cragknives

Short answer: yes. Long answer, it works, but doesn't last long at heat. It melts at a lower temperature than borax, so starts it's fluxing action with less heat, but doesn't protect as well as borax. I usually add 1 part boric acid to 5 parts borax in my flux just for that reason. The boric acid melts at a lower temp and protects the steel till the borax melts and takes over.

well I am a 17 year old knife maker and am just getting in to blacksmithing. I have wanted to start making damascus but cant find borax locally (guatemala, central america), so i can only get boric acid. Can I use it instead of borax??