Waxing/De-waxing

Re: Waxing/De-waxing

Dick Coers

Depth of penetration depends on the species and how hot they had the wax. 2 options, cut off 1/4" all around on the bandsaw, or turn it off on the lathe.

Re: Waxing/De-waxing

john lucas

Does not penetrate far at all. You will most likely turn it away on your project. What I do when I get blanks like that is to scrape off what I can on the side grain. I don't have any idea how wet or dry they are when I get them. Scraping the side grain speeds up the drying. Then I either put them on a shelf and forget about them for a year, or I weight them and check the weight frequently until it stops losing weight. Then I know they are dry enough to turn.

I've talked to several dealers about how to know if the wood is wet or dry and they don't know either. Could be sitting on the docks for months at their source of origin or they could be cut and shipped in a week or so. so your best bet is to assume they are wet and go from there.

de-waxing

John K Jordan

Most exotic wood blanks are waxed to keep them from drying out too fast and cracking. Usually the wax means the wood is wet inside but not always. Besides the fact it might already have been drying for 10 years, occasionally a dealer will wax a drier piece for looks. I do the same as JohnL, expecting it to be wet and planning to dry for some time.

I generally scrape heavy wax off the sides with a card scraper and put the piece up to dry for a while, usually for several years.

If the piece feels far heavier than previous pieces of the same species, very wet is likely although guessing like this is very iffy even with a bunch of experience or with another older piece in hand. If you cut into the wood it will feel cooler if wet. A moisture meter can help but that's not a sure thing either, even if it is set for the book specific gravity values.

I might turn small pieces like 1"-2" squares wet, let dry, then true up just like rough turning a bowl. I turned a piece of 2x2 olive like this just a few days ago. I'll set it aside to dry for a month or so before finishing.

As mentioned, the wax is only skin deep and is turned away. If I needed a square pommel I might skim off the wax with the bandsaw or something before turning.

JKJ

Re: de-waxing

Terry Fox

I cut the first piece and, sure enough, it was very wet inside. Not being a very sharp tool, I turned it to almost finished. I'm sure that it will warp and/or crack.

I'll scrape the wax off the other pieces and set them aside.

Thanks for the advice.

Terry

Re: de-waxing

John K Jordan

>>>I'm sure that it will warp and/or crack.

That would depend on the wood, orientation, thickness, evenness of wall, moisture content, temperature, humidity, etc. It might have a better chance if you can slow down the drying just like with a green wood bowl.

JKJ