- Joined
- Jan 9, 2011
- Messages
- 16,030
I decided it would be good to cast my own alloys and use them for the knives... mainly fittings, guards and menukis. I decided to try a Menuki to make it interesting. So here's what I did...
I have been fascinated by Shibuichi for a long time, it is an alloy of Silver and Copper and best known for the wide range of deep patinas it can produce. The Shibuichi can patina to black, red, silver, gold, purple and more. It is difficult to make and extremely expensive to purchase but it is all worth it in the outcome!
I located some sandstone (it is everywhere on my property) and lapped two pieces flat by rubbing them together. I was surprised how effective this was... it took a while but I was happy seeing the results!
I carved a rough mold in one piece. I also carved a second old that I think came out much better after getting a feel for the sandstone, I decided to keep it for my next attempt as I had no idea what was going to happen.
Th pour! I heated some scrap silver and copper after some calculations to determine my alloy content and cranked the torch! I used a medium soldering tip so the melting was all about the firebrick I set up. It is very tricky to get up to the high temp required without overcooking everything. When the metals got to a melting point it was hard to control my enthusiasm... there is something cool about liquid molten metal!
I did the pour and got a bit of a volcano effect which was beyond frightening... I think my vents were not carved deep enough! I did a partial pour because of this and got a hole in the casting. I consider this a full success though and can not wait for the next pour!
The alloy itself is almost indescribable.... gold, silver, rich pink coppers, dark golden bronzes, cherry red, brown... so much in the raw casting! I spent a couple minutes polishing the high parts and see great potential.
casting setup! firebrick, soldering torch, crucible, borax was used for flux but is out of the pic...
Raw casting and sandstone molds I carved.
dirty.... quickly polished with fire scale still on
top of the sprue... lots of texture and I like the color
raw casting
I have been fascinated by Shibuichi for a long time, it is an alloy of Silver and Copper and best known for the wide range of deep patinas it can produce. The Shibuichi can patina to black, red, silver, gold, purple and more. It is difficult to make and extremely expensive to purchase but it is all worth it in the outcome!
I located some sandstone (it is everywhere on my property) and lapped two pieces flat by rubbing them together. I was surprised how effective this was... it took a while but I was happy seeing the results!
I carved a rough mold in one piece. I also carved a second old that I think came out much better after getting a feel for the sandstone, I decided to keep it for my next attempt as I had no idea what was going to happen.
Th pour! I heated some scrap silver and copper after some calculations to determine my alloy content and cranked the torch! I used a medium soldering tip so the melting was all about the firebrick I set up. It is very tricky to get up to the high temp required without overcooking everything. When the metals got to a melting point it was hard to control my enthusiasm... there is something cool about liquid molten metal!
I did the pour and got a bit of a volcano effect which was beyond frightening... I think my vents were not carved deep enough! I did a partial pour because of this and got a hole in the casting. I consider this a full success though and can not wait for the next pour!
The alloy itself is almost indescribable.... gold, silver, rich pink coppers, dark golden bronzes, cherry red, brown... so much in the raw casting! I spent a couple minutes polishing the high parts and see great potential.
casting setup! firebrick, soldering torch, crucible, borax was used for flux but is out of the pic...
Raw casting and sandstone molds I carved.
dirty.... quickly polished with fire scale still on
top of the sprue... lots of texture and I like the color
raw casting