Nickel for Damascus

TekSec

TekSec

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Went by a local salvage yard today and asked the usual, any brass, copper or nickel silver bar, sheet, block. The guy says no nickel silver, but I have this box of nickel piping. Okay, so not being a metallurgist like a few of the folks around here, my question is can you use high nickel content (copper-gold in color) scrap for damascus? Just curious more than anything...
 
Nickel silver has a relitively low nickel content(I can't remember the % its too early for me) and is white. Nickel is a bleaching agent when used with colored metals. If it has any color other than white then it definenatly won't be suitible for any damascus. It will melt before the steel gets to welding temps.
Thanks,
Del
 
" nickel piping" this would not be nickel silver but any one of a number of different Cu/Ni alloys.If it's copper/gold in color it's probably mostly Cu and melt at lower than steel forging temperatures.
 
There is a huge number of nickel alloys used in piping systems. I supect from the color you discribe that you are looking at a copper nickel alloy as Mete says. Be good for decoration and not blades in any way and the copper even in low percentages would mess up any forge welding. I have some 4" pipe that came from an acid unit of a refinery that is 99.7 percent pure nickel. It is more of a dull silver color untill buffed.
 
Everyone,

Cool, that's along the lines that I was thinking. I was actually wondering for blade steel itself but as mokume type for fittings, too. Either way it was more of a curiosity, god knows I'm far from forging, let alone doing damascus!
 
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