today i was at a friends place and we were gonna work on my damascus billet but his press was down, no prob i said...i`ll weld it by hammer the we`ll use the trip hammer. he said he has a trick that he used in gold smithing that works great for fluxing.
you take a large pickle jar..fill 1/3 with borax, then fill in with methal hydrate to give a consistancy of about milk, oh yeah and i almost forgot boric acid put a little bottle of that stuff in there..it helps clean.then just heat up the billet but don`t let it turn red then dip the billet in there and that just sucks the borax into every little pore..and man it works great..oh yeah don`t forget to shake it up real good each time you use it ..as it separates after time!!

Great tip. Where do you get the methal hydrate?
Mike

you can get methal hydrate at any hardware store..possibly in the paint section, i think they use it like a thinner..some people use it as gas line antifreeze

Great tip. I'll try it.
Thanks.