Nickel sheet in san-mai help

R

running bird

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Sep 29, 2015
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I wanted to work on practicing making some san-mai with a layer of nickel sheet and was wondering how the nickel sheet works? the construction I was thinking of using was 1018/nickel/1075/nickel/1018. I would be using 1/4" x 1.5" 1075, and 3/16" x 1.5" 1018, and 1mm pure nickel. Also my 1075 is low Mn from Aldo.

I've made lots of nickel/copper mokume-gane so I'm used to welding nickel to copper, but I've never welded it to steel. Is forge welding with nickel sheet as a spacer easier or harder than just mild steel to carbon steel?

I've forge welded a lot of mild steel to mild steel before and I'm assuming that 1018 to 1075 wont be that much different from what I'm used to. Am I correct in thinking this?

I also do not have a welder to preform tack welds on the billet. Would it be OK using just wire to hold the billet together if I'm using the nickel sheet? or does the nickel require being welded prior to forge welding?

If wire does not work well with the nickel sheet could I also just use one of my Mokume-gane rigs to hold the billet together during the forge weld? The billet would only be around 3.5"-4", but with the thickness of the billet would this be good enough for a small knife?
My mokume-gane rigs are made from 1/4" 1018, could I just make a one-use rig using the top and bottom as the outer layers of the san-mai?

Any help is appreciated.

thank you,
Kevin
 
Yea, Nickel is pretty easy to weld to steel, and you should be fine without a welder, just make sure the layers are clean and oil free to help prevent any crud from getting trapped in there. I'm sure it's not as picky with regard to cleanliness compared to making mokume as I've never made it myself, but it can't hurt. I'd just say treat it like you're forge welding normal damascus (1084-15n20) or san mai.

FWIW, wrought iron makes a pretty cool jacket material with a layer of nickel. Here is one I forged probably 5 years ago with wrought iron/201 nickel/1084:



ETA: Keep in mind that mild steel requires higher temps to forge weld than carbon steel.

~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (It's been a few years since my last upload)
 
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Thanks Paul, I’ve never done this before so it helps a lot.

I do have quite a bit of wrought iron laying around. Some really nasty and some relatively clean. I’m mostly doing this billet as practice because I want to try doing some San mai with wrought iron and hitachi white #2. I still need more practice with those materials though.
 
No problem, running bird.

Very neat looking pattern, kuraki. When I get out forging again I'm gonna have to try my hand at some suminigashi type san mai using some nickel. I'll have to pick up some thin 1018 shim stock to layer the nickel with for the jacket material.

~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (It's been a few years since my last upload)
 
Many makers use .040" (1mm) nickel between layers of damascus, or between san-mai sheets. In san-mai, it almost looks like a hamon.
 
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