Removing protective wax

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andrewleeheck

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I just bought a wonderful block of Amboyna burl--straight on 5 sides and a series of "stalactite"-type projections outward on the 6th (envision a porcupine). I want to cut away the useable layers of the block for turning pens, but preserve the stalactite layer to use as part of a desk set. Here's the problem: the whole block is covered with a protective wax. The wax has settled over the dozens of stalactites and I am unable to cut or scrape it out of the intricate grooves.

Is there any sort of solvent or method that I can use to remove the wax without damaging the wood? I wondered if using heat to melt away the wax could be effective, but I fear that I may be overlooking something obvious by doing this. Any suggestions?

Andrew
 
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Alexander

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All I have are guesses Doc, but since my guesses wont kill anyone, I will go ahead and share that I think the heat thing may be the right way to go. It may be a bit tricky and you would want to be careful not to burn the wood. I am interested to hear someone with some knowledge on this speak as I too have wondered what to do in this case.
 

polarbear1

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I have nver tried it but heat would be my first try -- maybe a blow dryer or a heat gun, not too close to burn the wood. I guess my 2nd best guess would be to sand blast it, after you heated it and removed most of the wax, you may try sand blasting it, to remove it from the tiny cracks etc.

I just googled it and came up with this answer for removing wax.

Paraffin (candle) wax is soluble in any kind of hydrocarbon-based paint
thinner -- mineral spirits. Though it may take a while to do the job,
because the space is so small, I think it might work quite nicely in your
application.

I also read run it through a very hot dish washer cycle, a few times. I read that kerosene may work. As well i read that a comercial product called "goo gone" or another called "goof off" was effective at removing wax but I never tried them for wax. I hope some of these ideas are worth a try.
 

Dario

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Austin, TX, USA.
Andrew,

Depends on what was used. If it is wax, you can microwave the wood and the wax will melt. Make sure you place the natural edge part down and let it flow down to some paper (make that several layers)

There should be some solvent you can use too but I am not sure what will work best.
 

DocRon

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Wadsworth, OH, USA.
I have exactly the same problem, but have not yet gotten around to asking the question. My guess is to use a heat gun with the piece sitting on some absorbent material, like newspaper. I worry about two things.
1. I might ignite the wax vapors [:(] . Better work outdoors.
2. The localized heat might cause cracking. I don't know how dry this burl is, the wetter the worse the danger, I would guess.

I could use plain old mineral spirits, but that seems expensive and messy.
Any comments or suggestions appreciated.
Ron
 

alxe24

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palmdale, ca.
I have used a microwave for it. I've got a piece of burl that also was covered in wax. I it for blanks and the pen cracked due to moisture so I run the rest of the blanks with wax into the microwave. It was gone and I did not noticed any discoloration or problems with ir. The purpose of the microve for me was to dry the wood but it seems to work fine for the wax.
Alex
 

Oahunative

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Lexington, SC, USA.
My first thought is to pour hot/ boiling if needed, water over it. We used to remove the wax off our surf boards by connecting the hose to the water heater and rinsing the wax off.
 
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