Softening Carnauba Wax

Mineral spirits works well for me instead of turp. I use either an old kitchen grater or a new sureform rasp to shave the wax. A 1:1 mix to get a loose paste. You can play with the formulation- use carnauba, beeswax, spirits in various amounts to get your "perfect" paste. This is also the time to add tint to the mix- I've had best luck with powder tints or the liquid food coloring. The spirits draw both the wax and tint into the grain and it can leave a nice deep color that glows.

Sure! Melt that Carnauba wax (it takes some heat but go slow and don't overheat ... it'll flame) and add some other wax (beeswax, paraffin, etc.) or oil (mineral oil, walnut, tung, etc.), or solvent (turps, mineral spirits, lacquer thinner, naptha, toluene, etc.). It depends on what you use to mix with it as to the proportions to get your paste consistency. Melt it, mix it gently and then let it cool. If it's not the consistency you want, just melt it again and add more non-Carnauba ingredients.

It's quite rare that you'd want to use 100% pure Carnauba wax to do any finishing. It's just too hard and flaky to be useful. Which is why you asked the question, eh? For most of my final buffing sticks, I use 5 parts Carnauba wax to 1 part Paraffin wax. That little bit of Paraffin is just enough to get rid of the flakiness and make it usable on a buffing wheel but yet not take away the hardness and durability of the Carnauba. The Paraffin gives it that extra shine too. I'm not saying that Paraffin is the only way to go though. Try different mixtures. They all have their uses and special properties.

A question though.... where did you get your Carnauba wax stick? Is it 100% pure with no other additives?

- Andrew

I'm not quite sure what you mean by too hard. I'm also assuming it's pure. To put it on a piece you turn, it is the last step over the finish you use to protect it. I let it drag across the piece and then follow with a polishing cloth so there is no need for me to make it softer. If you want to make it into a paste you'll need to melt it and mix it with some beeswax. You need to vary the ammount of beeswax according to how you want the finish a little will smooth the past but you'll have a glossy shine, more and you'll have a satin finish. You'll also have to add artists turpentine. The usual mixture is 1/3 of each. Mix the turpentine in after it is melted and off the fire with the stove off, it is flammable.

If you don't want all the mess Chestnut and mylands have ready made waxes like this.

Has anyone found a quality source for pure carnauba?

Juergen

Go NY Giants They St> Is there a way I can make a hard stick of carnauba wax into a more user

I'm sure the various recipes you've been given are fine, and I've used others myself, but I now use exclusively the trick someone provided on this NG: just put some flakes of pure carnauba in a thick cloth and hold it against the revolving piece. Once it is hot enough, the wax flows through the cloth. Let it cool a couple of seconds and use another cloth to buff. What remains on the waxing cloth hardens smooth and won't scratch the next piece.

Only one P in my real address/ Un seul P dans ma véritable adresse

Hi Andrew, and thanks all for the softening tips. I got the carnauba sticks, 3oz @$5.50 ea. from Lee Valley. I can't be sure they are 100% pure carnauba but the catalog doesn't say they contain anything else. Thanks again.

STEMO

No problem, STEMO. Lee Valley's Carnauba is close enough to pure. I also asked because my mixing ratios are based on pure Type 1 or 3 wax. Any additives affect the results. I'm still amazed by the prices of Carnauba sold by these woodworking shops. That's almost $30 a pound!!! Incredible.

- Andrew

What can you get it for?

Derek

I buy direct from a supplier in Brazil and do so in quantity. I get it for a LOT less but I not going to say just how much. Look around and you'll find some commercial sales points that's much less than that $30/lb. Try candle making supply shops. As a general consumer, you shouldn't have to pay more than $8/lb. That's still quite expensive though.

Carnauba is a worldwide commodity traded like oil and orange juice everyday. This makes the prices fluctuate everyday too. But the shear volume, demand, and uses for Carnauba keeps the prices pretty low and steady on the open market.

- Andrew

Incredible.

This looks interesting:

Here's another, go figure :

It's Saturday and I'm bored. Have fun, ARM

I'm wondering about realmilkpaint.com. They say the wax should be used over pure tung oil. As far as I know, 100% pure tung oil will never dry properly.

Bill

And the rest of that sentence says... "or other suitable finish. " You don't HAVE to use pure tung oil. You should also note that their Carnauba ISN'T pure Carnauba. They've added a solvent to make it a paste consistency.

It appears you've been either reading or listening to a particular outspoken finishing "expert" concerning the pure (aka no additives and no pre-curing) tung oil. It DOES dry. It just takes longer than the average ADHD woodworker likes these days. Using a tung oil with driers and/or solvents will speed up the drying process while having to deal with those addtives and their own issues. You can also buy (or crudely make) a pre-cured pure tung oil to speed up the drying and curing process.

Don't think pure tung oil doesn't ever dry? Have you ever tried opening a bottle top of it after you've left some of the oil on the screw top lid? It dries and dries HARD for an oil.

- Andrew

In time, perhaps a few months, my _pure tung oil, unlike mineral oil, forms a hard, dry, brown crust on top of the oil in its can. Is this crust just oil that was exposed to air and dried? What happens when (if) oils dry? What is the difference in composition between an oil as a liquid and in a dry state? I don't know from polymers and such stuff.:) Is the liquid remaining beneath the crust just the same pure tung oil? I ask because the remaining liquid seems somehow different from the original pure tung oil, ie. thinner, less viscous and not as 'oily'. Did the crust take something from it? Is it in transition? Why does wood polished with mineral oil and not covered nor waxed lose its greasy feeling if it doesn't ever dry? I yearn for a 'once & for all' explanation for these slippery questions. :) Arch

Fortiter,

Arch, tung doesn't dry, it polymerizes by oxygen cross-linking. Has to have a while to do this, because the molecules in tung oil are pretty good-sized to begin with, but warmer temperatures help, because it shuffles the atoms at the surface. And yes, the liquid under the tung oil is still tung oil, just as that white stuff around pigeon ... oh well, you know what I mean.

Mineral oil, on the other hand, does not cross-link, nor do other saturated vegetable oils. They do, however, disappear over time. The vapor pressure is extremely low, but they do , helped by heat of course, evaporate. In the meantime, they serve as an attractant for oil-soluble dust, crud, and bacteria. Think of your tack rag.

ADHD and woodworking - good observation, probably correct.

consistency.

pre-curing)