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Nickel source for upping crucible steel, what kind of scrap?


Steffen Dahlberg

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I've been asking myself what I would use to up the Ni in crucible steel if I wanted to make my own high contrast crucible steel damascus.

I'd like something high in Nickel, and low in everything else, so I was looking at SAE 2515. In what kind of applications would this be found as scrap? Roller bearings?

Other suggestions? I doubt I can find any FeNi or pure Ni locally. And I haven't been struck by any meteorites lately.

 

We are the knights who say Ni!

Edited by Steffen Dahlberg
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Yeah, nickel is $19.99 per pound (99.9% pure) on J_Martins suggestion. You can use the Nickel coin although the purity is unknown to me.

 

 

US nickel coins are 75% copper 25% nickel

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yes to the welding rod, but apparently Norway produces and exports nickel:

http://www.ksip-hk.com/english/products_m2_a2.htm

You may be very close to a refinery and not know it.

 

A university casting lab may be of great use in the future..go make friends.

 

Ric

Richard Furrer

Door County Forgeworks

Sturgeon Bay, WI

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Nickel is not cheap no matter how you find it. DO NOT use coins, the copper is not something you ever want in steel. Unless you're trying to make Cor-Ten, of course. It leads to serious intergranular cracking and embrittlement if not properly treated.

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  • 4 weeks later...

is there a way to separate the copper from the nickel in coins? then you could use the nickel in steel and the copper for bronze?

 

just curious.

domum chalybs passio

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IMHO separating the copper & nickel would be an interesting chemistry experiment, but probably not real practical

 

I was thinking....if you find people who use nickel welding rods...they might have little leftover scraps that are useless to them but might work just fine for tossing into a crucible

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After a bit of research i've found that it IS possible to separate the nickel from copper in nickels... with hydrocloric acid, boiling electricity, H2O2.... not worth it.

 

But if you don't mind a bit of chrome, Nichrome may work for you. It's 80/20 Nickel/Chrome on average(some has iron in it). And it's easy to get. It's used as heating elements in toasters, dryers, space heaters etc It melts at around 2400-2500 F depending on the composition.

domum chalybs passio

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