Attempting to forge zirconium in the blacksmith shop today! Hoping this works as I would like to use this as the knife guard for my titanium knife. Pretty cool material to have in the shop, hope you enjoy the video!
My name is Timothy Dyck. I got hooked on blacksmithing when I was 13 years old. I quickly realized that in order to keep blacksmithing I needed money to buy costly supplies, so I started making small items and selling them at the local farmer markets. The farmer markets turned into craft shows and craft shows turned into custom projects. Right out of high school I had the opportunity to apprentice under a blacksmith, where I worked with him for four years. We did projects for some of the most prestigious houses around the rocky mountains and were apart of many large public sculptures. I learned many valuable lessons while working under his training, but the desire to set up my own shop and go out on my own was always something I dreamed about.
So in 2013 I started setting up my full time blacksmith shop out of BC, Canada making custom projects and products like railings, gates, lights, stairs, fences and all the many blacksmithing tools required to keep the blacksmithing shop running. I love what I do and this is my dream job. I enjoy showing you what's going on in the blacksmith shop through the lens of a camera and would love to have you along for the ride as I live out my dream of being a blacksmith in the 21st century.
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#blacksmith
#forging
#zirconium
Try to forge Magnesium I heard it’s an enlightening experience
Lol
"Enlightening" I see a pun
Ba dum Chii
What about forging some lithium?
@@luizgustavocarvalhoteixeir6572 that too
I swear this guy is underrated
Yea
Awesome videos bro couldn't agree more
Agreed, I have watched Alec Steel, and Alec has nothing on this guy, pure raw talent
@@DefinitelyNotJ749 Yeah Steeles videos are mostly just montages with royalty free music, at least this guy shows more of the forging process
agreed
You tryna build a nuclear reactor? Next week: "Can we forge uranium-238?"
You beat me to it. I was going to say depleted uranium.
U-238 is depleted uranium, it’s leftovers from the centrifuge process.
TheyCallMe Doug LMFAO!!! Actually the military makes armor piercing rounds out of it. So it’s not that bad but probably after 10 years of being around it your health will not be good.
Depleted uranium isn’t that bad but the dust, smoke and shavings are toxic as fuck. It’s still a heavy metal
@@Basement_crusader yeah uranium 235 is the decaying isotope, once it has decayed enough, and lost its "charge" it turns into uranium 238, however you can "reactivate" uranium 238, using a bunch of 235. i'm not exactly familiar with the proccess but appearntly it can be done.
The white powdery stuff is what is used to make synthetic cz and dental crowns. Zirconium oxide.😁 I was thinking that maybe you could use ammonium sulfide to blacken the metal like how jewelers give their pieces an aged look to bring out the detail in designs.👍
Dang, you beat me to it!
Ditto - Zirconium Oxide/dioxide. To confirm, it shouldn’t dissolve easily in water.
I was wondering why it didn’t look like a diamond! 😂🤦♂️
For some reason youtube content creators who say "I'm not sure what that is" about something really gets on my nerves. The guy works with metal all the time, he understands metal oxidation and should know that's what it is. If he doesn't he has a phone in his pocket and could google what it is in less than 30 seconds. I literally just typed "Zirconium oxide" and it was showing images of a white powdery substance. I'm not a blacksmith or fabricator but I know what oxidation looks like so he definitely should. We have the collected knowledge of mankinds recorded history at our fingertips 24/7 on our phones. There is no reason to say "I don't know what this is" or anything similar. The guy making the video should know what's going on and if they don't they can spend a minute or two googling for an answer and then explain it in the video instead of just shrugging like wtf is going on.
@@velvetjones chill bro
Sweet project, can we all take a minute to acknowledge how epic Martin was just standing with the sledge hammer. What a boss.
Or how he sanded it without gloves and sparks were flying like crazy
I'm proud of Martin.
Can we get 420 comments to go with these 69 likes?
"it's super flammable" That makes the clean up super ez
Zirconium fires are no fun.
"it's super flammable" You can actually see the pyrophoric property as he's hitting it, those are not sparks, those are micro-ignitions. You can see this better in this industrial-scale forging being done for nuclear power plant parts. kzhead.info/sun/YMeSc7ZqnquOe2w/bejne.html Zirconium is no joke as a material, props for giving it a go, and be VERY careful.
fire is like a janiter
Commenting because i need the algorithm to throw this man some more subs. high quality editing, high quality content, high quality people.
@Zac Howard " This is multi-vac central , your violation has been registered "
Lost 3$ worth of chips on the band saw.
$3 there, $5 on the milling machine, and $1 on sanding, lol
More than that :)
$30**
I work with Zirc oxide and it doesn't surprise me that what you got on the surface of your forging was white. Also, the reason it's so expensive is that the process to get to that final product you have is long, laborious and has a high energy demand.
Can you make pants out of zirconium? Want to hear it from a professional:)
Random question, is it possible to cast zirconium and would it make a good knife material?
@_____ Zirconium is more difficult to cast because it has a high melting point. But it could be forged and cut to make a knife.
Does the blackening effect he did at the end change any properties of the metal?
Honestly, I like how chill and long your vids are, thank you
i’ve never really been interested in forging until now i saw this video on my recommended and i’m like “that seems cool” and now here i am wanting to be a blacksmith. much love
Hmm, such an interesting metal - I do wonder what the durability of it would be as a guard. Looking forward to the next one, great stuff!
Love it. You should be wearing tinted glasses when sanding these metals though the sparks are bright enough to be damaging for your retinas.
Always interested in seeing someone ELSE experiment with expensive metals! Thanks for spending the time and money to educate us!
Zirconium is used in nuclear reactors. Very very cool to see forged and machined. I love watching your channel.
Tim it is always great to see ur videos because you never know what kind of metal that you will put in side of ur forge which is always cool to see because ur curiosity is what makes me happy to see ur videos because you always learning with u and from u keep up the great craftsmanship and work forge on keep ur crurisity.
Tim, you're freaking nuts. I never thought of trying to forge zirconium but I'm glad you are brave enough to give it a go
Didn't see the whole shop before but man is this guy blessed with an amazing workshop. Would love to get in there and waste time goofing around on projects.
I just love the energy you give out on your videos. Positive vibes
"Do you like how i dance? I have zirconium pants consequential enought to slip you into a trance"
Might want to wear some sunglasses when grinding. Some metals produce sparks which can damage your eyeball. Best of luck with future projects with the material!
All metal grinding sparks will damage your eyeball.
@@sjv6598 Technically yes, but sparks that are white (like magnesium) release much more harmful UV light than steel. This kind of stuff catches up with you eventually if you aren't taking the precautions.
Ty Phipps from the uv? Or lumens? Because regular safety glasses provide uv protection, most clear plastics do
@@brandonbenjamin9452 people wear more than clear glasses for the UV light emitted from a welder. Those clear glasses might be okay for the UV emitted from steel sparks, but you need something like a shade 2 for those white sparks.
Ty Phipps yes you’re right, I used to weld with only safety glasses and safety squints and it was a terrible idea. Interesting though, I never knew looking at sparks could be that harmful
*Please don't be the end of the video*... Tim: "So we're gonna leave this for now" GOSH DANGIT
man not even a month ago, I subscribed to your channel when it was at 34k..so happy to see now you have reached 50k (just because you create quality blacksmithing content). waiting for your youtube play button reveal.
I've watched him for a while too. For some reason I was reluctant to sub. . . The second he said "I just spent all my money on an upsetting upsetting press, please subscribe" I was like, Yea, you know what, you've earned a lot more than just a single sub. This guy's a champ!
@@rickrussell579 couldn't agree more.
Great job brother. That stuff is crazy. I’m loving your channel.
Keep up the good work brother!! Your dedication will pay off....
I love how you ask a question in the title. Sometimes its yes and sometimes its a no. I love the surprise ^-^ and its not clickbait because you ask this yourself before you even start recording. This helps us get in the same mindset as you and lets us discover the answer as the video goes on. Its a nice way to make your vids. ♥
Martin standjng with the sledge looking cool like "they call me the Power Hammer"
he is a Big Lad
Its almost like a Black Chrome finish. looks good man
Yall make a good forge team thats some coordination
Just obliterated my monitor with a sledge to hit that sub button, totally worth though.
And so did I...
This channel is super underrated and I hope you get more followers soon. Your video shots and music are some of the best I have seen on KZhead.
Timothy, you rock!
Now that is really cool!!!
I am waiting for your titanium knife part 2 I am very excited can't wait 😬
New favourite channel
Never seen this channel before but I can clearly tell these two are in sync with each other.
Love watching ur videos keep them coming 😍🔥
I just read your story beneath the video, friend. It sounds a lot like me, except I'm just getting started. People keep telling me to get a real job but soon I will open a stand at the farmers market down the road. Maybe I'll sell enough stuff to get more tools, and make cooler, more expensive things. You're an inspiration Tim.
I have (small) fires quite frequently turning zirconium on my lathe. It burns hot and bright but burns out pretty quickly. You have to clean and decrease it extremely well before heating it or you won’t get the black, it will turn out more of a medium graphite color like this.
Every thing about this guy makes me happy
Wow I can't believe how black that stuff went, looks like it's been painted or something. That awesome! Can't say I've heard of that material before, I was surprised it could be forged since the you said how flammable it can be. Nicely done👍
It's an incredibly even coloration for the crude torch heating, I was pretty surprised too. And I came across a large industrial forging vid :) kzhead.info/sun/YMeSc7ZqnquOe2w/bejne.html
You should have way more subs! This channel is so cool...
The sound when you hit is super satisfying
You get my sub for working with atypical metals. Very interested in further projects involving not-steel!
Great stuff Tim ur channel is so addictive 👍🏻
I designed our own zirconium wedding rings with a 24k gold line spelling our first names letters, i remember the crafter had to get permission for some nuclear agency to order the zirconium. Lovely video!
Refractory metals are a blast; hard to abrade; high melting point; great for rocket motor nozzles.
That's pretty cool stuff, about 40 years ago l was machining magnesium and it could catch fire. We took the chips and lith them up and put compressed air. It lith up and looked like ark welding. Cool.
Martin on standby with the sledge:
Thanks KZhead recommendations!
This channel deserves so much more love. Tim is ridiculously talented and you can tell hes not doing this for the sole purpose of making money on youtube. You can tell he makes his content because hes passionate about his art and enjoys doing it. I have yet to see a better blacksmithing channel anywhere. I hope to see this channel grow much more :)
Hey thanks so much for the incredible kind words. I appreciate your comment and support! Thank you.
Love it man
Great video Tim
*Zirkonium sounds badass!*
Finally a regular timed video
Just this title makes me want to cower in fear. Desperately clutch my class D fire extinguisher, and pray I survive.
Im giving you my subscription cause i saw only a couple of your vids (one being about your hammer) and just wanted to say ive enjoyed your videos so far.
Hi It's amazing, first time I see zirconium forging. Try to forge the hafnium (Hf). Always clear with due caution.
10 second in already love it
I have a sword that I forged about 20 years ago from a piece of zirconium. Forges quite nicely. Highly flammable though in powder form.
as per video yes, and its shiny - flies away!
Awesome informational educational video experience Y'alls
Beautiful.
"Its super flammable" 3 seconds later "Lets see what the sparks look like from this"
@@RwP223 damn you sound smart do imma just shut up and listen to you
Great video I am telling my friends about this channel
@Timothy Dyck, the first heat you worked the zirconium was too cold, what i learned is that all high hardness materials needs to be worked at a bright yellow luster, and yours was orange and dull orange. But the second heat was good, and i can bet you noticed the difference. Btw i like your powerhammer, it has quite the resemblance to my twin brother :D And the sparks on the belt grinder, yes is very much like titanium, but can u see the burn length on the sparks, they are much shorter, then high carbon and titanium, i dare say it looks almost like magnesium sparks.
That stuff moves like butter
Very interesting material , that Zirconium is !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Very interesting great work .
Martin looking like a debt collector with the shades and hammer. Nice vid guys.
Wow, was surprised how malleable the Zirc is when hot. Another fantastic video, always learn something from your videos. Cheers man.
That guard looked sick after the final attempt to blacken it, very nice.
So dope!
Amazing!!!
I like your style, i myself been spending a bunch of money in exotic materials
Great content!
That black finish looks like a "metallic" obsidian :D
Looks damn awesome
I don't know this guy, i just see this video in recommendation When i saw he open the box with an axe.. i subscribe immediately
lovin' it
We use it to alloy aluminum when ever we add a 50lb box to a melter it can smoke the whole end of the building out and puts on more of a light show than magnesium burning in my opinion
Wow, those grinding sparks, dude.
Worked in forge company that forged and machined knees made of Zirconium. It was for Smith & Nephew, they sell their Oxinium line. The black oxide is wear resistant, the remainder is damage tolerant, especially as compared to ceramic materials. From a metallurgical perspective, almost the same as titanium.
Legend says he forged pants out of it after the video
Zirconium has to be evenly heated for that matte black look. Excellent video 👍
I've done some work with Zirconium spinners, if you use a smaller torch and heat it up slower you'll get much more dramatic black, deeper and richer, you can go too far with the heat and start to lose some depth in the color
Mix those zirconium flakes with magnesium Falken and pack it on top of the powder load on a 12gauge shell and you have some sweet dragons breath rounds
Awesome great video
Nice!
Dude just aimlessly standing with the hammer
Very cool
Thank you now I can make zirconium pants
Thanks Tim, until now I had no idea zirconium was even real!
What a cool video
jeesh! I'd make sure you clean up that saw well!!! I've seen it sparking and smoking when being deburred using a hand tool even
Good times!
Zirconium is soft and easily rolled / forged. Usual sort of rolling / forging temperature is of the order of 825C, though up to about 950C for the harder alloys. Much heavier / more dense than Titanium though not quite as dense as steel. The high temperature oxide is a greyish / pinkish white that can feel a little soapy / smooth. As the oxide builds up, it expands, spilts and becomes dusty and flaky. The metal dust, fines and machining swarf is very flammable, burns with a blinding white light and is difficult to extinguish, use dry sand to smother the fire, use of water will create a massive explosion as Zirconium will break down water into Hydrogen and Oxygen. Need to keep machines clean, do not allow large amounts of swarf to build up and ensure no other metal swarfs in contact with Zirconium swarf. The low temperature "black oxide" passive surface is not very tough, it can be scratched and damaged quite easily.
"ensure no other metal swarfs in contact with Zirconium swarf" Well, someone needs to make a zirconium thermite video now, I guess?
@@MushVPeets Well "thermite" type reactions can be made from a few different things I am sure. Not sure how reactive it is in comparison to the more traditional thermite process. I have seen a Titanium and Steel reaction twice, a small bin of mixed Titanium and steel turnings and fines. The steel fines and turnings were covered in rust, it was burning white hot. Zirconium fines and dust burns very hot with a brilliant white flash (hence its use in the old camera flash bulbs). It also has a very strong affinity for Oxygen. Plus at high temperatures it will decompose water. We used to quench Zirconium slabs, bars, plates and rods from 1000C into water and every time have several seconds of Hydrogen burning from the surface of the water tank with the hot metal well submerged, it was not an explosion though. This happened every time.
I have a titanium/zirkonium damascus ring. The maker of it said that he had placed the ring in molten salt to create an enamel like black coating on it. Might be worth checking into
Hey how long does it generally take to learn, hitting with the hammer every time ?
Whenever I see a video like this I always think to myself wow it must be nice to be rich
That white surface is interesting. It might be possible to make a nice, unique finish from it!