Mokume Experts…
I don’t have a rolling mill that can accompany very large square
wire… i.e. 11mmx11mm
My question: After the initial forging…Is it ok to rotate your
forging between the vertical side of the billette as well as
horizontal? By rotating I could reduce and maintain the square wire.
Would this cause Splitting?
Thank you
Jeremy
It might split, or it might not. I have forged perpendicular to the
layering very often. Ithink it might seems like it is more prone to
splitting because if you have a bad bond you will see the split
instantly, where when you are forging parallel to the layers you
might not notice the splitting until later. For many years most of
my mokume was edge slices making parallel lines. This gives a lot of
yield since you do not waste very much material and it does not
takes as much time as woodgrain pattern development. But I have
experienced a lot of splitting doing this. It goes much better if
you forge as much as you can parallel to the layers before you start
to forge or roll perpendicular to the layers.
Stephen Walker
Hi Jeremy,
Is it ok to rotate your forging between the vertical side of the billette as well as horizontal? By rotating I could and maintain the square wire. Would this cause Splitting?
Sure you can forge this way - of course, the splitting depends on
the strength of your initial bond, and how hard you choose to forge
it. I routinely forge both sides with the flat and cross pein of the
hammer to draw stock out. Remember, take frequent breaks for
annealing, and smaller reductions than you might typically when
working other materials. May be helpful to think “baby steps”.
If it does split, well, better now than after you have a few more
hours of work into it and try to twist or pattern it some other way.
Then, go back and take a look at your notes, and modify your method
of bonding and initial reduction as necessary to prevent it in the
future.
Chris
Chris Ploof Studio