# Custom forged this...



## gollum (Jun 10, 2012)

Its not a knife but it is forged 
using Brass Copper and Nickel silver

this Skull sculpture was made from a massive billet 
a 1.5" round bar and is a custom order 

I would think one of the biggest chunks of Mokume around

anyway...pics really don't reveal the colours and texture like having this in your hand ...
it weighs in at 352grams and its over 2 1/2" tall

















thanks for looking

comments are welcome


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## bushidomosquito (Jun 11, 2012)

Damn, that's a massive chunk of mokume! I've made a few pieces but nothing that size. What's your setup for bonding the layers?


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## Norm (Jun 11, 2012)

I love the way you've used the grain. 

Norm


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## Obijuan Kenobe (Jun 11, 2012)

There must be a way to make this your dayjob.

Fantastic piece. 

obi


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## gollum (Jun 11, 2012)

thankyou guys....
Obi, I wish I could be a fulltime maker .. there is no way I could live from the income generated 
I have always spent lots of time and energy making things because I love to be creative in the workshop
I think the next step to making this a living is when certain elements gets lost
I am only posting my wares here at CPF and I get plenty of work from that
Bushido send me an email if you like 
Norm if you ever have a get together in Brissy I will bring it
cheers Jason


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## Chauncey Gardiner (Jun 13, 2012)

_ Posting pictures of the process would be very enlightening and most appreciated. The skull definitely deserves a post in the Show off your copper thread. _:thumbsup:
_
~ Chance
_


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## gollum (Jun 14, 2012)

Thanks Chance
unfortunately I am never thinking about taking pics when I am making


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## biglights (Jun 16, 2012)

WOW, that is awesome!! Must be very time consuming.


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## gollum (Jun 17, 2012)

thanks 
yes mokume is a labour of love for sure


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## Espionage Studio (Jun 28, 2012)

That is badass for sure. What a work of art, bravo!


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## gollum (Jul 1, 2012)

thanks EspionageStudio


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## smarkum (Jul 8, 2012)

absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Just beautiful!


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## gollum (Jul 8, 2012)

cheers smarkum


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## gollum (Jul 8, 2012)

Made a new skull 
large and beautiful mokume
it has 2 tapped holes in the back for attaching to something
I was thinking custom bike or hot rod 
but anything goes































last pic for size reference
thats an A3 eos Ti light from my keychain
needless to say this is a BIG piece of mokume 
1 1/2" 38mm round and a good 3/4" 20mm thick
pics are a poor representation of this item,to hold it in the sunlight takes the breath away
and then the texture .... the ridges are created by etching in ferric chloride
the copper,brass and nickel silver etch at a different rate creating the texture 
which is revealed after a light polish


thanks for looking
Jason


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## ToyTank (Jul 31, 2012)

I have seen some of your work in previous threads I think mostly daggers and skulls 

The Skull in the OP is on another level. As Norm said it is a brilliant use of the "natural grain" in your medium. 

I'm assuming you must have seen the finished product in the billet you started with for it to be so perfect. 

Again well done!


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## Launch Mini (Jul 31, 2012)

I'm lucky enough to have a couple of your smaller pieces but these you've just posted are amazing.


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## gollum (Jul 31, 2012)

Hi Launch Mini...
cheers mate :twothumbs

Cheers also to ToyTank... very kind words and appreciated ,
I draw the design on there to see how proportions and alignment of grain is going to work out ....
I always do that quite a few times but then you have to take a breath and start shaping filing & carving the detail in

mokume is a magical thing that always seems to end up looking beautiful anyway
but something that I always say.... photos don't do them justice
the deep texture and colours don't show with a 2 dimensional pic

I was talking to others here at CPF about interference colours and the effect of sunlight etc
because the texture is so deep aswell it all lights up when its in your hand ,and the feel of it too is something else

a good piece of damascus or mokume when given a nice deep texture 
can be sharp and bitey or polished slightly to make a silky but strange alive feel to it sort of like a snake moving across you fingertips 
as the lines of you fingerprints align with or jump over the micro ridges in the piece

it is something that can seduce you and obsess you (oops long winded dribble 'off' ...)

thanks for looking everyone your kind words are appreciated always Jason


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## gollum (Nov 21, 2012)

just thought I would bump this up
in post #14 above ... this is available for sale 
I really don't have much time to be on the computer but ...
anyone wanting a truly unique and beautiful mokume skull here it is
as anyone knows,skulls have always had a cool factor that can't be beat
well this is one skull that goes to the top of my list as cool
I'm asking $500 shipped worldwide
insurance is $32.50 extra

my paypal is [email protected] 

I also have a thread at the mktplace in wts misc
get a discount for additional purchases 
thanks for looking


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## SemiMan (Jan 31, 2013)

Had to google Mokume .... learn something new and interesting every day! Beautiful work, I can only imagine the effort to do this. Craftsman are becoming rarer and rarer.

Cheers!


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## gollum (Feb 1, 2013)

Thanks SemiMan
If I ever win the Lottery I would make mokume using gold silver and platinum

there are artists out there who make jewellery using precious metals
James Binion is one, I spoke to him about a billet he made...
it was a 1cm cube of gold and palladium and came in at $20,000
he makes the most exquisite rings


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## Johnbeck180 (Feb 7, 2013)

Your mokume is great. I am a cofessed flashaholic, but I am also a knife maker. I make damascus knifes out of two or three different kinds of carbon steel and knives made out of high carbon steel. You should check out bladeforums. Some of the bladesmiths might like you stuff. 

Here is a pic of two of my knives. The one on the left is damascus witch is taking different steels and forge welding them together, like mokume. The orange Handled one is just hi carbon steel I think it's 5160 steel.


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## bstrickler (Feb 7, 2013)

I think a mokume gane bullet would be a neat thing, excellent for a display case like this:

http://cdn2.armslist.com/sites/arms...62437_01_wwii_commemorative_colt_1911_640.jpg

If I won the lottery, I would totally have you make some for me (gotta say, that would be a beautiful show piece).


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## gollum (Feb 9, 2013)

thanks bstrickler,well I hope you at least buy a ticket and good luck

Johnbeck...

you got some nice damascus there and a nice style 
I am registered at blade forums (also as gollum)
however i simply don't get time to surf the net and being a cpf fan suits me as I can check all the related edc
I own quite a few lights and love to see whats new

I have also made my own damascus
I have pics here and there in this section of cpf

I've recently made a few mosaic billets and also buy stainless damascus

here is some of my work 
































































































thanks for looking

maybe I should post a thread there
havent logged in for a few years
cheers Jason


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## Johnbeck180 (Feb 9, 2013)

gollum said:


> thanks bstrickler,well I hope you at least buy a ticket and good luck
> 
> Johnbeck...
> 
> ...



Man those are nice!! 
I've only been forging for about a year. Since its to cold outside I'm doing stock removal on some A2 and 52100. My wife's cousins husband is an engineer. I was talking to him the other day, and to my enjoyment he said he could do the heat treat on the A2. I've had the A2 bar stock laying around for about 8 months, didn't have a way to heat treat it so I want going to waist my time. I could do the heat treat on the 52100 in my forge and I think it would be fine. I too am a member of blade forums under the same name I have here. I'm usually on both forums every couple of days but probably CPF more for I have a HDS on order. Been waiting 278 days!












here are a couple more I've made along with a damascus ring for the wife and another damascus knife. Your work is great!! Happy forging.


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## gollum (Feb 9, 2013)

ok A2 is air hardening
heat treat by bringing it to critical temp (goes non-magnetic) in your forge
then simply let it air cool
you can check hardness with a file (should slide off any area not bite in)
tempering is a try it and see,type of thing 
begin at 300f soak for 1 hour. (can go up to 800f) to temper back to required hardness.
52100.... one of the best steels to use for blade stock
it is very highly refined
this can mean trouble
it can red-short easily
you will notice it is hard to move under the hammer 

there is a way too see the correct colour when forging
its a bit long winded,
but something like this....

heat to cherry red
watch it change colour back to dark red
you will notice it goes from cherry red to dark red and then brighten back to red after darkening
this is very significant
it is the transformation/migration of the carbon creating the carbide structure for making (hard) dendritic steel
so don't try to get it hotter (when it moves better) this will cause red shorts (thats big ugly destructive splits in your work)
if you get red shorts...throw it away and remember the lesson well.

anyhow its something like that 
research forging techniques and critical temps
get a pyrometer for you forge
although the old magnet test is a great way to test critical temp
(soak billet to good cherry red)test it for magnetism
it will be magnetic until critical temp is achieved
then when you are there it needs to soak for a few minutes
then you can quench it 
use peanut oil or at least veg oil
it is far superior than motor oil
no nasty chemicals in veg oil
if you can get the veg oil to about 70celcius to thin it out for better quenching,your mate should be able to confirm this,industrial heat treat shops have big oil baths that have heaters in them to get to correct temp.


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## Johnbeck180 (Feb 9, 2013)

I would do that but, With A2 it's quite a bit harder than what you think. First it needs to be protected from decarburization and oxidation. You need to wrap the A2 in SS foil, or put it in a negative atmospheric furnace. Look here http://www.bucorp.com/files/aisi_a2.pdf
The process your talking about is the process used for pretty much all 10xx series steel, Ie, 1075, 1080, 1084, 1095. I would never do this process on A2 you would loose way to many points of carbon to make a good knife.


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## gollum (Feb 10, 2013)

I have not used A2 for ages but I think you should try it without ss wrap and see how you go.
depending on your type of forge (I use coal furnace cave type and gas venturi firebox style,
both these are oxygen free) whereas brazier type is no good
your forge is oxygen free in the centre and lower area where the blade should be placed for a soak

I have achieved great results in the past,although it was about 20 years since I used A2


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## Johnbeck180 (Feb 10, 2013)

gollum said:


> I have not used A2 for ages but I think you should try it without ss wrap and see how you go.
> depending on your type of forge (I use coal furnace cave type and gas venturi firebox style,
> both these are oxygen free) whereas brazier type is no good
> your forge is oxygen free in the centre and lower area where the blade should be placed for a soak
> ...



I think I'll try it thanks for the info. There are two things I've learned in the last year, and they were learned very quickly. One is Every one has there own way of doing things and there own recipes for a quench and two, blacksmiths and bladesmiths are some of the nicest folks I've talked to. Thanks for the advice, Ill try it in the forge. Thanks:0)


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## gollum (Feb 10, 2013)

thats right
some of the best lessons learned are the ones done by trial and error

a lot of info especially metallurgy is relevent to engineering etc

bladesmithing is different
just the fact that that most blades are very thin and very specialised means different results will happen
one of the best things you can do is lots of trial and error and work with other knifemakers in their shop

good luck and be sure to post some pics 
Jason


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## Johnbeck180 (Feb 10, 2013)

gollum said:


> thats right
> some of the best lessons learned are the ones done by trial and error
> 
> a lot of info especially metallurgy is relevent to engineering etc
> ...



I was actually just in Half Price books today looking for metallurgy books. I also looked for engineering book. They didn't have any :0( 
Do you have any suggestions on a good metallurgy book? I did a search on the net, man!!! Some of the ones I found are $100-$200+. You know any "cheaper" books on metallurgy? 

Thanks, John Beck. 

By the way I saw your stamp on your knives, is your initials JB also? And when do you stamp that in? Is It when its annealed so you can still normalize before hardening?


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## gollum (Feb 11, 2013)

ok books 
they can be very useful and i have borrowed a few
but I learned more working with knifemakers and blacksmiths

one of the best things to do is go to a hammer-in and just soak up as much info as you can
as you are in the US you'll have no trouble getting to one close by
any master smith will guide you towards more than enough info to keep you busy

a good hammer in should have photo copied notes on all activities

on my stamp... yes my logo is my initials on each side of a knife,its also registered with a knife makers guild






and yes i stamp when I'm at the 600 grit finishing stage before hardening
that allows some easy rubbing to remove swelling 
then maybe a touch of 1200 grit and checking for stress relieving 
before normalizing and H/T


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## Johnbeck180 (Feb 12, 2013)

Thanks for the info! 

BTW, you having trouble getting on bladeforums? I am.


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## gollum (Feb 12, 2013)

no I got on there ok...(forgot my password as I had joined years ago)
I did a long thread with pics about my knives etc...
some members started inquiring if they were for sale etc
so i replied and mentioned a price
which was not allowed in the discussion part of the forum,(fair enough).
however if you want to sell there you have to be a paid subscriber and pay fees etc

so I will not bother selling there
I'm sure its a great forum but my computer time is limited
I just think its better to be in the workshop than at the keyboard :thinking:


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## nzlux (Feb 21, 2013)

the lines on the skull almost look like rifling left on a bullet once its been shot, very cool


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