On Tuesday, June 26, 2018 at 7:48:15 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On Tuesday, September 19, 2017 at 5:52:44 PM UTC-4, Hul Tytus wrote:
Joe - water mixed with 1 part Borax, ie Mule Team from the local grocery,
to 100 parts water eliminated rust on several occasions. Now, the 100 to 1
is by weight but that's one misty memory. A test with a 1000 to 1 solution
showed rust.

Hul



Looking around on tbe internet , I can find lots about using Boraxo to remove rust , but nothing about using it and water as coolant for machining. And nothing about why Boraxo in water prevents rust.

Does anyone have any information on this?

Dan

Boraxo is a mixture of borax (around 80%) and sodium soap. Borax is quite alkaline -- it's sometimes used in electrolytic de-rusting -- and steel or iron in an alkaline environment usually resists rust. (It has to be continuously covered.)

Borax also is quite abrasive until it's dissolved, so, mixed with soap (as in Boraxo) it's good at removing tough grime. I keep a container of it in the trunk of my car to clean up after gutting and filleting fish. d8-)

--
Ed Huntress