mokume?

[Brett Holmes]

hey guys.
i been thinking about mokume lately and i had a bit of an idea i thought i would toss by you guys. many of you have robably read the tutorial by aerial(spelling?) about his mokume he makes with 1075/copper/1010. I was wondering how it would go if i alternated layers of scrap copper pipe(cut and flattened) with some scrap steel sheet(whatever i find around) then wrap wire around to hold together, place in charcoal forge till pretty hot, Flux, then hammer. it wouldn't get near damascus forge welding teps but would it work so long as the copper was hot enough to stick to the steel?

brett

[Brett Holmes]

no one has any thoughts on this?
brett

[Ray Rogers]

There are just sooooooo many possibilities where that can go wrong that I think people are afraid to hazard a guess because no matter what they say it's likely to be wrong at least some of the time. For instance:

charcoal forge: you might manage a bond between the metals if the metals stay clean long enough. That can be done in a charcoal forge but it's terrible easy to screw it up.

Flux? What flux? Anhydrous ammonia that works very well for steel probably isn't the right thing at all for copper. But, I can't say that with certainty - and apparently most others won't either - because we have never tried it or even read about anyone who did. so, you try it and let us know but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for success.

Mokume making is not a welding process exactly, it's more of a fusion and requires very precise temperature control. That's real mokume I'm talking about. What Ariel is doing isn't mokume but it is a nice, clever substitute. In his case, he avoids the precise temperature control by simply melting one metal and letting it flow around the other. However, if you get anywhere near that kind of temperature and then hit it with a hammer.......well, let's just say I hope you don't get hit by any of the flying blobs of molten metal.

Bottom line: I don't know and it seems no one else who looked at this thread does either. But, your odds of success doing it exactly the way you described don't look good to me.....