[TheForge] Re: Rust,pickling

Fri Aug 15 13:16:00 2003

Hey Dan,
Many years ago I attended my first blacksmithing conference in Vicksburg
Mississippi. I watched Bob Patrick effortlessly do about 20 forge welds
under what I later realized were less than ideal conditions. I decided that
it looked pretty easy and since I had read several books on the subject I
was sure I was in like Flynn.
Boy was I surprised when my first attempts were dismal failures
I eventually got some halfway decent welds made. Then, one year I went to
Campbell Folk School and got to work with Chuck Patrick, who is among many
other things, another master forge welder.
I seriously thought changing my last name to Patrick might help, but
realized that chuck P. might not appreciate it.
All during this time period, my welding flux was standard 20 mule team
borax.
About 15 years ago, when I started seriously forging  250 + layer, damascus
blades, a good friend of mine was working in the metallurgy  Lab at Miss,
State.
He did a micrographic analysis of the damascus several bladesmiths sent him,
and discovered that very few forge welds had more than 80% fusion across the
weld boundaries.
My  welds  were not consistent, varying from less than 50% to about 85% in
the same sample.
Desperate for ways of improving my welds I switched to  industrial anhydrous
borax. The welds improved but not enough to satisfy me, until I added Boric
acid powder and Fluorspar the borax  to dissolve the oxides  on the Nickel
layers in the Billet.
This was also when I started using my D/Gold face mask so I could more
clearly see the billet in the forge.
Due to the large number of variables in forge welding it is difficult to
predict being able to always make a good weld.
Did the change from 20MT borax to anhydrous borax help my welds?
Yes.
Will it work for you? Maybe.
Chuck Patrick demonstrated using Mud dauber nests  and river sand to make
some excellent welds.
Michael Bell demonstrated forge welding a Katana blade billet using the some
local  creek mud slurry and the ash from dried vines that he burned on the f
orge floor while he was forging.
Last year Bob Patrick demonstrated at our Gulf Coast Blacksmith's conference
and put on another dazzling show of forge welding.
One weld he did, to attach a single piece point and hook to a fireplace
poker with a Y shaped weld was really impressive.
I asked him there about  20MT borax flux vs. Anhydrous borax.
He specifically said that it was the anti caking ingredient not only the
bound H2O that made the 20MT borax less effective. He also explained why the
ACI made welding more difficult, but I don't remember his explanation.
Does 20MT borax work? Yes
Is it as good as  Anhydrous? You decide for yourself.
Do I believe Bob knows what he is talking about when he says there is an
anticaking ingrediant in it?
If Bob told me that the secret ingrediant in his "super flux"  was purified
yak dung mixed with vampire bat blood, I would try it.
Chuck

---- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Tull" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2003 8:24 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Re: Rust,pickling

> The email was from you, not Bob.
> Now, if you believe it , stick up for it yourself.
> dan tull
> georgia
> abba, afc, S.C. psba, obg,sofa
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Chuck Robinson" <[email protected]>
> To: <[email protected]>
> Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2003 7:20 PM
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Re: Rust,pickling
>
>
> > Take it up with Bob Patrick not me.
> > It's straight from the horses mouth.
> > Bob is the best forge welder I have ever seen in action.
> > Chuck
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Dan Tull" <[email protected]>
> > To: <[email protected]>
> > Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2003 11:26 AM
> >
>
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