forgwelding L6

rotor

rotor

Joined
Mar 18, 1999
Messages
184
last night i tried forgewelding some L6 to some 5160 im useing borax for the flux with no success i searched the net and in don foggs site site he said that borax is not aggessive enough and he mixes florspar with the borax can anyone point me in the rite directionto find some florspar and dose anyone know trhe chemical breakdown of this product.
 
rotor, in my experience thats a combination that doesn't work too good in a forge weld. Plus the contrast isn't that good. Plus florspar is quiet toxic. Plus the performance of the resulting steel is not the best. Plus there are several other combinations that are easy to weld, work fine, look good and perform much better. So why hassle with it?

Achim
 
I have to agree with Achim, it is a hard weld to make? There is some discussion at www.customknifedirectory.com Go to Ed Caffery's forum.
On The junkyard I was told that one part Boric acid to 4 parts borax is a good welding flux, I haven't tried it but it was recommended by Bill Fiorni. I don't think that combo is as unhealthy as the fluospar.
You can get the boric acid powder at drug stores. I got some from the dollar store here real cheap.

If you just have to make this weld,( as I did) try a little longer soak time. the outer stock was all up to heat but the inner stock was still a little under temp.

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Sola Fide
 
I have seen a few top damascus makers doing there magic, they all use somthing a little diferent. The one constant is Borax, usually the 20 mule team brand. Addatives ( if used at all, hint, hint ) range from florspar to crushed charcoal. The one thing they all say is you gota have faith that your welds are going to hold. They have that faith from a long history of forge welding. No gimick will beat experiance. Also compatable steels really help to build that faith.

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Robert
Flat Land Knife Works
rdblad@telusplanet.net
http://members.tripod.com/knifeworks/index.html
 
That(borax and boric acid) is what we used in the class that Bill tought last August. Works well as far as I can tell. I did not have a problem making welds. We were using steels that are easy to weld, BUT I had never ever tried my hand at a forge, much less doing forge welding.

BTW ALL of the students were welding by the first afternoon.

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Dwight

It's a fine line between "a hobby" and "mental illness".

[This message has been edited by pyrguy (edited 08-10-2000).]
 
Thanks for the advise all got to get me some florspar,boric acid and some charcoal and see what happens. thanks again
 
Your problem may not be the flux. Most of the time it is trying to forge it too soon. If you will use some dark glasses and when the shadow is gone from the billit, wait another 5 minutes, then hammer. I am assuming you are using a propane forge and the color inside is not quite white.
When I first started, that was my main problem, impatience. Also, if the pieces you are welding are thin (1/8" or less), be very quick to strike the billit as it looses heat on the outside rather fast. 3 or 4 hits and back in the forge. This may help but it is hard to tell when not present during the operation.
Hope it will work for you.

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Ray Kirk
http://www.tah-usa.net/raker
 
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