Thread: Making a forge weld

Just found a local webshop that sells borax and other supplies.
SmedenTotaal, Smeedwinkel

It looks like you found some, but...

It looks like the company has an operation center in Belgium, you could probably call and find out about distributors, and possibly vendors for their household products.

Borax Benelux
Av. Baron Albert d’Huart 17
1150 Brussels
Belgium
Tel: (32) 2 512 8858
Fax: (32) 2 514 0697

Originally Posted by Bruno

Thanks guys. I'll see if I can get Borax around here.
I have no local smith handy, which is why I asked here.

Old crafts are only now starting to regain popularity. Some nearly died out in the previous decades.
Smithing is one of them. The only smithing done around here is simple horseshoeing, or making art pieces.
The guys doing art pieces tend to be very protective of their art.

The mastersmith I talked with told me that that is a problem with the smithing community in Belgium and the Netherlands.
The people who are decent tend to be very protective of their art.
Sharing knowledge like we do and helping each other is unheard of

Bruno, if you're really looking to learn you might want to talk to Gudy van Poppel. He makes his own damascus and is a very friendly guy.
his website is: Welcome and he lives in Noord Brabant in the netherlands.

Ofther than that you could ask around on the weapons.be forum. I'm sure there are 1 or 2 people in belgium that could show you a thing or two.

Borax...roach and ant killer (make sure its pure)

Borax is not the only type of flux... Just to mention, I was originally introduced to forgewelding using fine beach sand. It melts to a glass-like substance and seals off all oxygen. And that is the main reason to use flux. It seals the steel/iron from the air, preventing oxygen from forming scales on the surface of the matetial, the scales are iron oxides, just like rust/stained iron.

And if you can't get your hands on borax or fine sand (any fine sand should work, the finer the better) you should try to get your hands on some flint stones. Baked and crushed flint stones should work even better than borax. Cleaner to the steel, not as bad for you as borax (borax is used as ant and cochroach-killer... can't be too good for you!) and cheap.

I hope you find something soon and I look forward to seeing your forged razors

Best regards Kristian

Officially, borax is not dangerous. This is a persistent flawed legend that has been around for a long time. It might cause some respiratory irritation but the MSDS for pure borax does not have any lethal or carcinogenic human consequences. There was some recent discussion in European circles about borax being taken out of general public circulation for this reason. There is not a valid reason to do so for pure borax. For that matter, there is a minimum daily requirement for human dietary consumption of boron. That contradicts the ideal that it has health risks.

Boric acid, sometimes used as insect killer or a flux additive can contain arsenic and there is something to pay attention to.

If you're using the equivalent of laundry soap, the water molecules have to boil off first. This makes the borax fluffy and it can fly off the steel in the air blast from the forge. Breathing that will cause a cough etc. Anhydrous borax simply melts on to the surface of the hot steel and minimizes this respiratory contact.

There is a hazard pretty well described from inhaling silicates. Flint is a different type of silicate. As in all things to do with blacksmithing, attention to the right details and hazards is required.

Originally Posted by Mike Blue

Officially, borax is not dangerous.

Hah. If a crate of borax drops on your head, it'll kill you in a jiffy