Well, I did just yesterday purchase the three ingredients needed
and followed precisely the 3:2:2 ratio preparing Pripp’s Flux. I
found after much searching the two-tube atomizer at a local art
supply store. Today, I completed eight sterling pins without ANY
fire scale whatsoever…a first! Whatta time saver!
Once again, Peter Rowe, ‘thank you’ for providing Jack Pripp’s
anti-firescale formula and specific directions for its’
preparation and application. I have tried many of the commercial
preparations unhappily. Tonite, I wear a smile…
Those of you that haven’t yet tried Pripp’s, get with it! The
ring around your collar will be far less of a concern!!
Once again, Peter Rowe, 'thank you' for providing Jack
Pripp's anti-firescale formula and specific directions for its'
preparation and application. I have tried many of the
commercial preparations unhappily. Tonite, I wear a
smile.........
You’re welcome. But really, Thank Fred Fenster, Richard Thomas,
Arthur Vierthaler, Stanley lechtzin, Vickie Sedman, Dan Meadows,
Mary Jo Turner, and all the other various teachers and co-workers
I’ve learned from over the years. they’re the ones who passed on
their tricks and skills to me in the first place.
Peter, Bought some roach powder today, container says 99% boric
acid. Cheap, a buck a pound at Pick and Save. Can’t find Borateem,
only 20 Mule Team Borax which is some sort of triborate or
something. Is that the same as Na2 B4 O7 - 10H2O? Comes in 4
pound boxes for under $3.00. Bill in Vista
Bought some roach powder today, container says 99% boric
acid. Cheap, a buck a pound at Pick and Save. Can't find
Borateem, only 20 Mule Team Borax which is some sort of
triborate or something. Is that the same as Na2 B4 O7 - 10H2O?
Comes in 4 pound boxes for under $3.00.
Good trick with the boric acid. have to keep that one in mind.
make sure it doesn’t have other toxins in it though.
20 mule team borax, really should be borax, wouldn’t you think?
Just judging by the name? Last I heard it was.
But I’m a jeweler, not a chemist, and don’t have a box of the
stuff in front of me. Try some. If it works, then it’s probably
the right stuff. I only mentioned Borateem because it was the
brand name I have an old box of in my basement… There are
others. Borax is a pretty widely used substance in laundry
products, I guess.
Vast quantities of Na2B4O7.10H2O are found in the Majave Desert
and had been sold under the Mule Train Brand (plus others since
the last century). This is a subject of a National Geographic
article somewhere and I also recall reading an article in a very
old Readers’ Digest describing the compound’s numerous uses
including the preparation Egyptian mummies and of course for
solder flux. The use of Borax as a roach powder, where the
Borax crystals penetrate that pest’s cuticle to cause fatal
dehydration, was mentioned in the RD article.
I found bulk quantities at CND$2.75 per kilogram (approx
US$1.00/lb) in one of those trendy tree hugger type shops where
the hand written labelling touted it as an enviromentally
friendly substitute for detergent (a use also mentioned in the
RD article.)
Plastic packs of 4 or 5 tablespoons of Borax crystals costing
50 cents or so are available from the condiments section of your
friendly Chinatown grocery store. I recall my mother using a
solution of Borax to rehydrate sun dried squid and dried lotus
seeds before cooking. Don’t ask- can’t do Chinese cooking
myself.
I guess, like Bill, I couldn’t find Borax crystalls in the
Jeweler’s supplies store, at the welding supplies shop (they
both stock only the formulated fluxes) nor at the supermarket
detergentor or condiments sections. So I kept an eye open and
found them in these other places.
Bill, I was out of boric powder, and tried some of the cheap
roach powder, too. I can’t see any difference, at all. I
usually buy my boric powder in large containers, at WalMart, for
4 or 5 dollars, but I think this other stuff was actually
cheaper. Curtis
Bought some roach powder today, container says 99% boric
acid. Cheap, a buck a pound at Pick and Save. Can't find
Borateem, only 20 Mule Team Borax which is some sort of
triborate or something. Is that the same as Na2 B4 O7 -
10H2O?
G’day; Na2B4O7 is sodium tetraborate commonly known as
borax. Cheers
Bill, Peter, Kevin, Ask the little woman in the house. I buy 20
Mule Team Borax in the big green box at Wal-Mart.
I pre-soak my laundry in it and then add a small amount of
detergent to finish up the job. Result far less soap scum or
residue in clothes.
As for its use in chinese cooking, I will have to ask the three
Chinese Exchang students living here about it. Anything that has
ever swam, rooted, walked has been cooked here, or used for
medicinal purposes. I will have them look it up in their
translator and see what we come up with.
I believe when the box is labeled for a special purpose roach,
etc. the price escalates. In this case generic is best.
Thanks from me as well for your posting the instructions for
making Pripps Flux. Now, if I can only find the atomizer you
recommended!
I have found that my local independent pharmacy, a small old
fashioned operation, carries Borax and Boric Acid. I can also
get my denatured alcohol from them. When I was looking for a
source for nitric acid, they provided that as well. Saved having
to pay huge amounts for hazardous shipping charges, and I was
able to buy a fairly small quantity. I doubt that any of the
larger chain drug stores would be as helpful.
I’ve been using the “roach-prufe” boric acid powder from the
hardware store for a while now. Plain boric acid with a little
blue coloring. Works the same as the stuff you can get at a
pharmacy or through a supplier, 'cept you get a pound for about
$3.00 instead of a few ounces.
I believe you are talking about fire scale… you can polish it
out with bobbing, then tripoli, or you can steel wool the piece
after you solder/cast before you polish. You can help to prevent
some of the fire scale by fluxing the whole piece before you
start to solder. Good luck!