Weekend before last I was out at Tharwa Valley Forge where I made mokume gane for the first and second time. The intention with these batches was to make rings and other small jewelry pieces, but the material could easily be used to make knife scales or other decorative bits for the sharpy-sharps. There might be an application for a bow somewhere. Maybe a thumb ring, or very delicate tip overlays (to save weight). Can anyone think of a use?
We made two billets. One of nickel-silver and copper, and one with nickel-silver, brass and copper.
Oh, for those that don't know, mokume gane is Japanese and roughly translates to 'wood eye metal' and is a bit like damascus steel made with non-ferrous metals. It was originally made and used in Japanese sword fittings.
The raw materials:
Cut, cleaned, stacked and ready to go:
Test the fit:
Roasty-toasty:
Done:
The pattern is a little indistinct in these pictures, but I've found that this can be quite difficult to photograph...especially with a phone camera in poor lighting!
I'd suggest that for some better images of highly polished mokume gane, try your local favorite search engine. I'll post better pics when I get a chance.
The very first billet ended up being quite a bit smaller than intended owing to half the copper melting out of one side in the forge. It was a case of "Hmm, not ready quite yet. I'll look over here for a minu-TOO LATE!!", so we lost a lot of material. Making mokume gane is a lot more temperature-critical process than damascus steel.
The second one was much better. Enough for 10 rings plus a few pendants etc. OR, heaps of bolsters, butt plates or other knife furniture. I think that the next billet I make will be intended for such purposes, which will be for sale. If you can think of a utility for some, I'd welcome the suggestions.
Dave
