Firescale preventative and flux

Looks like it stripped out the link. Try this one:

I have one of the drum shaped ones that the opening is about 5 inches across but it's only 4 inches deep.

If you are attaching a picture, I canā€™t see it.

I use a plastic peanut butter jar and a larger tupperware container to avoid breakage and potential fire.

We are off to the mall to see a movie. I will stop at Michaels and check out their storage containers.

Do you want it to be entirely glass?

In the effort to make an air-tight fit, plastic usually surrounds glass tops. They typically will not be air tight and the tops are often difficult to remove from the base.

Hereā€™s a different kind with silicone that Iā€™ve never seen before: https://www.pyrexware.com/ultimate-4-cup-round-storage-dish-white/1117770.html#start=2

Your canning jar with the spring clip probably has a rubber seal, but Iā€™ve never seen that on a glass storage dish.

I save the largest plastic screw-type lids and the largest glass jars (that often came with metal lids), and occasionally can find a good air-tight fit, but this kind of collecting probably indicates a hoarding disorder.

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Greetings,

I am with the Boric Acid and alcohol crowd. I will often use it exclusively as a flux on any piece whether it is just joining ends or working with a wide flat surface. Some times I will use it as a fire coat and once the alcohol is gone I will proceed with Batternā€™s or any other basic green flux. I have used a Borax and water solution in the past for a fire coat and that has worked well. ( heat the metal until straw color and immerse in Borax/H2O in a pyrex brownie pan with a plastic lid, remove and let dry and then proceed with the work).

I think more than the chemistry is involved in the production and there by the limitation of firescale. Soldering technique must have something to do with it. Too little heat over a long time, too much heat over a little time. The best way to limit it is with experience I think.

All of us have a working method if we have been at this work awhile and they are more or less successful. Most of the time. At the risk of starting a real discussion: I have, at times, planned my work to include and allow some fire scale. Knowing I canā€™t always defeat it I try and work with it if I can.

Don Meixner

Hi, i used a glass container with a glass top with a rubber in between to hold my alcohol .After time the rubber started to grow this white crust . I thought it would be a good container for the alcohol that i could open and close quickly, but was disappointed when this happened .

I found a bigger canning jar yesterday at Michaels. I also had a 50% off coupon. Just a larger version of the original so that I can fit larger pieces into it. The top closes quickly and is sealed with a spring clip. This keeps the alcohol from evaporating and keeps the top near by if I manage to set the jar on fire. I did that last week. My grandson was impressedā€¦Rob

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Borax and water is about as professional as you can getā€¦:-)ā€¦!!! All those proprietary commercial preparations available nowadays are useful for people who have not really mastered ā€˜the art of solderingā€™ā€¦ All the extraordinary museum artifacts that everyone drools over used borax and waterā€“or more ā€˜primitiveā€™ materialsā€¦:-)ā€¦ A lot has to do with the difference in heat sources. No antique/ancient pieces were done with oxy-acetylene or even with oxy-propane. For detailed jewelry work, I believe that the old-fashioned torches and fluxes are still the bestā€¦:-)ā€¦ Simple tools and lots of skill top complicated/expensive tools and limited skillsā€¦

Janet in Jerusalem

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