www.centercross.com/shop/damascustutorial.htm (http://www.centercross.com/shop/damascustutorial.htm)

Gene,

Great Tutorial!!!! Sure wish that I had a forge......

Oh well, we all have to have something to aspire to....

Thanks,

Bob Sigmon

Gene,Great tutorial.I have a couple of questions.What size and type of cable do you use and what kind of pot is used for heating the brass?Dave

I've got questions too. With the cable damascus I've done, after all the twisting, welding and forging into a billet, I had a solid mass. There wasn't anything there to suck up any brass. Can you expand on that part a little bit?

Great job as always. I have the same questions as Terry. How do you suck brass into a solid mass? Also, is there a special grade of brass to use?

Gene,
Will you ever be offering any for sale?
Tom

Good morning guys,
What a response.
Dave,most any steel cable will work. The 1080 series blues the best.DO NOT USE GALVENIZED-ANYTHING!
(I use 1" 1081 cable from Bethleham steel)
Terry,Don't go to welding temperatures, just forge(shape) the cable tight.Keep it a dull orange and stay away from the yellow heat untill dip. This will give you a good grain to fill up with the brass.Cool the heat down, you just want to move the metal, not make it stick.
Bob,It doesn't matter what kind of brass you start with, it melts down to about80% copper and 20% zink.Most brass starts off at about 30% zink and 70 % copper.Some of the zink is lost during the melting phase and becomes fairly stable at 80% and liquid.
Tom, YES. I do want to offer it to other makers. The biggest problem is that it has to be shaped fairly close before dipping.
I would have to know ahead of time if you wanted it for bolsters or for guards so I can get the best grains to come out for you.I would then send you the parts ready for machining, ect...I split the billet for bolsters here.
Anyone interested, please contact me at my Center Cross address.
Have fun. Work safe. Be blessed.

Okay, I may have the idea now. At first I was thinking, "But what holds the strands together if there's no welding"? Is it that they are more or less brazed together from the brass/bronze dip?

Nice job on the tutorial Gene, but I have a question or ten or so. I follow you well up to the point of step 6. Now is the billet completely welded up by just twisting at this point or ? I would presume that it is not and that you suck brass up into the mass and then the final weld is done under the press or w/ hammer and anvil. Or does the final weld leave the outline of the outside wires showing? Would you define "fat" for me? What are you melting your brass in? A pot made of pipe or some sort of crucible container.

Got a lot of questions don't I (grin).

Plain ol Bill

Terry, You got it.
The brass fills the voids and becomes the bonding agent.
Without the voids between the wires, there would be nothing to fill. You can call it a loose twist. The billet has a tendency to twist slightly, that is the other reason to gently press it once it is coated. If you press is too much, it falls apart. :)
There is NO final weld- It is a braze.
The real trick is to not get empty voids in the final product.
It must be filled completely before grinding.
Grind it like brass, not steel.
The melting pot is 316 s/s tubing with the bottom welded up.
The top is flared, and it sets inside a brake rotor atop my forge.(brake rotors are cast, not steel) The flame never touches the metal. The brass melts from the edges in.

You can melt the brass in with a torch but it causes A LOT OF FUMES that are dangerous.

Sorry, The outside wires of the cable wiil be what is seen on the surface of the part, mixed with brass lines.

Hope that got 'em all for now. :)

That'skinda what I was thinking Geno, but you cleared up my questions. Will get around to giving this a try one of these days real soon now (yeah right). Appreciate the help, and I seem to need more than most. I'm presuming you are using a coal forge to do this, right or am I missing something again?

Propane, for both the cable and the brass. It takes two going at once. :)

Gene: Another outstanding job. Do you have a picture of your melting pot.thanks muddy

I don't have pics yet of my stand up forge that melts the brass.
It is a double burner stand up model that has a Lincoln front disc brake rotor on the top. The rotor has been modified to accept my melting pots. Pots are 3" S/S tubes that have been capped on one end and flaired on the other.They have lifting lugs spot welded on so I can pull out the liquid brass, and put in the pot of silver for silver stripes, ect...(still experimental)
I have a new model I'm waiting to fire up. I want to do some concrete work first to move the hot work outside. The new stand up will also help me with my mosaics that are coming up.

Gene, have you tried silver or copper?

If he starts melting my good silver... :mad:

:)

WHOOPS !! Sorry Pat :eek:

Women can be so silly. You melt down one silver cake server, just one mind you, and they get all bent out of shape. :lol:

Copper works fine. The silver is a little thin, it works, but not as easy. Because of the low melting temperature of silver, it falls out easily. You can H/T the brass stuff, but not using silver.
Silver stripes are best from twisting nickel into the billet.
The pure nickel part will gold plate well, too.

Thanks Gene. Does this mean Pat's silver is safe? :lol:

Nothing is safe around here.
If it is not IN use, it is extra, right? :)

And nothing is "IN USE" all the time.

I'm calling all your wives... :)

The danger with brass is the zinc fumes - any reason why we couldn't use bronze (copper + tin), or even pure copper to prevent the zinc fumes and for a similar effect?

Thanks,

JD

I havn't tried pure copper yet, nor tin products.
I'm sure the copper would work, if you got it hot enough.