[TheForge] Fluorospar (was: Flux, was rust & pickling)

Thu Aug 21 10:55:01 2003

Let me throw in my 2 cents on fluorospar. =20

Any time you see that "fluoro" in a chemical or mineral name, there's a =
good chance there's fluoride present.  Inorganic fluoride is the same =
thing put in water for the good of your teeth, but in much greater =
concentrations is a toxin.  If you're working with fluoride-containing =
flux, you're exposing yourself to potentially toxic fluoride levels.  =
You're fre to do that if you like, but I'd suggest you read up on it =
first, and not just plunge in.

Try an MSDS for sodium fluoride as a starting point.

Bruce
NJ

>>> [email protected] 08/20/03 08:54PM >>>
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
				[email protected]=20
				"May you run like a vicu=F1a!"
				pgp key @ http://keys.stoker.net=20

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