Alchemy

[umbo 1]

Hello,

Here is the latest knife that i’m working on.

 

First I want to thanks Richars Furrer for his help and advise: thank you very much Richard!

I thank too Achim Wirth from Germany!

 

Here is the step by step:I hope the translate is good (thanks Elsa!). I’ll post the work on the handle as soon as possible.

http://www.scrimshaw.fr/anglais/pages/nigredo.htm

Edited February 21, 2007 by umbo

[CProkopp 2]

Mon Dieu!

Incroyable.

[jake cleland 758]

beautiful. just beautiful. have you tried etching a piece of the smelted steel before pattern welding to see if there is a dendritic pattern? can i ask how you sculpted the steel; chisels, grinders? also, how will you attach the handle - i don't see a tang? have you drilled and tapped the ricasso or am i missing something? sorry for all the questions, but this is just stunning and i must know more.

[Tracy 0]

Very cool, umbo. Thanks for the link.

I am very fascinated by metal from outer space. The newer stuff, that is. It has "experience".

 

[Note to visitors: Got to his site just in case you think that was EASY.]

[John Rigoni 10]

Beautiful, I really appreciate all the steps for making it.

[Adlai Stein 1]

Really amazing!

[Sam Salvati 80]

Words cannot say..............

[Raymond Richard 82]

Thats one very unique blade! I'm looking forward to seeing the finished knife. What is planned for the handle?

[Alan Longmire 3,877]

Well, THAT just rocked my world. Everyone, go to the website he linked and look at all of it, all four pages. You don't need to read French, the pictures say it well. As for the handle, I can't wait to see her finished! Better not show the wife...

[Three Sisters Forge 2]

WOW. Now I have to go find a meteorite under the 295" of snow we have. I am in awe.

 

Jim

[umbo 1]

Thanks! I will try to answer (sorry for my bad english!)

"have you tried etching a piece of the smelted steel?"

yes I do, and there was a patern but not really a dendritic patern (maybe Richard could answer better than me if he read this post). For sculping the steel, I used the angle of the wheel of my belt grinder.

 

There is no tang: the "ricasso" is verry thick (3/4 inch !), I drilled it to put a steel rod (like a tang) and I hollowed all the ricasso at 1/2 inch to put the handle in. Hum, I hope it's clear...

 

For the handle, with me, it will always be an ivory woman. For me , this knife represent the three steps of the alchemy research : black, white, red. from rough materia to gold

[Tom Megow 0]

Good Gosh

What an incredible Blade.

The process was amazing as well!

Words are inadequate

[toddhill 0]

Stunning! Alchemy is the perfect word for it. Todd

[Niko Hynninen 21]

Hi Umbo!

 

Simbly mindblowing.....Great work.

I just needed some quidens for next summer crucbile run ( 1st)

 

Some questins?

 

Are the small rods graphite ? Is Purpose to increase carbon level?

 

Thanks this is very cool

 

 

Niko Hynninen

 

 

Sorry Umbo! I was so excited....didn´t even think...what i was thinking.

 

Rods are iron and blackpowder is craphite and this increases the C level?

 

 

Niko

Edited February 21, 2007 by Niko Hynninen

[Giuseppe Maresca 0]

Absolutely stunning!

[umbo 1]

Rods are iron and blackpowder is craphite and this increases the C level?

 

yes it is, black powder is graphite : the meteorite had 0% of carbon , and at the end the ingot had 0.85% of carbon.

 

for Jake Cleland, here is the pictures of the patern of cast ingot, and the same after 30 forge cycles.

Edited February 21, 2007 by umbo

[Willie 4]

That's an AMAZING blade!! It's leaving me speachless. Beautiful!!

 

Please post progress pics! I'd like to see the progress on this one for sure. Thanks, Willie

[Jacques Delfosse 3]

not really amazing for somebody who knows the quality of your work, Greg !

[Beau Erwin 2]

Very cool piece.

I was curious how you did the fluting as well. Angle of the sanding wheel.

I've seen some of the fluted blades over at raven armouries and have been wondering how one would go about doing that. Seems this could be a close way to do it.

[Jeff Pringle 8]

Nicely done!

If that meteorite is a Campo del Cielo, you took the hard way to get a blade out of it - Campos are quite foreable - but the custom steel melt is the coolest way to go.

Bravo!

[umbo 1]

Thanks guys!

 

If that meteorite is a Campo del Cielo, you took the hard way to get a blade out of it

 

I don't know where it come from, but I know the meteorite was completely cracked inside and I think that I didn't could forge it. Then I see the tutorial of Richard Furrer...

[Don Hanson 6]

Fine work there umbo !!!

[Dan Fronefield 0]

I thought I'd chime in here as I use meteorite extensively in all my knives.

 

Many iron meteorites can be forged or smelted, however I would not recommend all of them for forging. Ebay has hundreds meteorites to choose from. Be somewhat selective there ... and be patient if you don't find a piece at the price you want to pay. One will show up soon.

 

Meteorites can be iron, stone, or stony-iron. Each is named by the location where it is found. Of the irons, some are easily forged, some have great patterns when etched, some are mostly rust and some are full of impurities. Each is primarily made up of iron, nickel and silicates (impurities). The amount of nickel can range from about 5% to 18%.

 

For forging, I'd recommend Gibeon, Campo del Cielo, Canyon Diablo, Sikhote Alin or Odessa. Pricing can range from $0.30 per gram up to about $4.00 per gram. Whatever type you forge, I'd suggest running a light weld bead all around the outside to help hold it together when first forging. Get to forging heat, flux very well (add a small amount of florspar and boric acid to your borax flux), hold for a while and take small light hammer strokes all around it to consolidate it and push out the silicates. Keep doing this until it becomes 'solid'. Then you can start with harder strokes of the hammer to form it. Fold and forge several times to drive out the silicates and 'mix' in the weld bead first applied. Forged meteorite is about as hard as a coat hanger. It's only iron and nickel. So, you'd have to layer it with HC steel to form damascus if you want it to hold an edge. The meteorite layer will be 'bright' because of the nickel content.

 

Any iron can be smelted, (a web search will indicate the nickel content) and each should be alloyed accordingly. I'd suggest getting the nickel down to 1-4% and add carbon until you have the alloy you want. Nantan is a cheap iron meteorite that is full of silicates and is sometimes largely rusted through (be selective). It can be smelted (and fluxed) to get out all the impurities but crumbles to dust when forged. Obviously, any of the above mentioned meteorites can also be smelted.

 

Sliced iron meteorite, when etched, will show a widmanstatten pattern. Each meteorite has a different pattern and many have inclusions. The best pattern, with minimal inclusions is Gibeon. Campo, Odessa, Canyon Diablo and Sikhote Alin have wider bands and more inclusions and in my opinion are far less aesthetic. Nantan is UGLY !!!

 

When done, you've included a material that was formed and remained unchanged since the formation of our solar system ... 4.3 billion years ago. It was once the core of a planetoid (small planet) that formed and was susequently broken up and destroyed by impacts ... and eventually a small part made its way through the Earths atmosphere to become a meteorite. Quite a journey.

 

Dan

 

BTW,

 

The guru of smelting and alloying is Ric Furrer. I have a huge respect for his knowledge and abilities

 

Dan

[umbo 1]

thank you very much Dan for these explanations!

 

Here analysis of the meteorite which I melted;

C % 0.008

Si % 0.000

Mn % 0.021

P % 0.090

S % 0.000

Cr % 0.000

Mo % 0.007

Ni % 5.400

Al % 0.000

Co % 0.360

Cu % 0.013

Nb % 0.004

Sn % 0.004

Ti % 0.011

V % 0.000

W % 0.016

B % 0.001

Fe % 92.346

Edited February 23, 2007 by umbo

[Jeff Pringle 8]

Interesting, 5.4% Ni is down in the Hexahedrite range. A portion of the Campo del Cielo meteorites are hexahedrites, so it could be one of those.

Most meteorites seem to be internally fractured, and want to fall apart initially during forging, but you can (if you don't want to use a welder) massage them into solid metal by careful forging - like consolidating a bloom of iron.

It is a fortunate coincidence that the cheapest iron meteorites are on the low end of the nickel %, and hence easiest to work into a forging project...