Nickel - what grade

[Mick Maxen 29]

What is the grade of nickel you are using in your pattern welding.

I thought it was Nickel 200 but I have just done a search and it comes back as 99% pure with a silly price.

The stuff I have are very thin sheets, possibly 20 thou, by about 10" square marked up as $5. Someone got it for me from the Blade Show a few years back.

 

Cheers,

Mick.

[Mike Blue 1]

I think what you're after is 203E Mick. It's a low carbon steel with a high nickel content. I can't find the exact specs, but someone will come along with them, or I'll send them to you.

[Alan Longmire 2,634]

I thought it was nickel 200 foil as well, or at least that's what I was told it was.

 

I bet nickel 400 (monel) might work too, it's got more iron in it.

[hankknickmeyer 0]

When I am buying nickel as scrap I try to get a small piece to make sample billet. If it welds easily and has good contrast I use it but not in the edge.

In edge billets I use 203E or 9620 with one of the high carbon, high manganese simple steels.

 

In the US now I mostly just buy from Kelly Cupples in Washington state. 509-949-5231 He now has nickel and is a maker himself so he knows what we want. His service is good and his prices are reasonable. I find him entirely reliable.

 

Mick,

I don't know if he ships to the UK. If he doesn't and you want something have him send it to me and I'll send it on.

Hank

[Mick Maxen 29]

Thanks for the replies and Thanks Hank for the offer.

The reason I am questioning what type of nickel I have used in the past is that Nickel 200 in the UK is listing as £45 + vat @ 20%, for a 0.5 x 250 x 250mm sheet. I wont know until I am back in my workshop but I am sure the stuff I have is Nickel 200 and the sheets have $5 marked on them.

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all,

Mick.

[hankknickmeyer 0]

Mick,

I think I was trying to answer the wrong question. 0.5 x250x250mm is about 10in x 10in x 0.02in by our measurment. Retail prices for nickel vary but $5 for a piece that size seems believable.

 

Also I misspoke above when I said that I use 203E or 9620 for my edge billets, I most commonly use 15n20 & 1080 or 1084.

Sorry,

Hank

[Mick Maxen 29]

I remembered to look for the nickel sheets today. They are Nickel 200 about 12 x 6.5" by 0.010 thou thick, each sheet is marked $7.50 A friend of mine brought these back from the Blade Show for me. Does anyone know who the supplier of these might have been from the show.

 

Mick.

[Richard Furrer 55]

I remembered to look for the nickel sheets today. They are Nickel 200 about 12 x 6.5" by 0.010 thou thick, each sheet is marked $7.50 A friend of mine brought these back from the Blade Show for me. Does anyone know who the supplier of these might have been from the show.

 

Mick.

 

 

about $14 or so scrap price per pound IF you can find it.

Nickel 201 also works.

I found a stash some years ago for $10 per pound.

 

Keep in mind:

You CAN NOT use the nickel billets for electro plating as they are not the correct chemistry for forging.

If you go looking at scrap...avoid 25-40% nickel alloys as they are rather stable across a range of temps...the 30-35% being the most stable...they will weld shear in the billet when cooling.

 

 

Ric

[Jokke 1]

Hi,

you can use the above mentioned 15Ni20 or better 75Ni8 or 60Ni20 (for more C in the blade and better hardenability)

or higher alloy steel, such as 56NiCrMoV7 will show very bright lines (a bit harder to forgeweld though)

pure nickel foil will prevent the migration of C in the billet, up to over 400 layers

[Richard Furrer 55]

 

pure nickel foil will prevent the migration of C in the billet, up to over 400 layers

 

Why only to 400?

Surely that depends on the starting thickness and the pattern manipulation...if you fold in such a way that the layers get into contact then the nickel is no longer between.

I would think a layer of pure nickel two atoms thick would do the same as 100,000 atoms. It is the lattice size that prevents the carbon from moving through...either it is there or it is not.

 

Ric

[Jokke 1]

You are right Ric,

Ulrich Gerfin, wrote in the German Forum:

"Interessanter ist, daß Nickel eben nicht oder kaum diffundiert.

Gefügeaufnahmen von Damaststücken mit Reinnickel und 1.2842 und/ oder Feile zeigten bis zu einer Lagenzahl von ca. 1000 Nickellagen auf 5 mm keine Diffusion, bei noch höheren Lagenzahlen zerfaserte der Nickelanteil und löste sich zu einer Struktur ähnlich Stahlwolle auf."

I'll try to rtanslate: >>it is interesting that Ni does not or hardly diffuse. Pictures of the structure of damaszene with pure Nickel and 1.2842 and/or file show up to 1000 layers of nickel in 5mm no diffusion, only at a higher amount of layers the nickel frayed and showed a structure like steelwool.<<