[Jewelry making - Article 00156] - Re: [Orchid] Rolling Mill disengaging

[Noel]

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>>    I've tried hammering the little sucker down as thin as I can
>>    (annealing and all,) but it's just taking too long, so it's a
>>    remelt for me and no ingots thicker than 5 or 6mm from now on. 

>     Get a bigger hammer. Your metal will be much higher quality if you
>     forge it down 50% before rolling. 

    This is just my urge to kibbitz, cuz this is not my area of
    expertise, but I'll go out on a limb... 

    I feel reasonably sure you don't have to forge your ingot cold. When
    I took a mokume gane workshop, we heated out billets to red, then
    quickly went to the anvil and whaled away on them with a big sucker
    hammer. The metal moved very quickly while hot, and we reduced the
    billet pretty quickly from maybe an inch and a half to where it
    would fit in the mill. 

    I was a bit sore after this whole enterprise, but it was actually a
    lot of fun to forge that billet down. It helped, though, to have a
    partner to hold it (with tongs) and flip it so I could use both
    hands on the big ol' hammer. On the other hand, your ingot is
    probably small enough to do alone. What do the experts say? Any
    reason not to hot-forge the billet? 

Noel
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