Pripp's flux problem

Jewelry Discussion
1

hello, i made my first batch of pripp’s flux a couple of months
ago using the recipe in tim mccreight’s book (2 fl.oz. each of
borax and t.s.p. and 3 fl.oz. of boric acid), but i’ve noticed
it’s been crystalizing at the bottom of my jar and spray bottle.
even shaking it won’t dissolve this ‘crust.’ does anyone know of
a different recipe? do i need to reheat my current supply?
thanks!

susan serna

2 
 i made my first batch of pripp's flux a couple of months ago
but i've noticed it's been crystalizing at the bottom of my jar
and spray bottle.

I certainly wouldn’t bother to either replace it or to try and
re-dissolve the crystals: just use it as it is, and don’t worry
about it - you’ll find it still works OK. Pripp’s Flux is
pretty forgiving.

3

it’s been crystalizing at the bottom of my jar and spray bottle.
even shaking it won’t dissolve this ‘crust.’

It sounds like your solution is saturated and this is just extra
borax and boric acid crystallizing out. Don’t worry about it.

Lynn Bell
Crystal Legends
http://www.wtrt.net/~lynnb

@lynnb

4

Susan,

Water evaporating from your bottle is concentrating the
remainder, and some crystalizes out. To redissolve it, you have
to add more water. Just shaking won’t change the fact that your
bottle has a saturated solution in it which cannot hold more
material without having water added.

But don’t worry about it too much. It’s doing no harm. if you
dislike it, just make the stuff up more dilute. The main reason
we usually make it up as strong as we can is because when you
spray it on, the water is chilling the metal, and it’s less work
to spray less flux. but in many schools, where kids waste a lot
of it, they make it up substituting a gallon of water for the
quart one might use with 80/80/120 grams of each chemical. That
solution is then only a quarter as strong, and though it takes
more to properly firecoat a piece of silver, it still works just
fine. And it won’t crystalize out so fast.

Peter Rowe

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