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Paul39
29th August 2014, 04:39 AM
I got a soppy wet maple crotch a couple weeks ago and was too busy to do anything with it except park it in the shade. It started splitting on the ends.

I cut the big end off, cut that down the middle, took a slab off each side of the Y, and cut the crotch in half to show the feather grain. The pieces were all too big to get in the biggest skillet I had.

I had used a heat gun to shrink tubing on a wire repair and wondered how it would do to apply wax, I had several chunks of decorative candles I had retrieved from a dumpster.

I set the pieces with end grain up on newspapers, and holding the wax against the timber, heated where they touched. The wax ran like water and the puddle could be moved around on the surface with the hot air. The wax soaked into even the fresh cut parts and as it cooled I could see where it might need a bit more.

I was using the gun on high and the wax would get hot enough to smoke on the dry parts. A powerful hair dryer might do it. I'll try that and report later.

I was impressed with how much area was coated with very little wax. I also liked how the wax soaked in and did not sit on top as I have seen with some "store bought" blanks given to me as Christmas gifts. I think this will work nicely.

Comments?

joe greiner
29th August 2014, 11:28 AM
Sounds like a winner.:2tsup:

And a lot less messy than the skillet.

Joe

TTIT
29th August 2014, 10:09 PM
I tried much the same thing years ago before I got my big frying pan but gave up using candle wax as the stiffener in it stops it from shrinking with the timber so much that it just flakes off in sheets :C Bought some proper paraffin wax from Mr Ubeaut and had more success but still found it flaking off on timbers with high shrinkage so I started adding small amounts of Beeswax to the pot and haven't looked back :U Anything too big to fit in the pan just gets the hot mix painted on.

Skew's_Girl
30th August 2014, 01:02 AM
Somewhat unrelated/untested, but friends of mine in military cadets have to shine/wax their boots etc to an absolute mirror finish.
They cheat however, rubbing on chunks of wax and then baking the item in the oven. The wax melts evenly over everything and they scrape off the excess. ... haven't tried it with wood.
Knowing the evil phantasm possessing our oven, it'd set the wood on fire and burn the house down to spite us.

Tim the Timber Turner
30th August 2014, 08:21 AM
I use an electric frypan on low heat and making sure I cut the ends of the timber square so the piece will stand up in the pan.

Using candle wax I leave the piece standing in 10mm of hot wax for up to a couple of minutes.

The wetter the timber the longer the immersion time needs to be, or the wax will sit on the surface and flake.

It's important to make sure the insertion time is long enough so the wax penetrates and doesn't just sit on the surface when removed from the pan.

If the wax is inclined to flake off because the time in the pan was a bit short, I hit the end with a hot air gun until the wax melts and penetrates the end grain.

Old candles work fine and cheap and easy to source.

Works for me.

Cheers
Tim:)

dai sensei
30th August 2014, 11:23 AM
I use the bees wax additive with paraffin wax in a large wok. The wok allows much bigger blanks to be rotated in the wax. It takes a lot of wax so I buy it in the large block form, I can't see it being cheaper using candles, unless you get them for free.

Skew ChiDAMN!!
30th August 2014, 01:09 PM
I was impressed with how much area was coated with very little wax. I also liked how the wax soaked in and did not sit on top as I have seen with some "store bought" blanks given to me as Christmas gifts. I think this will work nicely.

Comments?

Sounds good!

The real proof will be time... You said it's "soppy wet maple" so it won't take long - if they're stored in a dry environment - to see how successful this method is.

Here's hoping you keep us apprised of the results over the weeks & months to come. ;)

Tim the Timber Turner
30th August 2014, 01:35 PM
I can't see it being cheaper using candles, unless you get them for free.

But don't forget you get lots of really useful bits of string left over.:wink:

Cheers
Tim