Jack Rotts

Good job, Hondo.  Doesn't need to be attractive to be effective.

Thanks for the replies. 

Frosty, you mentioned in a 2017 post using Peterson #2.  I see it's rated for higher heat and has metal in it.  It also seems to not be as readily available.  Do you have a preference of the #1 or #2?

Yeah, I get that.  We're set up on the cheap here too.  But I'm seeing 10 pounds for $25 or 5 pounds for $18 on Amazon.  That'll keep casuals like us running a long time.  Do ya know if it works any better or worse than anything else?  I just don't want 10 pounds of regret.

Hello from northern Wisconsin.  JHCC, thanks for the thorough write-up.

A few decades ago I spent a week throwing sledge for a guy who was getting into forging tomahawks.  We fluxed with straight boric acid, and although I recall it working well, neither of us had enough experience to know otherwise.  Fast forward thirty-five years and my sons are messing around with a gas forge.  They're coming along, and I'm sure welding isn't far down the road.

I've spent a bit of time using the site search function and have read this very thorough thread, but haven't found any posts addressing straight boric acid as flux.  Looks like it is chemically very similar to borax, less the sodium atoms (and accompanying high-temp sodium flare).  Does anyone have experience to compare straight boric acid to anything else? 

Here to help, like to learn.