Matchlock Axe/Pistol

I went to the site and this is what it has where it's listed:

201 Nickel
Typical Chemistry: Ni 99.50
Stock Gauges: .005", .010", .020", .030"
Annealed. R/B 68

Does this help Bruce, it doesn't look like a typical chemical analysis to me, but what do I know? Let me know if my thinking is right as this says Ni 99.50 which to me means there is .50% of "other" stuff in there...if it was carbon, wouldn't it be listed? I think I may call them on Monday, I still haven't figured out how to get a freakin price!!!! Beg for it I guess! BTW, Rex
 
A good resource for checking chemical composition of commercially available alloys (and other materials) is matweb.com. It looks to me like the main difference is Nickel 201 has less carbon than Nickel 200 as was previously mentioned.
 
OK, with a little more looking, and I do mean a little! I found the pricing info, it doesn't look horrible to me, but I don't know what would be bad. I copied the pricing info and here it is,
201 NICKEL
Annealed. R/B 68. Ni 99.50
SIZE LBS/FT PRICE/FT
.005 X 6 X 12 0.12 6.85
.010 X 6 X 12 0.25 13.95
.020 X 6 X 12 0.50 27.87
.030 X 6 X 12 0.70 39.00
With these sheets being 6 inches wide that's pretty good size. What is the right or best or standard thickness? That would be used on a regular basis? Thanks, Rex
 
I went to the site and this is what it has where it's listed:

201 Nickel
Typical Chemistry: Ni 99.50
Stock Gauges: .005", .010", .020", .030"
Annealed. R/B 68

Does this help Bruce, it doesn't look like a typical chemical analysis to me, but what do I know? Let me know if my thinking is right as this says Ni 99.50 which to me means there is .50% of "other" stuff in there...if it was carbon, wouldn't it be listed? I think I may call them on Monday, I still haven't figured out how to get a freakin price!!!! Beg for it I guess! BTW, Rex

I agree, there isnt room for anything else at 99.5% nickel.
I wish there were a steel with 50% nickel and 50% carbon somewhere. We all use 15n20 but man that stuff is hard to anneal and cut up.
 
Bruce,
Do you think the Nickle 201 will work? Also, which sizes are best to keep in stock? Keep in mind, that I'm just getting my Damascus feet wet....more like burnt! I know Nickle is some tough stuff, I've got some ideas I'm going to be doing, that may be new, at the least they will be different, it's nothing to do with patterns, it's more to do with a treatment after the knife is finished. I won't elaborate just yet, I won't to make sure what I've got on my mind will will! Thanks Brada , Rex
 
I'm not a detailed-metallugical guy... :) I do well to heat-treat my own 5160 and 1095. LOL

That quote was just pulled from the link I included...
 
Bruce,
Do you think the Nickle 201 will work? Also, which sizes are best to keep in stock? Keep in mind, that I'm just getting my Damascus feet wet....more like burnt! I know Nickle is some tough stuff, I've got some ideas I'm going to be doing, that may be new, at the least they will be different, it's nothing to do with patterns, it's more to do with a treatment after the knife is finished. I won't elaborate just yet, I won't to make sure what I've got on my mind will will! Thanks Brada , Rex

Rex,

If you're just getting your feet wet with Damascus, I'd say to stick with 1084/15n20 to start. This combo sticks like glue and lets you concentrate on everything else that you have to keep an eye on when working Damascus.

Nickel can be a fickle mistress. If you flux a little too late the nickel can oxidize and fail to weld, and no amount of flux can fix nickel oxides.. If you forge to aggressively the welds at the nickel boundaries can separate, etc. Once you're comfortable and solid on your basics of Damascus, then I'd look at nickel. Nothing has put more pieces in the scrap bucket in my shop than nickel. :)

-d
 
I too have a boatload of failed nickel billets laying under the bench from years ago. One hard lesson I remember is nickel resists welding to nickel. It needs to have steel in between.
Most makers stopped using nickel because it only adds beauty and won't add to a good performance blade since it won't harden. I love the constrast and still like the looks of nickel 200 hardware on a knife and sheath. Most collectors won't buy it because of the small amount of tarnishing but its traditional and some knives beg for it.

One time I put too much nickel in a damascus blade. I like to flex my blades after heat treat to test the tip. If the tip is going to break I want it to break in my shop. This nickel blade flexed and stayed bent. Sure looks cool though.
The very thin foil is plenty.
Rex,

If you're just getting your feet wet with Damascus, I'd say to stick with 1084/15n20 to start. This combo sticks like glue and lets you concentrate on everything else that you have to keep an eye on when working Damascus.

Nickel can be a fickle mistress. If you flux a little too late the nickel can oxidize and fail to weld, and no amount of flux can fix nickel oxides.. If you forge to aggressively the welds at the nickel boundaries can separate, etc. Once you're comfortable and solid on your basics of Damascus, then I'd look at nickel. Nothing has put more pieces in the scrap bucket in my shop than nickel. :)

-d
 
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Not wanting to upset anyone on here but I thought you would like to know that here in the UK we get our 15N20 fully annealed in 1000 x 350mm sheets with a thickness up to 3mm.

Mick.
 
Not wanting to upset anyone on here but I thought you would like to know that here in the UK we get our 15N20 fully annealed in 1000 x 350mm sheets with a thickness up to 3mm.

Mick.
That would be handy for some custom billets and canister welds. One good thing we have here is Kelly Cupples can shear it to any size we want but not the thicker sizes
 
All right enough now Bruce I keep coming back with drool towel in hand and no new pics. Whats up with that!:31::biggrin:

Come on just a teaser,.................( like the ad on tv, with the kid asking for the snack,pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease)!:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
 
I know, I know, The barrel is out still being drilled. I'm getting antsy to get back on it. Theres not much I can do until it comes back and I can mount it to the stock. My son is still drawing the dragons head too. This project is slotted for September with the engraver so I may need to burn some midnight oil when it does come back. Meanwhile I've turned out a couple smaller projects.
All right enough now Bruce I keep coming back with drool towel in hand and no new pics. Whats up with that!:31::biggrin:

Come on just a teaser,.................( like the ad on tv, with the kid asking for the snack,pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease)!:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
 
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Well guess what? The barrel just arrived all bored, honed and polished. It looks beautiful inside. It has been stamped with the finished bore size. At .4997" thats about as close to 50 caliber as I could ask for.
I cut off my 12" of damascus and still have a mild steel piece long enough to make another gun. Maybe a desk cannon?

Now the work begins of deciding how to mount the barrel. It needs a breech plug for the rear mount and a front tab or tapped hole. After that I need to octagon and taper it, also turn the axe mounting section at the muzzle.

barrelbore011.jpg


barrelbore014.jpg


barrelbore015.jpg
 
Thanks Bruce, OH Crap I didn't have the towel close enough and now the my keys are covered in drool!:biggrin:

I will be checking back for more progress! This looks like it's going to be awesome and OH, thanks for the teaser!
 
Man this sure turns me on! I'm really excited about this one. Nice to hear you're going to octagon the barrel, that'll be sweet as pie. Thanks for letting us inside your shop Bruce, it's a real treat. Have a wonderful day!
 
Why after all that honing and polishing did they stamp the size on the end? Looks like it deformed the barrel. I figured you will be cutting that off but it just seems weird. Can't wait to see this take shape
 
Why after all that honing and polishing did they stamp the size on the end? Looks like it deformed the barrel. I figured you will be cutting that off but it just seems weird. Can't wait to see this take shape

This barrel is far from finished. They stamped it as proof of the bore size so I can buy round balls for it. I think I'll slice it off and save it for the new owner. They stamped the wrong end or else I could make him a damascus pendant. :)
 
some progress today, I dug deep and found a breech plug that will be perfect for this one. I have no idea where it was made as theres no company name on it but it has the right diameter octagon and a long tang and even has been threaded. This saved me a couple days of machining which is really needed. I also borrowed the correct drill, tap and bottoming tap from my good friend Lon. Everybody needs a friend like Lon. He has everything. I may need to go over and use his larger metal lathe if I cant drill and tap this on my milling machine. The breech plug has 5/8" x 18 threads per inch and my bore is .499" so this should be easy.

Heres something to look at until I can get back out in the shop.

breachplugdrills003.jpg


breachplugdrills001.jpg
 
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