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White Out for Yellow Ochre as an anti-flux?
- Thread starter DanF
- Start date
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- Jul 13, 2009
- Messages
- 20,792
Yes
J Neilson has shown that trick a lot.
J Neilson has shown that trick a lot.
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith
ilmarinen - MODERATOR
Moderator
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2004
- Messages
- 37,974
Any strong oxide will work as anti-flux. Titanium dioxide (whiteout), yellow iron oxide (yellow ochre), red iron oxide (rouge).
Whiteout has a fine powder (calcium carbonate or similar compound) and organic binders (cellulose or gum tragacanth) which help make it stay in place when dry. The rest is light mineral spirits as a fast drier.
What has been your issue with the Tix anti-flux? Most folks have issues with it because it is water based. Let it dry out and add denatured alcohol or 90% isopropanol. That will evaporate faster and leave the powder where you want it as the anti-flux. It is cheaper and simpler to make your own from yellow ochre and alcohol from the start. I make an anti-scale paint that also works well as an anti-flux.
Note to readers - Tix solder is a great soft solder, but is a much lower strength solder than silver solder (hard solder/silver braze). It works for some things, but is not the best for others. The advantage is it melts at 275°F while hard solder is around 1200°F. Things like bolsters can be soldered on with it, but be careful in shaping the bolsters as they will unsolder themselves if they get hot in grinding to shape.
My formula for anti-scale on carbon steel blades being HTed in a forge is:
2 parts Yellow ochre
1/2 part Gum tragacanth
1 part Satanite
Xylene/Xylol - sufficient quantity to make it a thick liquid. Thin as needed when it gets too thick. Denatured alcohol will also work. as the carrier
Whiteout has a fine powder (calcium carbonate or similar compound) and organic binders (cellulose or gum tragacanth) which help make it stay in place when dry. The rest is light mineral spirits as a fast drier.
What has been your issue with the Tix anti-flux? Most folks have issues with it because it is water based. Let it dry out and add denatured alcohol or 90% isopropanol. That will evaporate faster and leave the powder where you want it as the anti-flux. It is cheaper and simpler to make your own from yellow ochre and alcohol from the start. I make an anti-scale paint that also works well as an anti-flux.
Note to readers - Tix solder is a great soft solder, but is a much lower strength solder than silver solder (hard solder/silver braze). It works for some things, but is not the best for others. The advantage is it melts at 275°F while hard solder is around 1200°F. Things like bolsters can be soldered on with it, but be careful in shaping the bolsters as they will unsolder themselves if they get hot in grinding to shape.
My formula for anti-scale on carbon steel blades being HTed in a forge is:
2 parts Yellow ochre
1/2 part Gum tragacanth
1 part Satanite
Xylene/Xylol - sufficient quantity to make it a thick liquid. Thin as needed when it gets too thick. Denatured alcohol will also work. as the carrier
DanF
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2017
- Messages
- 1,442
A little more information provided by Stacy in the past (actually, there are several posts from him regarding it).
“TIX is called the worlds hardest soft solder. It melts at 275F and has 4000 PSI strength. It is an Indium/Tin/Lead alloy with traces of nickle and platinum.”
If you let your target area get near that 275-280F threshold, you’re just not practicing good temp control. Human skin is seriously damaged at much lower temps, I believe.
“TIX is called the worlds hardest soft solder. It melts at 275F and has 4000 PSI strength. It is an Indium/Tin/Lead alloy with traces of nickle and platinum.”
If you let your target area get near that 275-280F threshold, you’re just not practicing good temp control. Human skin is seriously damaged at much lower temps, I believe.
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