Non-Chemical How to avoid bubbling Borax

[Alentia]

Thought I would share it with the community.

I am usually heating ceramic plate with Borax in furnace to around 300-350C to get rid of extra moisture. This reduces bubbling by at least 50%.
Mixing it with SS spoon every hours or two. Do not let the crust develop on top or moisture will be locked inside. I usually run furnace at this temperature for about 3-4 hours and then leave it overnight locked and shut down. If you develop chunks, just use mortar and pestle to get it back into fine powder next day.

Once, I have placed a clay glazed dish with Borax as usual into the furnace, but forgot to adjust temperature. When next time I looked at the furnace, I saw it had reached 700C. I shut it down and opened the door. The Borax has already started to melt in the clay glazed dish. I thought the Borax and dish are gone. I salvaged as much Borax as I could and had to through clay dish away.

After working on salvaged Borax with Mortar and Pestle, I have created 100% non bubbling sticking Borax powder. It would probably do better at around 500C, I have not tried it yet.

 

[4metals]

Or you can buy anhydrous borax, also called borax glass. It is borax which has been heated to drive off the water. A lot less work!

 

[Alentia]

I have anhydrous too from my supplier and it is better (less bubbles) than "20 Mules Team", however it costs 3 or 4 times more if I remember correctly.

Heating "20 Mules Team" to 500C makes much better and cheaper Borax.

 

[FrugalRefiner]

I have anhydrous too from my supplier and it is better (less bubbles) than "20 Mules Team", however it costs 3 or 4 times more if I remember correctly.

Heating "20 Mules Team" to 500C makes much better and cheaper Borax.

Alentia,

Keep in mind that 20 Mule Team is Borax Decahydrate (Na₂B₄O₇·10H₂0). Notice the 10 H₂O on the end. That's the crystal water that is included in common borax. If I'm not mistaken, close to half the weight of borax decahydrate is water. When you heat borax it puffs up because you're forcing out the water.

Add the cost of fuel to heat the 20 Mule Team and the price difference becomes a lot less. I use 20 Mule Team as well because I have it, but the price difference isn't as great as it might at first appear.

Dave

 

[4metals]

And that my friend is why you are called the frugal refiner! Losing half the weight and time and labor involved in heating and re-crushing can eat up any savings.

 

[FrugalRefiner]

I can't take all the credit. I learned most of what I know right here on this forum.

Dave

 

[Alentia]

I would agree, it takes about:

1. 15 min to turn on and off furnace, attend and crushing
2. $1-2 in electricity costs (40A@220V=8.8Kw/hr for about 1 hour to raise temp and maintain)

On another hand, anhydrous borax from a supplier is lower quality vs prepared fresh

 

[4metals]

Freshly prepared anhydrous borax, come on man, we're not talking tomatoes here it's chemicals, it doesn't spoil or even re-hydrate on standing.

 

[FrugalRefiner]

Alentia,

Solely for the purpose of being technically correct, I don't believe you're creating anhydrous borax with your procedure, but rather borax dihydrate (Na₂B₄O₇·2H₂O). According to the attached article, converting borax decahydrate to borax dihydrate is relatively easy and can be accomplished at the the temperatures you're using. But decomposing the dihydrate further to anhydrous requires fusion at considerably higher temperatures.

As I said in my first post, I already have a box of 20 Mule Team borax and I use it because I have it. Converting it to a dihydrate as you are doing eliminates 80% of the water, so it will puff much less than the original form. If it works for you, it works!

I just wanted to keep the information on the forum as accurate as possible.

Dave

 

[Alentia]

Freshly prepared anhydrous borax, come on man, we're not talking tomatoes here it's chemicals, it doesn't spoil or even re-hydrate on standing.

What about freshly cast gold bar or round, it always looks better vs that old one cast a year ago :mrgreen:

 

[butcher]

I agree that fresh bar of gold does seem to look much better for some reason :lol:
of course unless the bar last year was much bigger.

 

[FrugalRefiner]

If that old one has lost its shine, you can send it my way! I'll polish it up till it looks like new, although it may look a little smaller when I return it.

Dave