[Jewelry making - Article 00165] - Re: [Orchid] Boric Acid vs. Borax

[Peter W . Rowe]

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>     but the batch I made up using a can purchased at the local Ace
>     Hardware (with boric acid) immediately coats everything in a black,
>     sugary coating, the second I heat it with my torch. 

    Either the can you purchased is NOT just plain denatured alcohol, or
    the powder you mixed with it is NOT boric acid, or the metal you've
    been coating with it is already covered with some other substance.
    some lacquer or something that will burn. The alcohol should burn off
    cleanly. Try taking just a bit of it, by itself, say in a teaspoon,
    the burning it. It should burn cleanly, leaving no trace in the
    spoon. If that works, melt just a bit of the boric acid powder on a
    bit of scrap metal. It should melt cleanly, staying a light color as
    it melts. no black carbony look. The alcohol serves only as an easy
    means of distributing a light even layer of boric acid on the surface
    of the metal, which then melts to protect the metal when you heat it.
    It shouldn't turn dark, at least not on jewelry metals (silver and
    gold alloys). Base metals might oxidize so aggressively as to just do
    so in spite of the thing boric acid layer, and then you'd get a black
    oxide surface. But that doesn't sound like what you describe. 

Peter


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