Trust me, if anything turns out at all I’ll be very surprised! I’ve tried getting the metals to weld together in a smaller billet with no luck so far. I did manage to get three quarters to stick together. Gotta start somewhere I guess!
Update in OP. So, my arms are already tired and I’ve still got half the stack left to prep! If all else goes to plan, tomorrow will be my first attempt at forge welding the stack together. I promise there is some flashlight related updates coming soon!!
I really hope this works for you, it would be sooo awesome.
All this work for a piece of metal, so you can begin your work on making a light! I’m really looking forward to seeing the piece that comes from this forging. You said before that your first attempt(s) for testing didn’t work out well. Did you fix your issue there, or are you just hoping for the best? If it turns out well, do you plan to start selling pattern forged metals? I know you’d be a popular guy around here if you did! Not that you’re unpopular now, just, well, you know. :innocent:
Well, I tried with some quarters and got some of them to stick well to each other. I tried with some smaller offcuts and couldn’t get those to work, but I didn’t put in the prep work for those that I should have. I have decided to just go for broke! If it works then that will be awesome, if not, well, at least I’ll be able to chock it up to experience! If it does turn out well, I would definitely make more billets for purchase. I just have to make it all turn out well!
Even with ordinary brazing or soldering the parts prep is crucial or it doesn’t work well so I imagine it’s no less critical for you. Is it necessary to reapply the borate each heating cycle?
I’m not sure to be honest. If everything I’ve researched is right, there is really only one welding heat and the rest of it is all just forming. I’ll report back when I get everything fired up. Fingers crossed!
Help is on its way. I just cant give you a reliable ETA. 
:+1:
Any help would be greatly appreciated, but I am not sure I can spring for the airfair…
Update in OP.
SUCCESS!!!
The billet is made and is one solid piece instead of a bunch of loose sheets.
Now on to the hard part…
Woo Hoo. Well done. 
Great stuff. You are probably very pleased. Hope it goes well.
Woot!
Nicely done with the billet :+1:
Well I have to say, excellent work. I hope it forms well for you.
I had ideas on making something with alternating copper and brass and kinda fused together. But Forging them was not in my mind.
Forging copper and brass layers is like Damascus Steel to the flashlight guys.
Best of luck to you, I want to see this finished.
Sweet! The billet looks nice!
HaHa!!! 
Oh yea. I used to make knives from railroad spikes in my coal forge. It’s a lot of hot and heavy work hammering out something. I’ve never done it with these metals before, so I’m excited to see how they work. Copper is strange in the way it hardens. The more you hit it the harder it gets. To anneal it is the same process as hardening steel. Odd stuff indeed!
Pretty much opposite with Ferrous to nonFerrous.
In Iron this is Damascus Steel.
Nonferrous is Mokume Gane. Mostly used in Jewelry making.
I think I like these alternative material builds the most.
+1 It is fun to see things like this from the other end of the lens.