[TheForge] flux

[paul]

kim george wrote:
> I add iron-steel to my borax. I get it by going to a garage that turns 
> drums and rotors. They give it away. It's also good for helping roses 
> bloom.
> 
> Kim George
> 
>       "Why for you burry me in cold,cold ground?" Taz

Just a side note.
By way of experiment some years ago I used brake drum turnings, ie cast 
iron particles, with anhydrous borax to effect a 'case hardening' 
operation that occurs in seconds vs hours using a traditional case 
hardening method.
A one foot piece of 3/8" cold rolled was heated on each end and forged 
to a flat about 1/2" or so wide. One end was heated past critical (what 
ever that is for mild steel) , coated with flux only, re-heated and and 
quenched.
The other end was heated, fluxed, sprinkled with the cast iron turnings 
(read high carbon content) reheated and lightly forged and then reheated 
and held at heat for 20 or 30 seconds and then quenched. Subsequent 
simple vise-type bend test showed that the end that had received no iron 
turnings simply bent, while the treated end snapped. Carbon penetrates 
iron at temperature quite rapidly.
Regardless of the utility of the process I described, I thought that you 
might be careful using cast iron turnings so as not to cause hardening 
of your forge weld. The lower melting point of the cast iron fillings 
might be useful, but the potential hardening of the weld might not be.


-- 
Paul Sperbeck
WB9HCO
jadap

  "The difference between genius and stupidity is that
genius has its limits." -Albert Einstein