[TheForge] flux

[Allen Ortery]

Mike,
  Dead on. I have done a lot of forge welding for a new guy.  Always
use flux, but consider it hedging my bets. anything to help make sure
the weld works.  I have bumped them together at the anvil and had them
weld together tight, I have also welded at much cooler temps. than
what I was told was a welding heat. Mostly I want to be able to do it
well all the time. Lots of doing it over and over, having confidence
and experience. I was reading in a book a comment made in one of the
old blacksmith journals when iron production changed that they were
saying that if you needed flux to weld then you were not a real
blacksmith. So sounds like there was a lot of talk back and forth over
the subject even then.
Allen