"Mokume Gane", translated from Japanese means "wood eye metal. Philip Jones, of the
Jones Brothers Custom Knives, recently taught this at
Montgomery Community College. His twin brother,Barry, came along to help. Phillip's self taught method of making this interesting and colorful metal is a terrific addition to the skills used in
knifemaking and is of course used in jewelry and other crafts. The ability to make
Mokume in my small shop was my main goal and with the brothers help I came away with that skill. We used
copper and
German silver as t
he metals for our ingots and learned everything from the proper preparation to carving and forging to bring out the grain. Preparation is everything! Without the proper prep, the layers will not fuse properly and will
delaminate during the forging process, rendering the billet useless. One of the first items we made was a small kiln from soft firebrick. These worked great, concentrating the heat generated by a small propane torch and allowing the ingot to get to forging temperature while reducing the amount of oxidation.
The traditional method of making
Mokume requires cleaning and the application of temperature and pressure. During the surface preparation, the oxides naturally occurring on the metals are removed using sandpaper which also cuts microscopic ridges in the metals. These ridges help break up the surface film. As heat is applied, melting starts and brings interfaces within atomic distances and fusion occurs. T
he original interface is eliminated and formation of a new alloy is formed.
The next step is forging and carving to bring the layers into a desired pattern. This can be done with punches, grinders, milling cutters, and is up to the imagination of the
metalsmith and the intended look.
At the end of three days, we had made three billets of copper and German silver. One by the rolling method, and two by using steel pressure plates and threaded rods to hold them in place. We patterned the metal using different methods. Of course, between forgings, the metal is thoroughly annealed to reduce stress and
delamination. Overall, very interesting workshop and I highly recommend it I feel I have a good base for further study and at the same time, the skill base to make
mokume gane in my own studio.
I've had these for a while but only recently taken photos. These are copper and german silver with a sterling liner. Customers have been interested. The earrings have sold well but the price on the cuffs have been a little high for the Saturday morning market customers. I'm sure they will move at the shows.
As it became more and more evident that Obama was going to be our new president, I kept hearing commentators, and reading journalists referring to Aynn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged". It made me put a copy on hold at the public library. That was more than a month ago. I don't know if the delay is because they had so few copies or there were so many folks waiting to read the book. Here's an other take by economist and editorial board member Stephen Moore of the WSJ:This article is so right on about Cary Grant in particularly but older movies in general. It speaks to a time when special effects didn't dominate the stories but rather the characters themselves. I saw a little bit of this when Sarah and I saw "Gran Torino" this weekend. Of course, even in his "spaghetti westerns", Clint Eastwood relied on his movements and especially his facial expressions to convey emotion in the story. Check out the scene where he's sitting on his front porch and spits his chew while looking at the grandmother and she then tops him by spitting a bigger chew. that said, as the article which my daughter talked about on her Facebook, says, Cary Grant was the master in this. And, I think Alfred Hitchcock as director helped.
he metals for our ingots and learned everything from the proper preparation to carving and forging to bring out the grain. Preparation is everything! Without the proper prep, the layers will not fuse properly and will delaminate during the forging process, rendering the billet useless. One of the first items we made was a small kiln from soft firebrick. These worked great, concentrating the heat generated by a small propane torch and allowing the ingot to get to forging temperature while reducing the amount of oxidation.
he original interface is eliminated and formation of a new alloy is formed.
This article is so right on about Cary Grant in particularly but older movies in general. It speaks to a time when special effects didn't dominate the stories but rather the characters themselves. I saw a little bit of this when Sarah and I saw "
