[TheForge] Re: Flux, was rust & pickling

[Doug Ayen]

Quoth Cameron Stoker (cameron@stoker.net):
> I just tried drying out my borax today.  I placed about 4lbs. of 20 
> mule into an electric deep frier (no oil, just dry). Cooked it without 
> the lid on till I stopped seeing water vapor condense on a cold glass 
> above the pot. Took about 4 hours.
> I made a batch of modified japanese sword-smiths flux (in this ratio: 3 
> borax, 3 boric acid, 3 anvil scale, 1 salt, 1 bandsaw swarf) and tried 
> it out.  It is quite an improvement over plain, hydrous borax.  I could 
> stick two 1/2" round bars together in the fire and have the adhesion be 
> strong enough to hold them together while I pulled them out of the fire 
> and over to the anvil. Also, the residue from this flux doesn't seem to 
> 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 
> flux do so.
> Thanks for posting the recipes.
> I ordered 20lbs. of flourspar today to experiment with in the future. 
> This additive seems to be the key to getting stainless forge welds to 
> work.

Where'd you order the flourspar from?

--doug