Devin the Enginerd

Maker, Enginerd, Garbage Ogre, Scientist-ish.

What are we building today?

[Devin the Enginerd @Enginerd_Devin]

Forge of July Livestream!

Starting in about an hour, see you there!

https://t.co/zHZZG1ly69

[Devin the Enginerd @Enginerd_Devin]

Rough grind and test etch of two canister Damascus billets: chainsaw blade + 1095 left, ball bearings + 1095 on right!

[Devin the Enginerd @Enginerd_Devin]

@open_erv This is a part of a larger project I'm working on involving commercial-scale recycling of waste electronics, so safety & environmental responsibility are an important aspect.

[Devin the Enginerd @Enginerd_Devin]

Most days at the Makerspace I’m hammering something out of steel. Today though I’m scrapping this pile of electronics to harvest all the bits with gold and precious metals. Once I have enough, I’ll be doing a big gold recovery project! Stay tuned!

[Devin the Enginerd @Enginerd_Devin]

@open_erv Some of these electronics were fairly old, so likely do contain some lead. I'm planning a wet chemical process for this project, so the lead and tin will be recoverable in addition to the PGMs.

[Devin the Enginerd @Enginerd_Devin]

One day I will stop getting distracted with new materials and finish a knife, but it will not be this day.

:-/

[Devin the Enginerd @Enginerd_Devin]

Oh my gosh, someone donated a box full of MASSIVE bearings to the Makerspace! Look at the size of these rollers. 52100 is one of my favorite steels to work with, so I had to immediately bang out a quick slicer.

[Devin the Enginerd @Enginerd_Devin]

@open_erv Thanks Anthony! 😊

[Devin the Enginerd @Enginerd_Devin]

@sreetips1 Results are in! Bigger bar was the initial pour, smaller bar is the recovered silver:

[Devin the Enginerd @Enginerd_Devin]

Today I’m taking a break from whacking stuff with a hammer and instead boiling stuff in acid!

(Helping some friends purify their silver that got contaminated during a casting mishap)

[Devin the Enginerd @Enginerd_Devin]

Shoutout to @sreetips1 for his videos, invaluable when it comes to precious metals recovery and refining!

[Devin the Enginerd @Enginerd_Devin]

Rocking’ it old-school today.

[Devin the Enginerd @Enginerd_Devin]

Coming along…

[Devin the Enginerd @Enginerd_Devin]

Damascus billet progress:
1 - Layers test etch/preview
2 - Initial billet cut and restacked
3 - Tacked up and slathered in flux slurry
4 - Forged out and almost ready to twist

[Devin the Enginerd @Enginerd_Devin]

Wow, synthetic organic electrochemistry! Fascinating stuff... what potential!

https://t.co/6kCT3qqzLy

[Devin the Enginerd @Enginerd_Devin]

A friend gave me pieces of her canister Damascus experiments to work with. They were too thin to do much with on their own, so I added more material and am forging a new billet. This is 6 layers of canister Damascus, 3 layers of coil spring, and 10 double layers of bandsaw blade.

[Devin the Enginerd @Enginerd_Devin]

Hello friends, the Milwaukee Makerspace is holding an auction to raise funds for the wood shop!

If you're not in Wisconsin but want something here, get in touch with me once you've won your bid(s) and I'll ship it out to you.

https://t.co/TjxwjkY1nS

[Devin the Enginerd @Enginerd_Devin]

Enjoying some quality forge time at the Milwaukee Makerspace!

[Devin the Enginerd @Enginerd_Devin]

“Especially the blacksmiths!”

[Devin the Enginerd @Enginerd_Devin]

@open_erv They typically make very tough knives, as they are usually 5160 steel (or an alloy in than neighborhood).
The grain structure was good and tight; it broke because I was trying to bend a warp out of the blade as it came out of the oil quench. ;_;

[Devin the Enginerd @Enginerd_Devin]

This was going to be a chef knife for a friend, I forged it out of an old leaf spring from a car. But I broke it after the quench.

Crap. Time to start again.