Weird idea I have. anyone wanna try it?

[_Hiller_]

Hey guys. I had an idea to do with forging , and after doing some research I haven’t found anything on it. I was wondering if someone would be willing to try it. I play guitar as a hobby, and I particularly enjoy slide. I’ve been trying to find unique looking slides just for the fun of it and I had the idea to have one made out of pattern welded nickel and copper. (I believe it’s called mokume gane?) I don’t assume it would be that hard, as a slide is pretty much just a thick walled tube that goes on your finger, and I assume that it’d still be smooth on the outside and therefore good for a slide. Are there problems with this I’m not seeing? Anyone willing to try this?

[Hawkdancer]

I don't do guitar anymore, but if the slide is not smooth, it will wear/tear up the strings!  Gave up the guitar when my thumbs went out, long story, but took up the harp!  One string, one note, one finger - no sweat!  Ok, not quite as portable!  Make it smooth, save strings!
Hawkdancer

[_Hiller_]

I don't do guitar anymore, but if the slide is not smooth, it will wear/tear up the strings!  Gave up the guitar when my thumbs went out, long story, but took up the harp!  One string, one note, one finger - no sweat!  Ok, not quite as portable!  Make it smooth, save strings!
Hawkdancer

that’s what I assumed.  But you could still make something like that smooth if you polish it enough, right? Or is it always gonna have texture because of how its made?

[Hawkdancer]

It should polish up pretty smooth, but I'm not a machinist!  Buff to the finest grit you are able to find.  No more often than you would use it playing, it should work well, and not shave the strings, they are pretty tough!  Sort of like polishing a knife blade.
Hawkdancer

[TRiggs]

You can buy Damascus steel tubing online just google it, as for making it well you would need tooling that a backyard smith just dosn't have it's a whole different kind of critter than making pattern welded billets for a blade. BTW it would be plenty hard enough for a slide.

[_Hiller_]

You can buy Damascus steel tubing online just google it, as for making it well you would need tooling that a backyard smith just dosn't have it's a whole different kind of critter than making pattern welded billets for a blade. BTW it would be plenty hard enough for a slide.

hmm. My thought process was that it’d be as simple as making a billet of it, flattening it out to whatever thickness you wanted the wall of the slide to be, and then rolling that into a tube. I figure it doesn’t necessarily need to be fully closed either. Just the part touching the strings. Good to know it’d be hard enough at least

[bubby]

They are taking old silver spoons and making and selling slides from those. I'll find a pic

[bubby]

Just a spoon worked on a mandrel. You could make the mokume with a stack of quarters I've done it, it isn't that difficult

[_Hiller_]

Just a spoon worked on a mandrel. You could make the mokume with a stack of quarters I've done it, it isn't that difficult

This is pretty much exactly what I had in mind. I wonder if it’d have any interesting tonal qualities in comparison to a  regular steel or brass slide.

[Mesophilic]

On the Mohs scale copper is 3 and nickle is 4.  With steel guitar strings being at least as hard as iron which is 4.5 you might wear spots in the copper faster than the nickle sliding up and down the strings.

[_Hiller_]

On the Mohs scale copper is 3 and nickle is 4.  With steel guitar strings being at least as hard as iron which is 4.5 you might wear spots in the copper faster than the nickle sliding up and down the strings.

I had thought of the same thing. I thought that might actually make it more interesting. Sort of like how some old slide players use brass slides and carry them around with keys and change and such in an effort to scratch it up. I figured the metal wearing down at different rates and the unique patterns might make the slide interact differently with the strings in an interesting way. Dunno how long it’d last though.  I suppose it would depend on your strings

[Mr. Woolery]

Something like that spoon slide would be fairly easy to make from mokume.  I'd probably use a nickel silver (no silver in it - it is a white bronze) and navel bronze or red bronze combo, myself.  A really lovely, but subtle pattern comes from nickel silver and sterling.  It is white and grey and really sexy, but you have to look at it, it doesn't jump out at you.

Mokume can also be purchased in sheet form, if you want to either make your own slide or find a local jeweler to make it for you.  My advice is to stop by the art department of your local university and talk to the metalsmithing instructor.  There may be an intermediate student who needs a project.   This is exactly the sort of thing my old professor would have handed over to a student.  And the student will get class credit for it and may even start offering them for sale.

My favorite slide is glass, but I don't really play guitar.  My axe is a banjo. 

-Patrick