Finally got my forge welding down after 3 tries with borax

I kept seeing people online saying you need to use a special flux for forge welding. Turns out plain old borax from the grocery store works fine if your heat is right. I was puling the steel out too early (like barely orange) and wondering why nothing stuck. Last weekend I let it soak until bright yellow and tapped lightly, and bam it fused on the first try. Anyone else find that most of their welding problems were just temperature issues?

2 comments

2 Comments

iris_green841mo ago

And honestly that's probably the biggest part of it. I see so many beginners messing up heat way before they even touch flux. @jesseb20 crushed glass works because of the silica content but it hits a narrow temp range, same reason borax works better for most people. Your heat needs to be bright yellow almost to the point where it's hard to look at without glasses. If you pull it out when it's just orange the flux will be too thick and the steel won't flow right. Temperature is the real trick, everything else is just dressing on top.

jesseb201mo ago

My uncle used crushed glass once and it worked but his forge was WAY too hot and melted the steel a bit.