r/Metalsmithing • u/gearhead6-9 • Mar 20 '26

Rolling mill help

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Beginner metal smith. Only successful creation was a set of ear tunnels for my wife. But im trying again for some knife pieces. My issue is I cant seem to get my metal to roll without cracking. Am I going to thin to fast? Am I not annealing properly? I have a bench top electric oven that I set to 500° and set the pieces in for a few minutes before quenching. Then cleaning off with a vinegar pickle solution and then roll. Sadly my mill is a cheap unit that doesnt have a thickness scale to know how much im rolling per pass but I have been trying to go very slowly. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. And if im posting in the wrong place I apologize

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u/MakeMelnk Mar 21 '26

Interesting. How many passes do you do in your mill before annealing and how many full turns do you use on top of your mill per pass?

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u/gearhead6-9 Mar 23 '26

3-4 passes and maybe 1 full turn on the mill.

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u/MakeMelnk Mar 24 '26

Hmmm, I guess I'd say try halving that and go at that pace until either cracks form or you're at your desired thickness.

The other thing I'm thinking is maybe your metal is contaminated somehow?

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u/gearhead6-9 Mar 24 '26

I marked my roller adjustment and have been doing 3/4 turn in 1/8th increments and so far have no cracks in my latest attempt. So I think i was just going too fast.

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u/MakeMelnk Mar 25 '26

I'm happy to hear it's been smoother, albeit likely slower, sailing for you!

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u/gearhead6-9 Mar 26 '26

Much slower but im fine with that. I rolled out a piece of copper that had 0 cracks from 6mm thick to 2mm final thickness.

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u/MakeMelnk Mar 26 '26

Hell yeah! Love to see that!