Thickest 15N20 stock?

Joined
Nov 20, 2001
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All,

What is the thickest 15N20 stock you know of? (Available in the US)

Thanks,

JD
 
I dont know what the thickest is. There is a guy out there named Kelly who would know, he also has the best prices I have seen. I have his email addy at home. I will post it (well probably email it to you) when I get home if nobody else does. He goes by the nick Octihunter on PT.

I am just nosey, but why do you want it thick? Are you going to do damascus with it? I use 0.065 thick 15N20 and 0.065 thick 1095 in mine. My initial billet starts with 17 layers. I usually triple for restack, so I can get to 153 layers in two "folds."
 
Thanks. Yeah, it's for damascus. I don't like the way the thin stock heats up, plus it takes too much time cutting the bands & stacking them.
 
I'll race ya! :D

What thickness stock do you usually start with and how many pieces?

Do you have a press or power hammer?

I only "wire tie" my pieces together and have not had any problems with using 1/16 stock. Heck, I even got 167 layers of 0.003 shim stock to weld together without much trouble. ;) The thin layers will tend to bow in the middle every now and then, but I just tap them back into place while they are at an orange heat before I try to get the weld to set on that section.
 
Hey Joss-

The stuff I have here from Kelly is 0.070", but I think he sells it in 0.100" too. Of course if I want more silver in the final billet I stack the 15N20 to make it thicker in proportion than the 1084.

I didn't realize that you disliked the thin stock. Buying it from Kelly it's sheared into whatever size a guy orders.

I don't understand what you mean by "cutting the bands" Do you mean when you had to cut the individual pieces out of that sheet you had? I wouldn't care for that either. But buying it from Kelly in pre-cut sizes is the best and easiest way to go in my opinion. Starting with thicker stock will only mean more folding...and if there's a lot of scale more grinding.

I've read posts where people dislike thin stock. But I have never had a problem in a billet because of the stock being thin. Especially running a weld along the stack before forge welding.

Nick
 
Nick,

I think there would be less decarb if the stock was thisker. With thin stock, the ratio surface / volume si so much higher that there has to be more decarb. I also dislike having to cut the material. I'll contact Kelly - if he sells "bands", that's ideal.

JD
 
I have some 1/16" thick 15n20 stock that is 6"x36" that has been sitting in my garage for nearly two years simply because I haven't come up with the most economical method of cutting it up!
 
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