[TheForge] Copper inlay in steel

Mon Jun 3 08:59:01 2002

It's funny that this topic came up now.  I just finished testing this with 
brass last night.

I created a few curved chisels and chiseled a design onto the 
surface.  Then I heated piece enough to melt the flux (borax) in the 
grooves and laid in brass wire (about 16-18ga in my case).  Next I heated 
it till the brass flowed (bright orange).  I let it cool and filed off the 
excess brass and left over flux residue until the pattern was exposed and 
clean.  Worked GREAT!  I would imagine copper would work the same.

I'm planning on using this technique on a sword pommel and quillion (cross 
guard).  Although hammering into the groove is always how I've been told 
this is done, I was concerned with it coming back out.  So I decided and 
fuse it in place.

Daniel Crowther &
Sarah Ritchie-Crowther
Oak & Acorn
Valley Falls, NY
http://www.oakandacorn.com

At 12:51 AM 6/3/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>I had an idea to gouge a piece of steel (1/8" to 1/4") with a plasma cutter
>and either hammer in or melt in some copper wire. I tried it really quick
>today and it doesn't look like it is going to be easy.
>Has anyone tried it or heard of doing it?
>The melting process just produced blobs of copper. Is there some kind of
>prep after the gouging to clean or flux the grove?
>I also found it difficult to get a uniform grove. So I think that is why I
>had problems with the hammering approach. Maybe going over it with some type
>of gouge or rotary tool might even it out.
>Does anyone have any ideas.
>Thanks in advance
>Marc V. Davis III
>Marc of the Hammer
>Allen Park, Mi.
>[email protected]
>
>
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