And so it begins.... (My adventures into Alox!)

[Syph007]

I finally got in my REAL metal mokume so Im cutting my first cross out of it.    It was 100 bucks for this 6 inch piece but I can get alot of crosses cut out of it.

I bought it from Mike Sakmar  http://sakmarenterprises.com/ and while I had to wait a few weeks for it to be made he was awesome to deal with and I will buy again from him.

[s1xty7]

That looks pretty cool!  What metals are in it?  Silver and copper?  It'll really make those crosses pop. 

[Syph007]

That looks pretty cool!  What metals are in it?  Silver and copper?  It'll really make those crosses pop. 

That is copper and nickel silver.   He does a 3 metal one too but that is even more pricy so i figured id try this first.

[WWW]

SAKmar. Good name.

[Syph007]

SAKmar. Good name.

I noticed that too. 

[HarleyXJGuy]

[Syph007]

Having trouble ditching the pneumonia , second round of antibiotics now... this never happened in my 20s !!! Maybe I should have eaten more vegetables like mom always told me...   

I slowly got these 2 built over the last week or so, both identical no-pointy SAKs, one with Al cross and one with the mokume.  I didnt have a way to polish the mokume though so it doesn't stand out as much as Id hoped.  If I made some sort of mask I could polish the cross only without effecting the tumbled look of the scale part, so I'll have to try that next.

[WWW]

Hope you get better soon!! Best wishes.

[windson]

Hope you get better soon!! Best wishes.

This. Be well, Bob!

[SteveC]

Best wishes for a quick recovery 

[Syph007]

Thanks guys, improving and still able to get some work done just slower.

I took an up close shot of the mokume... it actually looks kinda neat.

[SAK Guy]

Best wishes for a quick recovery 

+1

[Monrogue]

Thanks guys, improving and still able to get some work done just slower.

I took an up close shot of the mokume... it actually looks kinda neat.

(Image removed from quote.)

That is pretty cool Syph, and I hope you kick that illness soon buddy

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[tattoosteve99]

Syph. Could this mokume be like Damascus and have to be etched to show up more?

[HarleyXJGuy]

Syph. Could this mokume be like Damascus and have to be etched to show up more?

Or polished?

[WWW]

 It will show up more if you polish but is dificult to do so without polishing the tumbled finish.

[Syph007]

It will show up more if you polish but is dificult to do so without polishing the tumbled finish.

Thats exactly the problem.  Nickel silver should polish up nice and bright.  Im going to take a front scales and mill the cross part down super thin and try using that as a polishing mask.

[s1xty7]

Feel better soon!

And those non-knives look great.  The mokume has a sort of rusty look to it like that, which gives it an interesting appearance.  I wonder how big of a difference it will be with a polished example.

[Syph007]

Ok I polished that same scale to see how it would look.  It's really hard to take a good pic of it though.

[lowtech]

Get well soon!
And on the Mokume Cross: Maybe polishing the scale, then masking the cross and tumbling the scale might work?!

[tattoosteve99]

Get well soon!
And on the Mokume Cross: Maybe polishing the scale, then masking the cross and tumbling the scale might work?!

I was going to say the same thing

[Syph007]

An alox mod!

[SAK Guy]

Awesome!!

[Monrogue]

Awesome!!

+1

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[SteveC]

Awesome!!

+1

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+2   

[tattoosteve99]

Awesome!!

+1

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+2   

+3. Nice tool layout

[HarleyXJGuy]

Awesome!!

+1

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+2   

+3. Nice tool layout

The ladies say this to me all the time.

Also, +4 Daddy likes.

A lot of the best tools but not to big and since I almost always have a dedicated folder the big SAK blade hardly gets used.

Hmm.

[Syph007]

Ok, time for equiptment again.  Im tired of waiting 24 hours for the tumbling to get the matte finish on the Ti, so I need a blasting cabinet...

Got this on the way.  Amazon had them for a decent price. 



Now I gotta get a compressor that can do 12 CFM at 80 PSI.  I think those are going to be more than the blasting cab is, and it needs to be 220 volts so I'll have to run a line to the shop for that.  I have a spare 220 breaker though so that shouldnt be a big deal, the ceiling is all open from teh breaker to the shop.

[s1xty7]

New tools!  Always exciting!

That blasting cabinet looks like a good piece of equipment and good luck with the compressor search.  I started down a slippery slope when looking for one for my garage.  Ingersoll Rand has some nice stuff, but I actually got an older Speedaire one for a fraction of the cost on Craigslist.  I only wanted a 20 gallon tank but the quality of the motor, regardless of the tank size, is what you are really after.  I ended up with a cast iron, double piston setup with changeable oil.  Those oil-less ones are short lived and I don't believe would be up to your task.  Then when you start looking at hoses and fittings, it starts to add up too.  There are some pretty nice GoodYear hoses around unless you are hard lining it (although, i'd still be tempted by a section of hose so that it was at least a little moveable).  Also, I've read that using a slightly larger line helps keep your pressure constant, so I went with 1/2" line with 3/8" fittings.  For fittings, there are three standards that I ran across and I ended up getting mine all in Universal format so they will work with the other two main types, which won't work with each other.

This is like the compressor I was able to pick up for $150 in perfectly functioning order. 20 gal, 3 HP, 10 CFM @ 90 PSI.  No problems so far in limited use:


But that is some of what I found when I was searching.  You may have more experience on the subject already and I'm sure there are others around who can give you better guidance.  Anything I've stated may actually be completely wrong so take it with a whole cup of salt.

Good luck with your search!

[Syph007]

Ya the compressor Im not exactly sure what I need yet, but Im sending out some feelers for used ones right now.  For the amount of blasting I'll be doing I dont need something too hard core that will be running all day or anything.

Im not at all concerned about noise, since it wont be on all the time either.   Really its just going to be for glass bead blasting of Ti.

That one you got for 150 looks sweet. I hope I can find a deal somewhere.