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High-Performance Blades Sharing ideas for getting the most out of our steel.

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  #1  
Old 06-09-2009, 11:08 PM
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B.Finnigan B.Finnigan is offline
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Meteorite steel

After a few failures I was finally able to get a decent billet of Campo Del Cialo shavings and 1095 powder to weld.

Since the campo metallurgic assays show it to average 5.5-6% nickel I used a 2:1 ratio to dilute the nickel down to the 1.5%range. That is the amount of nickel in L6 and 15n20. Then I added 1% by weight of very finely ground charcoal to perc up the C content.



I used a chunk of 1" mild steel square tube to make the canister. It was folded up like a paper bag and welded. Then I welded a 2.5' handle of mild steel on.



It was heated up to bright yellow/white and then I gently thunked it down to reduce the thickness.





After 30 minutes and a few more gentle hammerings I got a nice homogeneous billet. A test grind and etch showed small silver specs of nickel with the darker etched steel surrounding it.



It shows a healthy C spark test and should forge out w/o too much grief. Most likely it will become a Celtic dagger with a Irish bog oak handle.

Last edited by B.Finnigan; 06-10-2009 at 06:11 PM.
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Old 06-10-2009, 05:13 AM
Wade Holloway Wade Holloway is offline
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Very cool Brent. I have always found the idea of doing something with a metorite very intriguing. I can't wait to see the finished product.
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Old 06-10-2009, 11:57 AM
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B.Finnigan B.Finnigan is offline
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I still am not sure how well it will forge. The campos have a high phosphorus content which will not help the steel integrity. Hopefully it was sufficiently diluted down by the 1095 content.

On my first attempt the nickel was too high and it crumbled within a few heat-hammer cycles.

Whether it turns out or not I will post results.

This is just a can weld but I thought I would post it here since it's been a bit slow for while.

We need to be melting more stuff and ruining a fair amount of steel. If I can do it anyone else can.
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Old 06-29-2009, 01:52 PM
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Gary Mulkey Gary Mulkey is offline
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Hi Brian,

Did you have your piece of "Campo" tested for nickel? I had always been told that it was 8-9% nickel which is what makes it so "red short" but never had any testing done. I'll be interested to see how this turns out for you.

[Maybe we can get Mark Nevling to chime in. He layered some with 1095 for a damascus billet for me.]

Gary
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Old 06-29-2009, 02:50 PM
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B.Finnigan B.Finnigan is offline
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I read a few university sites that said they were in 5.5-6% range. But who knows, I would assume a meteorite very likely could have different sections with different Ni content.

But since it was supposed to be 1.5% after I diluted it and it still cracked anything is possible.

Maybe the next run will be a 4:1 ratio. At least I can use the brittle forging bars for guard material or jewelry.
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