Fluxes used in blacksmithing

Short version: Anhydrous borax is a great flux for forge welding. It can be purchased in bulk or produced by melting regular borax (e.g., 40 Mule Team), letting it cool, and grinding it up. Drying regular borax in an oven isn't enough. Long version: Borax is a great flux for forge welding. When sprinkled on the surfaces to be welded, it melts, dissolves the oxides that form during heating, and carries them out of the weld under the force of the hammer blows. It is cheap and easily obtained as a laundry booster. The disadvantage of regular borax as it comes out of the box is that it contains a fair amount of water. When that water evaporates, it makes the borax bubble…

Hi fokes ---Wish you well---- I need to know what the Chemical name or names are for the flux's that is used in Fire Welding --and is there more than one thats used --- or any info about flux --- thanks __________________

Good morning! after forge welding, I occasionally get borax pushing through my finish. Why does this happen and how do I address it?

I know this has been beat to death in other threads. I'd rather not resurrect an 8+ year old thread. And my point has not been mentioned in any of them. The point is this: The use of rice straw, rice straw ash, and rice paper, VS any other straw, ash, and paper. This comes from the point of view of the casual observer. I haven't tried it myself. But i can see the principle behind it. In Japan, Rice is a principle crop. So, it follows that there is an abundance of rice straw to be had for the cheep. Here in the U.S. wheat is a principle crop, And as we all know wheat straw is abundant and cheep. Rice straw is used in Japan, not because it's better than any oth…

Found a bag of 100% silica. It says so on the bag........So I heated a section of 1/8 by 1" wide with the Oxy Acetylene torch. Not the forge. I simply wanted to see what it looks like when sprinkled on hot (bright orange) But it didn't do anything. Unlike Borax, which melts even at red heat.I was looking for it to melt and run a bit. So.....the smithing book says clean sand. Doesn't say what for sand or how clean. Free from rat droppings I assume? Looks clean to me as it is intended for sand blasting. Very fine sand,,,,cream colored with a few black specks (maybe dark brown?) Books says to mix one part Borax to two parts clean sand. This is for high carbon steel but …

Have you ever tried a forge welding using sand as a flux? I'm just reading in the book "forging" from J. Jernberg that this is possible, and that borax is a substitute for flux. Interesting anyway. What act as a flux in the sand, is it silica? Ludo PS: I read further, and you might be interested to know that borax can be heated red hot (I believe you put it in a pan on a stove) and left to cool. It become vitrous and have almost all of its water gone. In the form of powder, that "dry" borax won't boil when heated in the forge and will remain more easily on the pieces to weld.

I need thick copper bars, 1/8" thick, for electrical purposes. I've been to the local scrap metal yard & they don't have them in those thickness. I do, however, have a copper pipe with 1/16" thickness. I would like to flatten & forge this pipe to be the bar that I require. I figured I need a flux the inside of the pipe that would weld together. I flatten the pipe slightly to make the inside narrower (noting how soft hot copper actually is). Then I filled the inside with hydrous borax. I heated this to a propane torch until the borax got glassy & added more until I thought I had all the inside covered with glassy anhydrous borax. Then I heated it red hot &…

I'm pondering a volcano themed knife. My mind wandered from Indian George using his wife's ashes in a damascus canister to "what would volcanic ash in a canister do" to "could you use volcanic ash for flux?" What do y'all think? Recipe for disaster?

I called the phone number and it's disconnected??? Anybody know?

There has been a lot of talk about using borax as a flux, some use it straight from the box and some talk about using anhydrous borax. The difference is the chemically attached water. Borax can be easily converted to anhydrous borax by baking in the oven to drive off the water. You drive off the water at 250-300 degrees F to turn borax into anhydrous borax. So what is different from using 1500 degrees F to do the same thing. How is using borax on hot steel different from using anhydrous borax as any water will be driven off as soon as it comes in contact with the hot steel anyway.

Hey guys - so I’ve got some forge welding to knock out this weekend but the 20 Mule Team Borax is so very slippery. Now I learned last week that I was using way too much but even after cutting way down on the use it’s still slippery stuff. I know other fluxes like that Iron Mountain stuff is supposed to be much “stickier” for lack of a better word. I’ll definitely be ordering some of that but for this weekend I was wondering if anyone has had this same issue and has come up with any homemade flux brews of 20 Mule Team mixed with something else I can easily grab at a store or something that will help with the issue I’m having. Thanks in advance for any advice.

I saw Frosty talking about using this awhile back so I ordered some an a week or so ago it came in, after getting all my chores done this morning I finally got a chance to fire up the forge, an try my first forge weld, Originally I had planned on trying a basket weave as my first weld but it was suggested to me that I’d better practice some lap welded fire pokers first to learn, so I took that advice, I didn’t have any square stock hanging around today so I grabbed a leftover piece of 3/8” round stock, and squared it up, I brought it to a point an bent it over, then I cleaned the bend really shiny, i fluxed it an finished shutting it cold, then I heated it up …

Not sure if this would be the correct category or not, as I am not sure that is what it is being used for, but I was watching the video below by Shurap. In the beginning, before he seals up the cannister, he puts what I assume is cracked black pepper and some kind of Chili pepper. What is the purpose of that? Is it being put in to act as a sort of flux? EDIT: Disregard the question. Apparently it is done as a joke to add "sharpness" due to something in the Russian language about spicy being sharp.

Anyone use a "cheese shaker" for holding and applying borax while forging? Something I think I will try so as to prevent spilling a tray or box full and making a mess I have to clean up. I knnow a spoon is used to apply it. This seems an 'all in one' thing, both container and applicator.

Alright I have been using plain old borax for welding and have had a few successful fluxes welds. I have read quite a few threads about fluxes and I'm going to make my own. I've read about iron powder, iron dioxide, boric acid, and just about everything else. Now what I've figured out through a lot of research is that carbon really does lower welding temps. So I plan on taking some old window weights I have that are cast iron and I'm going to get to work on filing them and collecting all the filings in a bucket then I'm going to take plain old borax and bake it at 350 for an hour to dehydrate it. And I'm going to mix 60% dehydrated borax 30% cast iron filings and 10% bori…

I am new to forging made a few small knives. Want to try damascus a canister with bearings. So my question is can I use borax or should I use a 1095 powder?

I've seen many videos of people using borax, to protect forge welding processes from the air. Since such technique has been around since ancient times, borax wasn't there and I guess, ancient people's found a way to do it with something else. Wood ash seems like a good candidate to me, since at such temperatures, potassium and calcium oxides would form that would react with the silicates in clay, forming a thin layer of glass around the metal. You guys know of other methods of protecting metals from oxidation?

Where do you buy fluorspar? Also is it the same thing as fluorite?

So, I've been using borax for flux and I'm finding it a bit obnoxious how it fluffs up when it gets up to heat. I've read from the internets that if you bake it and "dehydrate" it beforehand, it won't fluff up as much. I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting but it definitely wasn't this. Thought I'd share for a laugh. This was a layer of borax spread out on a cookie sheet

I’m just getting into smithing and was curious what the point of flux was? I looked around a bit but couldn’t really find anything on here about why it is used.

Can I reuse the Iron Mountain flux that doesn’t adhere to my steel when forge welding? Specifically, I hold the heated knife or axe head over a pan when applying the flux before going back in the forge and there is a fair amount that doesn’t stick to the hot steel. OK to put back in the bottle?

Can anyone advice on the use of crushed oyster shell with clay and sand all mixed to form a flux. This is an evidence driven question from an Iron Age metal working site where we have crushed oyster shell down 10mm x 5mm down to dust, tiny oxidised and reduced clay pieces, with small pieces of magnetic smithing slag and hammer scale and tiny magnetic metal flakes, all within the clay and sand silts of a small prehistoric pool.

I bumped into this article while scouring the news. It was linked off of a story that was linked off of a recent story. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7013766.stm The story is of a tribe in Tanzania who are Blacksmiths by trade. They are deemed “untouchables” by other groups but are still indispensable. The first photo depicts a 20 year old blacksmith demonstrating how he learned to make flux. He chews charcoal and the saliva-charcoal mixture fluxes the work. Has anyone heard of this? Is anyone willing to try it? Interesting story either way. Lou

Has anyone tried Larry Zoeller's Z Weld?

This is a fast video on how i make up welding flux.. I started doing it this way back in the 80's and the main advantage is " it is a condensed product).. IE : Denser product.. First off it's a : To each there own video".. Wanna discuss fluxes or likes vs dislikes go for it.. This particular subject as to which is better. has and is beaten to death.. This is simple a video for the curious at heart.. . It takes 3-4 pints of hydrous borax to make 1 pint of anhydrous borax.. This means it weighs a lot more per volume and it has a higher coverage ratio vs 20 Mule team or oven made Anhydrous which never gets to the melting point.. Of note: The pan is ca…