I was inspired by Tai's Bottle Cap Damascus, and thought I would try making Mokume in my Goddard one brick forge. I was planning on using Canadian Pennys 1 cent piece (copper) and Nickels 5 cent piece(nickel), but it turned out our nickels aren't nickel. Five minutes of Google and I found out Canadian Dimes (10 cent piece) are pure nickel.
So I hand drilled a hole in the approximate center of each, and I soaked the pennys over night in white vinegar. Cleaned and dried in paper towel and then I alternately stacked them on some copper house wire. 8 dimes and 8 pennies. After tying the copper wire tightly to hold the money together I put them in my one brick forge using mapp gas for heat.
After they appeared to be shimmering, I took the billet out and lightly tapped the top. I then let the piece cool to the touch. It appeared to be solid, so I filed around the edge to see the layering. It looked cool, and it stayed together!
I then put it back in the forge, and heated it till glowing again and forged it into a disk about an inch and a half in diameter and about 3/16 of an inch thick.
I have filed the outside, and hacksawed it in half and it seems to be quite solid. The layers are thin, but they are still visible. I am quite happy with the way it worked out and will be using the mokume for bolsters on my KITH knife.
Unfortunately, I don't have a digital camera for pictures, but i just wanted to let you all know that simple Mokume is easy and within your grasp.
