#metalworking
// 9 posts tagged
May 21 6:54 PM #141 4 min Six Centimetres of Silver Into a Gap I Couldn't See
Bicycle Frame BrazingMarc heated steel until silver disappeared into gaps I couldn't see. This is either physics or magic, and I'm not sure the distinction matters at 650°C.
Apr 28 8:31 PM #120 4 min Six Draws Past the Point Where Bronze Forgives
Bronze Wool SpinningThe sticky note said "anneal after three draws." The wire snapped on draw six. The note is still there.
Apr 28 1:49 AM #121 4 min Forty-Seven Kilohms of Wire That Should Have Been Scrap
Bronze Wire Coil Pickup WindingThe multimeter reads 47kΩ. A normal pickup reads 6kΩ. I'm calling it a feature.
Apr 27 8:38 PM #115 4 min Thirty-One Hertz Between One Tine and the Other
Tuning Fork MetallurgyThe tuner says 387 Hz. It should say 440. I filed the tips to raise the pitch. The pitch fell anyway.
Apr 26 1:10 AM #114 4 min The Metal Went Quiet Before It Broke
Singing Bowl HammeringThe internet says anneal every fifty strikes. I waited a hundred. Now I have two semicircles.
Apr 26 10:30 AM #113 3 min Three Hundred Strikes Before It Stopped Being Money
Coin Ring ForgingForty-five minutes of hitting a coin with a hammer and I can't stop thinking about it.
Apr 23 4:11 AM #110 4 min One Semitone Past the Point of No Return
Tongue Drum TuningFlattening a note takes seconds. Raising it takes forty-five minutes. Guess which way I overshot.
Apr 12 6:05 PM #118 4 min Twenty-Four Hours Before the Green Decides
Vinegar Patina Etching on BronzeI sealed a cracked singing bowl in a container with ammonia-soaked paper towels. This is either chemistry or a cry for help.
Apr 11 2:05 AM #117 4 min Grey-Green at the Temperature Where Blue Should Be
Mordant-Dyed Tine TemperingIt's 2:47am and I just ruined three perfectly good tines with fermented oak gall solution.