[TheForge] Re: Flux, was rust & pickling

[Cameron Stoker]

I just tried drying out my borax today.  I placed about 4lbs. of 20=20
mule into an electric deep frier (no oil, just dry). Cooked it without=20=

the lid on till I stopped seeing water vapor condense on a cold glass=20
above the pot. Took about 4 hours.
I made a batch of modified japanese sword-smiths flux (in this ratio: 3=20=

borax, 3 boric acid, 3 anvil scale, 1 salt, 1 bandsaw swarf) and tried=20=

it out.  It is quite an improvement over plain, hydrous borax.  I could=20=

stick two 1/2" round bars together in the fire and have the adhesion be=20=

strong enough to hold them together while I pulled them out of the fire=20=

and over to the anvil. Also, the residue from this flux doesn't seem to=20=

be white like plain borax, it color matched the pieces quite well.
I'd highly recommend that anyone who hasn't tried mixing up a batch of=20=

flux do so.
Thanks for posting the recipes.
I ordered 20lbs. of flourspar today to experiment with in the future.=20
This additive seems to be the key to getting stainless forge welds to=20
work.

theforge is great

On Tuesday, August 19, 2003, at 06:20 PM, Ed F wrote:

> Shees you guys.  Yes this has come up before, and about 3 years ago=20
> after
> (the first time) I said that I dried it successfully in the oven =20
> there was
> a bunch of hubbub about maybe it would work and maybe it wouldn't, and
> finally someone suggested that it might be worth trying.
>
> After all this talk has anyone else tried that?  Would someone=20
> *PLEASE* go
> put some on a cookie sheet and stick in the oven?  Again, stir it=20
> while it's
> drying or it will cake up.
>
> Ed
				Cameron Stoker
				cameron@stoker.net
				"May you run like a vicu=F1a!"
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