Dont toss it! It becomes the Old Hickory Wall -Wart award! Make a base for that thing and display it proudly! You earned it!

No such thing as failure brother, you’ve now learned 2 ways not to do crucible steel! Keep learning

Thanks for all your support and suggestions. There’s some good ideas here that I’m gonna give a go on the next run. I have the coolest subscribers in the history of subscribers. Maybe ever. Everyone agrees

Al Pendray said to add fresh green leaves as well, something about the hydrogen helping lower melting temps

That made me giggle. “ like a kid opening a present” If only the present was a Pink bunny outfit you hated lol

John...I've learned a hell of a lot more from my failures then my successes. With your attitude and work ethic, success is just around the bend. b/r Jim

I remember reading decades ago about when steel was made with coal, iron ore and limestone that there was as much a chemical reaction that caused the steel to form as there was the heat to liquify the iron ore.

I always tell my students at TAFE (Trade school), F.A.I.L. Stands for First Attempt In Learning. Loving your videos.

John...I got to see the Forged in Fire episode featuring you again last night. I had forgotten how it unfolded. Regardless of the final outcome, you did a bang-up job and should be very proud. I have a feeling you'll be called back on a later episode. Still loving my Farrier's Rasp Tomahawk. Thanks, again! J.

Not to try to bring you down, but it's nice to see the "failures", especially for those of us that can watch and learn so we don't make the same mistakes if/when we try it! Great work!

Try building a small furnace out of bricks, use squirrel cage fans to blow air into the bottom and fill it with coke...Worked both times I tried it. Worked very well, actually.

On venadium crucible wootz I would encourage you to see Al Pendrays videos on Wootz Damascas . Best to you on your quest !

I’d definitely keep it I have the first knife I ever snapped. It’s a good laugh to look at.

Always cool watching your videos! Thanks and God Bless you Sir!

I've been looking to get into smithing so I've been trying to do my research and your channel has been a huge source of info. Thanks for the knowledge and the entertainment. I can't wait to get started! Keep it up man!

Hard fail is so much better than not trying at all.

Hi, maybe you could try a charcoal furnace, with blowers to get to higher temps ?

Love your videos bro. Keep going.

Thanks for sharing! Keep on learning!

Awesome dude! This is has been on my list of things to experiment with for years, keep it up we can all learn from each other

Can't wait to see next attempt and that knife looked great

That fail should be polished and sold as a bad ass paperweight!

I know it has been three years since you did this video. I don’t know if it has worked for you or not. I was curious if you thought about making your material a lot smaller? Like chopping it up in a chop saw ? Hopefully there are more videos on this from you. I think this is very enjoyable and interesting. I worked in a forge shop and loved working with exotic materials.

Borax lowers the melting temperature of the metal. Just eliminating it entirely was probably an issue

I hope you are planning on trying to try it again!! You should definitely keep that and display. It looks really cool imo!!

It’s actually kind of cool that your experiment didn’t work. Why? Most blacksmithing instructional videos on KZfaq show smooth sailing and near perfection. A dose of reality from an expert is encouraging. Cheers

We will wait for the next one

Not 100% where I heard it but I have heard that what they used to do was put a leaf or 2 (any leaf) in under the glass for a source of hydrogen lowering the melting temperature of Steel somehow. Not sure if it'll works, I've never personally tried it out but can't hurt to give it a go and see.

Catchin ya right now on Forged in Fire brotherman!

Ooops but ready for third attempt video. Very good suggestions made hope third time lucky👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Well you did manage to make a cool paper weight...lol

Reline furnace. 2 inches of kaowool, about 4 coats of ITC-100 over 1 coat of satanite.

Throw some vanadium in it... Rip Al pendray wootz master

Very nice my friend very nice

It's never stupid make it.!!!!!!! Get Dam beautiful piece of art what it is💪💪🤣

I have always read to slowly heat the crucial as you heat the furnace so there is no thermal shock. But it worked I guess.

Safety sandy says you need a face shield..and maybe heat resistant pants? But AWSOME to watch.

If you want to try this again, look up Peter Burt on KZfaq. He's got very good results with wootz steel

All you need is charcoal and glass , maybe a little sand.

The Gentleman in Florida added green tree leaves for hydrogen reducing the melting point.

I quite like the mini seax. It'd make for a neat carving knife, sorta like a western kiridashi. Though a straight tang would be better for that.

Think your furnace isn't getting hot enough. Might also look into adding diesel into the mix. Might help get it hot enough. Also get rid of the top you made with refractory and thermal blanket. Bricks keep the heat better. Also a firebrick for the crucible to sit on.

Ok ,count this as learning Thanks

Also another good one When asked if failing to make a working light bulb over 1000 times was depressing for him Tomas Edison said.....i didnt fail I simply discovered over a 1000 ways not to make a lightbulb

Hey love the videos! you should watch The Mike Loades Channel to learn the basic and more about crucible steel(wootz); Keep up the good work!

If we are doing, we are learning! Those who don't do anything learn nothing!

Hey don't trash it, would make a hell of a paperweight and a damn fine conversation piece!

Sweet, always like to see your new videos. What does the glass do for the process?

Still good vid man

We used a high pressure industrial oilburner (with a wing nossle, not those integrated burners from ordinary oilheaters, they will not reach the needed temperature, they hawe another type of nossle and the fan operate at much lower pressure) and a pre heting system where the air where pre heted in an externa pipe around a short chimney from the frunace. Maybe if You make an exhaust pipe from a pice of scrap iron pipe (i think it need to be at least 4" or bigger in order to work properly) and a bigger pice of pipe as a mantle surrounding it, then weld a top and bottom to the mantle and a smaller pipe connected to a fan with higher pressure or maybe an aircompressor (then the outlet close to the top of the mantle connected to the burner) would help increase the temperature a bit? It need to be around 1350 Centrigree for real cast iron with high carbon content or pretty close to 1450-1500 Centigree if it's relativly pure "soft/wet" iron, the Graphite cruisibles shall be able to handle such extreme temperaure, they will melt at around 1600 Centigree, but they will become soft and "slippery" if they are heated up so close to their own melting temperature but it shall work if one are careful i think. (You don't need to sacrifice the cruisible if You sucess with the glass cover it shall form a lid as expected once the iron has melted, then You shall be able to just knock the ingot out from it once it's cooled of a bit since iron will expand and contract much more than the graphite mixture, it may crack, but better quality cruisibles may be rescuable, You can also make Your own cruisible from high temperature resistant clay mixtures and grapihte powder, it does not in any mean need to be pure grafite for this, the content in the cruisible will not realy affect the iron, it's only for "noble metals" like gold and silver, platinum, etc and for laboratory analysis it need to be made from pure graphite..). (Sorry for my English it's not my native language...)

Try mild steel shavings

need thinner pcs..

I know someone already mentioned it, but smaller pieces may go a long way towards helping. It has also been a long time since I was researching wootz, but I had found some good references in old Arabic smithing accounts. Also, I will do some digging and see if I can find it again, but at one point there was a video from a gentleman about making crucible steel that was pretty informative. If I find it, I will link it here for you.

Hey man great job! I don’t think there’s a situation with blacksmithing where you don’t learn something. Any chance you could do a video on making clay graphite crucibles? I’ve been looking into making my own because I don’t want to have to keep ordering a bunch

could flux lower the melting point but doing something to activation energy or whatever the chemistry term is called?

Wao...mantap

You should put fresh leaves in it. they will become your source of hydrogen

Did you temper either of your crucibles?

Cut the mild steel into small pieces when you try it again

I've seen a vidéo where a guy says that you need to put fresh leaves in it. The leaves are supposed to decompose into carbone oxygen and hydrogen, and the hydrogen should be able to lower the melting point of the wootz. But i ain't sure if it's a real thing.

imagine how ancient people invented steel?

I'm curious as to why it was not stirred at all during the firing process.. I meen I understand that you don't want to pull it out, and lose heat, but to get anything homogeneous all the ingredients need to be mixed to some extent. It's sort of the difference between an egg over easy, and a scrambled egg. Just moving the contents some will put other parts of it in contact with truly molten materials, and spread their composition into it. I by no meens meen to sound like a chef, but I'd stir it a bit more. The glass should always rise to form an oxygen barrier, just like grease in a pan. Sort of like how a foundy never just drops a block of nickel into a vat of low carbon metal, and just calls the whole thing nickel steel. I can't wait to see how the next take goes. Best wishes on it. 👍👍

Could you make a yakutian knife some time?

Failures are all about learning . the only ones that fail are those hoe do not have a go .

have you seen the documentary on youtube called "The Secrets of Wootz Damascus Steel" if you havent you should watch it

Maybe you have already done so, but if not, try again!

One our is to short time ...

I understand you need 1/2 percent aluminum

Use fresh green leaves the hydrogen lowers the melting point by causing carbon to diffuse into the steel. Also I wouldn’t use mild steel, Everyone I have seen try that failed

Cut the metal into smaller pieces so it all heats

Good try

Honestly you probably could have done well with the first one probably if you folded it

Check out a guy I watch, " FZ- making knives".

Great stuff u ever think of going on Forged and Fire u really seem to have alot of knowledge on metals. Aaaahhhh man that sux.sounds like maybe more Gas.U sound like u know alot I think u will get it.

Tuff luck. U learned a few things tho. N toss the knife. I hope thats not literally tossing the knife as in the trash

you break the Crucible after every time those things are like 30$ a piece

لباءس تابير

You'll get it eventually, then make it look easy buddy. Nothing to it really