anhydrous borax

[Rick Leeson]

Call USBORAX customer service 1-800-872-6729 and they can give you the nearest dealer that sells anhydrous borax. The smallest amount from my local dealer is a 50-pound bag for $65.

 

[Greg Covington]

I asked Bill Bagwell what he used for flux and he told me borax....I asked, "anhydrous?".....he said, "20 Mule Team....anything becomes anhydrous at 1800F"

I know that anhydrous is alot less messy....but I thought this was a great one fron Bill.

 

[jhiggins]

I think it was anvilfire or somewhere I read about baking 20 Mule Team in a pan at 500 degrees for a couple hours to bake all the water out of it. I haven't tried it yet, but I probably should. Last anhydrous stuff I got was from Centaur Forge a few years ago. I don't think they carry it any more. If I could buy 50 pounds of it, well that would eliminate, well... as Forrest Gump would say, "One less thing!"

 

[Mark Williams]

Kelly Couples sells it in 1 lb increments.

 

[Rick Leeson]

I tried the 500 degree bake in the oven thing and was not happy with result. Couldn't see much difference between the oven borax vs. out of the box borax. For me this just wasn't worth the time/effort.

I have also melted down borax, poured, and ground the glass-like material. This makes great flux but requires a lot of work/time to get there.

I spent a day fluxing the ends of 3/8" rods using several commerical fluxes and many "home brew mixes" from old blacksmithing books. I found (for me) applying out of the box borax very lightly works as good as any commerical flux. Applying lightly is the best way to avoid the "cottage cheese" effect as the more borax that is piled on, the uglier it acts. I use a 12-ounce cheese shaker to apply flux these days.

 

[insanity]

Another thing to consider is if you live somewhere that tends to be humid your anhydrous borax will pick up water from the air very quickly unless kept sealed.

 

[Plain ol Bill]

Clay art center also sells anhydrous. As far as leaving it out I don't think there is a worse climate for it than western Wa. and I have some that has been out over a year now. Yeah, there is a little fluff to it (very little) but I can't really tell much difference, and none in the way it works.
Kelly Cupples would be better for small amounts, anything over 25# I would go to Clay art. Of course it helps I just live about 40 miles from them and don't worry about freight cost either.