Pure iron for mokume

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hello orchidians

I am a longtime lurker first time poster. I am employed as a jeweler
and currently I am taking a damascus knife forging class. I have
also made mokume gane in the past using the kiln/foil/torque plate
method.

I would like to find a source of pure iron to try in some of my
laminates so that i can potentially try raising some vessels with
the resulting materials and also for jewelry. I have made some
jewelry from some of the damascus steel from class but we are using
tool steels so of course its a real fight to do anything other than
machine or hot forge.

I have found the Wagner company which carries pure iron but only in
bar form. Does anybody know of a source for sheet or strip about
1/8" thick? I could potentially have the bar rolled down (my teacher
has a hot rolling mill at his own shop) but it seems like a lot to
ask.

Does anybody have experienc with pure iron alone or in
damascus/mokume whatever you prefer to call it?

Can I roll it down cold (Yes i know to keep it away from the rolling
mill at work)from 1/8" to thinner gauge for doing mokume gane?

What metals could it be potentially bonded with? I have nickel 200
which is supposedly pure nickel-obviously not good for jewelry but
for raising?. I also have some stainless steel 304 and 316. Would
mild steel give a color, or etching difference?

What about bonding pue iron to precious metals including palladium
95?

I am also concerned about electrolytic situations. I would know to
avoid copper and silver laminates for rings anyway but wouldn’t
solders because of the zinc and other alloys be a problem too? Given
this what would be the best solders to use on any kind of steel
jewelry, to fabricate with or to solder on gold bezels etc. Do
stainless steels have the same issues as regular steels in reguards
to electrolytic conditions?

I have the books on mokume and also Brepohl but most of the research
I do just raises more questions so anyone with practical experience
that can give some input would be greatly appreciated and will help
make a project successful for me. thank you.

Respectfully,
Celeste

2

All I can say is I was chatting with a blacksmith a while ago and he
was lamenting the lack of sources for pure iron, the fact you have
one source (judging by the tone of the single conversation) would
seem to be a pretty good start. It’s all pretty extrapolated and not
very useful but since I saw no other responses I thought I’d throw
something out into the void.

Best of luck, mokume and pattern welding are things I am deeply fond
of, certainly on the ‘one of these days’ lists of things to do.

Norah Kerr
www.besmithian.com

3

There still is a source for pure iron sheet but it is in the UK.
getting it in really small quantities my b a nuisance but ask at:

There are some industrial uses for very low carbon steels today but
finding small quantities may also be difficult. Enameling iron is one
use but unless you can find a scrap source it will be difficult to
find in small quantities. Thompson enamel has some but I don’t know
any specifications. They are near the US mill that made it though. I
have found it stocked in Chicago once but not in playing quantities.

jesse