[TheForge] Borax (Was: A36 vs 1018)

[Chuck Robinson]

Mike,  I used to do the same thing and grind it up in a blender.
I've also thought of welding a rectangular metal trough to the top of my 
horizontal gas forge and filling it with borax. The heat escaping from the 
forge shell should keep it in a semi molten state, drive off all the water 
of crystallization. and allow you to dip your billet into it for a thin 
coating.
I'm not sure how safe this procedure would be.
Consequently I can't recommend that other folks try it.
Chuck
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Spencer" <mspencer at tallships.ca>
To: <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2009 11:48 PM
Subject: [TheForge] Borax (Was: A36 vs 1018)


>
>> No idea, but I use anhydrous borax in my fluxes and it makes better
>> welds for me, even after it reabsorbs moisture from the air in humid
>> Mississippi.
>
> I don't do a lot of forge welding but when I do, I use home-made
> anhydrous borax: Melt it in a ladle (PITA), pour out on a steel plate
> where it becomes a blackish/greenish, brittle, glassy sheet.  Break it up
> with a hammer and run it through an old meat grinder.
>
> Off the shelf borax is around 40% to 50% water by weight.  All that
> foaming, twisting action when you put it into the fire drives me
> nuts. Two thirds of it falls off into the fire to become clinker. My
> melted and ground-up stuff just sticks to the hot iron and flows like
> it's s'posed to.
>
>
> FWIW,
> - Mike
>
> -- 
> Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~.
>                                                           /V\
> mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
> http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^
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