Can someone recommend a good flux? (for working A36 and most mild steel?) can it be bought locally?

20 Mule Team Borax at the local grocery store.

My propane forge gets to welding heat in about 10 minutes. I have only times an initial heatup, and was not careful about the timing. That is throwing cold stock into a cold forge after lighting.

Doesn't mean I can weld on demand, but it's not my forges fault.

Phil

put the scaled metal in vineger for a couple o days the mill scale will come off alot easier.....or i will knotted wheel the bugger....and plain old borax...

Evfreek,
If you were having success welding cold rolled and then have struggled to weld hot rolled since, you might be overheating the material. With less carbon, cold rolled welds at a higher temperature than hot rolled, which can have up to 35 points of carbon and still meet spec.
Caleb

I use borax, sometimes with iron filings in it. i heard if you mix boric acid (roach killer) with the borax you get an extra aggresive mix, A few years ago I heard Jim Hrisoulas refer to a mix that he would not divulge as it eats refractory at an extremely high rate and used dangerous chemicals.

I use Borax with metal filings in it also, find it works pretty good.

Hi Caleb. Thanks. I did a couple more experiments. I tried welding some high carbon cable (sparked as 1090). It did not weld at high orange. But, it was good and sticky at high yellow, and still did not crumble. I think that I have a hard time judging temperature at that end. I have forged HSS in the high yellow range, no trouble. Just for kicks, I took it up to the cottage cheese temperature. Almost white, and it pretty much splashed rather than crumbling.

I also tried welding some of the difficult hot rolled steel to steels with different carbon contents. First, a piece of 1050, second a soft low carbon nail. Both real sticky, but the HR did not seem to want to stick to itself. Odd. I was using 3:1 borax:boric acid. It seems to not so much be the temperature, but more the steel.

Brake drums are cast iron and when they resurface them the by product is iron filings.....

No, the by product is "cast iron" filings. While we tend to use "iron" and "cast iron" interchangeably, when the old texts referred to

Grant thanks for catching me in an omission. I for sure know that cast iron begets cast iron filings...just did not include that......

Actually, What I meant to include was that cast iron filings are not what you want in your flux.

Why is that, Grant? CI has a nice low melting point (relative to steel) and it might just maybe help a tad with decarb at the weld. I'm not being a smart-aleck here; I'm genuinely curious. I don't entirely understand what purpose filings serve in flux, so I don't understand why iron or steel might be preferable to cast iron.

Evfreek the coal that you were using in the other shop is probably bituminous coal, it burns hot and fast a gives off tons of sulfur especially when igniting.

What do you normally use as fuel?

Check the date stamp, this thread is 14 years old and some of the contributors have passed away.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

Along with those who have passed away, most responders haven't logged on since 2019-2020 so I doubt anyone will see this.

 

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

Sorry I missed that and sorry to hear that.

Good Morning,

Don't be sorry! Be happy we are alive!! Grant is turning in his grave, with a SMILE on his face, saying "They still remember me!!". For me anyway, Grant was a mentor, he asked you to think and answer your own questions with reasoning and logic. He also was a hard working person, who always made time to talk to you, if you asked a sensible question. No fool!! Love ya Grant!!

Neil

Well said Neil. Grant especially is pleased to know his words are still guiding folks. 

I was too short with my answer (Guys will be marking their calendars that I didn't prattle on about a thing) I could've and should've been more complete. One thing I can say for sure. I wasn't trying to guilt you, most folk and almost all newcomers to the forum don't look at the date posted. I only intended to point it out and mention the sad fact that the contributors weren't available to respond. That's it, nothing else.

Heck, I do it sometimes myself and I don't have an excuse. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Opening up old threads is not a bad thing. There probably newer members who have the same question or problem and can learn something from it. Also it keeps members who are no longer with us in our memories.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

Dang, I forgot to mention that Randy. Iforge archives everything so folks can use the info as long as Iforge exists. It's how Glenn Conner designed the site.

Coal varies a great deal within types, bituminous, anthracite, and others. We have a narrow seam of anthracite in the old mines north of here that is very clean and makes excellent smithing coal. Unfortunately finding that one seam is a real trick, the mine is decommissioned but open to people to collect modest amounts for personal use.

There is world class metallurgical bituminous too but finding the seams is again the trick. That and you have to be pretty sure footed to reach an exposure, pry it out and bag it without mishap.

Frosty The Lucky.