Old timer at a hammer-in in Ohio said my flux was doing nothing, now I can't stop thinking about it

William Schmidt · 2026-09-16T02:30:03.545191+00:00

Was at a hammer-in near Dayton two weeks ago and this guy named Ray, been forging since the 70s, watched me weld a billet and said "you're just making smoke." He claims borax only helps if your steel is clean and your heat is right, otherwise it's a crutch that hides bad prep. I've always fluxed heavy out of habit and my welds mostly hold, but now I don't know if that's the flux or just dumb luck. Half the guys there backed Ray up, the other half said flux is cheap insurance so who cares. Any of you run fluxless or light flux on your damascus and actually notice a difference in your failure rate?

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Old timer at a hammer-in in Ohio said my flux was doing nothing, now I can't stop thinking about it | Blacksmiths - Rigidtalk