Borax dish

[CJ57]

I've at last recieved today the borax dish which I ordered back in Aug. I bought it for another workshop so a bit concerned about its condition as mine is too old to remember what it was like new.
The interior of the dish is so rough it would strip paint, is this what it should be like?

[Dennis]

Yes, that is to rub the borax off the cone. When you leave borax to dry out in it, some of that roughness disappears, euphemistically called conditioning.

Borax is like Marmite: I hate it to pieces.

[CJ57]

Well I hope the workshop knows what to do with it as they aren't getting mine. The reason Cookson stated for the order taking eh 4 months was the weren't happy with the dishes being supplied , I still have to wonder as there is going to be a lot of grit and it takes the skin off your fingers!

[emsterv]

Quick question about borax since its on the table.. I'm half taking lessons (one every couple of weeks) from a local goldsmith. I use Batterns self pickling flux since that's what he uses. Is there one that's better than the other when working with silver? I know he works mainly in gold and platinum and I don't have the skills or the $$ to incorporate any gold yet.

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[CJ57]

It seems to be preference and ease now. I was taught to use borax cone and dish and then I moved onto Auflux because it was a one stage flux and was easy to use. I'm thinking of going back to borax again at the moment. As Dennis said its a marmite thing, you either love or hate borax, I just can't remember I will have to get back to you once I have some proper soldering to do

[metalsmith]

It seems to be preference and ease now. I was taught to use borax cone and dish and then I moved onto Auflux because it was a one stage flux and was easy to use. I'm thinking of going back to borax again at the moment. As Dennis said its a marmite thing, you either love or hate borax, I just can't remember I will have to get back to you once I have some proper soldering to do

I've only ever used Borax. I grate some down and run it into a test-tube and then tip in some ground solder. Seems to work ok.

Would be interested to hear what are others' cases for / against ...

[enigma]

I mostly use Auflux as Im mostly too lazy to use borax, other than the prep though I don't really have a preference.
Maybe I should get some borax grinding elves

[CJ57]

Making a paste with water in the dish creates a smooth emulsion, I'm not sure why I got lazy because it didn't seem difficult to do for years when there was no other alternative !

[Patstone]

I have just done the same Caroline, only because I ran out of Auflux, but the solder pallions do seem to stay on the silver better. I had a problem a few months ago with solder pallions jumping off the silver while the silver was hot, but with borax it doesnt (that was another reason for going back to borax).

[Goldsmith]

Like Carlton I have used a borax cone for fluxing all of my working life, never had any soldering problems using it, it's cheap and reliable, my acid pickle cleans it off easily. If it ain't broke why fix it.

James