Broke a 2 month old forge weld yesterday and switched back to flux.

I was trying to be clever and go without borax on a damascus billet, thinking my prep was clean enough. Got it to welding heat, hammered it, and the whole thing just split apart at the seam. Lost about 3 hours of stacking and drawing out. Went back to using my old flux mix on the next try and it stuck perfect on the first pass. Any of you guys ever had luck skipping flux on high carbon stacks?

3 comments

3 Comments

grace_allen7d ago

Is flux just hiding poor surface prep in plain sight?

the_laura7d ago

Used to think flux was just being lazy with prep, but @grace_allen your point about it masking issues actually makes a lot of sense now.

kelly_west747d agoTop Commenter

Exactly. Flux isn't just laziness, it's a shortcut that covers up bad prep. You sand and clean right, you barely need it. People use it thick to hide scratches or dirty surfaces, then wonder why their piece looks like crap later. Once you start using it as a crutch, your work gets worse over time. It's like putting makeup on a dirty face instead of washing it first.