Forming twists in titanium ?

I was smithing a little Ti yesterday, trying to make bracelets.

Not sure what the alloy was - scrap 3/4" bar, drawn down to around

3/16" square. It was harder to work than pure Ti, but not the real slog that some past 6/4 was - I'd guess at 6/4 though.

Problems began when I tried to form twists. Now this is easy in steel

- one end in the vice, wrench on the other and rotate. In Ti though I simply failed on about three attempts. It was like twisting putty - although I could form a twist easily enough, the stiffness seemed to reduce where it was twisted, causing the twists to soon collapse in on themselves. One end was slightly twisted, some other random point became more and more twisted until it wrung off completely.

Repeating with more careful heat control (a bright orange) had the same effect. I don't think it was simply uneven heat. I'd like to have gone hotter, where 6/4 is definitely happier working, but the small gas forge was at its limit.

With some real care and moving the clamps around I did manage to get some uesful twists, but only by putting plier marks on it every 1/2" along.

So, as far as I can manage, twisting just isn't a useful technique on small section Ti bar. Has anyone else experienced this ? Any solutions ?

Reply to
Andy Dingley
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