Kerosene for flux

[Tom Lewis]

When I learned how to make Damascus at a class at Washington Arkansas, we used 20 mule team borax for flux. As anyone who uses it knows it's messy. It eats forge linings, it squirts out under the 100lb Little Giant power hammer and I have scars on my wrists and arms because of that.
For several years I have heard of those using kerosene and today decided to try it. It was amazing. The billets welded up easily and no messy borax. I wish I had tried it earlier.

 

[Salem Straub]

Congrats! That's a real leap of faith but very worth it.

 

[Don Hanson III]

I still like borax better, but use a lot less now than used to.

The issue I had with kerosene is the very edges not welding.

 

[jdm61]

I still like borax better, but use a lot less now than used to.

The issue I had with kerosene is the very edges not welding.

Same here. I typically do two welding presses, the first with kerosene and the second with a bit of borax on those pesky edges. With that said, the couple of times that I did a Ferry flip weld, I just soaked the billet in kerosene and wrapped it in regular HT foil. by the end second welding press, The foil had broken down and was easy to peel off, but it survived for long enough to shield the billet during the initial kerosene weld. It didn't crack and split until I pressed the second time. I didn't need any borax for that operation.