/copper/brass
You can go a little higher if the mix is ns/copper
for copper/silver(either fine silver or sterling) the fusing temp is 1390f

Shakudo,
I do a lot of reduction with my mokume and have found that billets that are soldered rather than fused have serious problems with delamination. I think that the zinc in the solder is what is causing the problem and that is also why silver/brass combinations should be avoided.
Thanks,
Del
 
I find soldered billets to have simuliar properties of fused billets and have had no problems with soldered billets. The amount of zinc in good silver solder is negliable and not an issue. As with any process, experience and knowledge of the materials you are working with matters.The only billets i have had problems with have been bad metal from refiners and not the way the billets were processed.
 
got it thanks a lot Delbert. I checked out your sight and your rings a simply amazing/ Tou have to know what your doing
 
.....thanks to all for your immediate help.... i do have a electric kiln, and also a forge to my access ... it will be my first experience of this nature, again ''''THANK YOU FOR YOUR IMMEDIATE RESPONSES TO ME... oh yessssssssssss ...please stay tuned for future developments, hopefully i have a house when im finished
Larry... re....Larry Vincent
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top