Rachel guess what…I start there in the fall! I live around the corner from the school. I’m 46 and never went to college or any school for smithing…finally, I get to go study something I love! I used the BioFlame and boric today, worked like a charm! Thanks so much for your help. What’s your business name or website? I’m moon&forge studio.
xo
Well yes…since it has to burn off leaving the boric acid behind…
The “(but you should ask for specs to make sure)” is supposed to come after “the kind you get in a jewelers’ supply store is likely to be much more effective” because it does not usually say on the bottle what kind of alcohol is used.
Janet in Jerusalem
That’s so amazing!! Your work is beautiful already but it must be so exciting to be able to immerse yourself in a learning environment like that!
I’m glad the BioFlame worked well for you!
I’m @kastjewelryco on Instagram and Facebook 
1 Like
There are a great many different types of alcohol. Methanol (one carbon, three hydrogen atoms and an hydroxyl (OH) group), Ethanol (two carbons, five hydrogen, one hydroxyl), Propanol (C3H7(OH)), Butanol (C4H9(OH)), Pentanol, Hexanol, Heptanol, Octanol - you get the picture. These are just some of the basic alcohol molecules with a hydroxyl (OH) functional group bonded to the end of an alkane chain (excepting methanol which only has one carbon so can’t be a “chain”), substituting one of its associated bonded hydrogen atoms. Each subsequent alcohol has one more carbon and two more hydrogens than the previous one. Slightly less simple are alcohols where the basic chain of carbons and hydrogens has its hydroxyl group bonded to a carbon other than the end carbon. Nomenclature then uses a number to denote which carbon the hydroxyl group is bonded to, for example, propan-2-ol or pentan-3-ol. Then there are alcohol molecules where the basic carbon/hydrogen chain is a branched structure with the hydroxyl group substituting any of the hydrogens. Then you can also have molecules with ore than one type of functional group, such as an amine (NH) group, so an amino alcohol would have both a hydroxyl and an amine group bonded to the carbons. Sorry, I’ll stop now - I am splitting hairs and most will know all this if they studied chemistry at school/college/university.
Helen
UK
2 Likes
gotcha on IG now!
I have found this chemistry discussion regarding alcohol and boric acid very interesting. I use the mix for my primary flux when soldering sterling. It works for me as a flux and as an excellent fire coat in my application. I go to the hardware store and buy anybody’s can of denatured or solvent alcohol, mix in a bit of boric acid and solder away. Sometimes I will add any generic green flux like Batterns directly at the joint. I suspect that the boric acid and alcohol are non reactive with each other. Unless some beneficial additives are left behind when the flame burns off it seems to me that alcohol is merely a suspension in which to float the boric acid. The alcohol flame burns off leaving the boric residue in an even thickness to act as a fire coat. Any non-reactive fluid would do the same thing. The cleaner the alcohol the better. For awhile I boiled water and added boric until there was no more ability to suspend the powder and I used that as a fire coat.
The only worry I have for it in the shop is it’s flammability. Take the same degree of care as you would with acids, whirling polishers, and sharp pointy things and you should have no big issues with the mixture.
Remember to use adequate ventilation.
Don Meixner.
---- Helen Hill orchid@ganoksin.com wrote:
1 Like