Waxed Blanks

[wdcav1952]

Some blanks I buy on Ebay are waxed. What is the best way to remove the wax prior to drilling? I find if I drill a waxed blank, heat builds up, and I have cracking problems unless I keep a stream of compressed air going on the blank and drill.
Thanks,
William

 

[Evan]

Hi William,

I don't know how it's usually done, but I just used an exacto knife to remove wax from the ends. Unless I misunderstood your post?

Evan

 

[Old Griz]

I don't know what kind of wood the blanks are, but I have never had a problem with cracking by not removing the wax from some blanks... most blanks that are waxed are done because of moisture stability... those woods will crack if not waxed and seem to be very easy to crack when drilling... for wood like that I keep my drill speed down, drill in small increments and remove the bit often to make sure there is no sawdust and chip build up which increases heat enormously...

 

[txbob]

William,
The answer to your question is to use acetone to remove the wax. I suspect most similar chemicals will work also. Just a little on a rag, rub the area, repeat until the wax is gone.

But I suspect the wax has nothing to do with the blanks cracking. It's more likely that the blanks aren't dry yet. Even if you're successful in drilling them without problems they'll probably crack after they're turned to size and finished.

Lots of ways to dry blanks are covered elsewhere on this site. My personal choice is to scrape the wax off the sides but leave the ends coated with wax, write the date on the side of the blank with a Sharpie, put it in a brown paper bag and forget it until next year. By the time I work through all the junk on my workbench and find that sack again, the wood is dry. []

txbob