How To Remove Wax From Wood?

[Jerry Murray]

I have a very nice block of Bolivian Rosewood. This piece measured 4"X 2 1/2" X 8"

I make slices of the block (5/16's") for pistol grips.

So this wood like most all of the other pieces I have is sealed with wax. Now scraping it off of the outside isn't a big deal, but some of the wax has seeped inside the wood. Is there any way to remove this? It is effecting the look of the finished pieces and I'd like to get rid of it.

Thanks.

[george wilson]

Can you just cut off the waxy parts? It would waste a little wood. Might be the best thing to do.

[glenn bradley]

I'm no expert but my ebony comes this way. I scrape the wax off the outside ending up with a card scraper. I scrub the outer surface with mineral spirits and a gray syntho pad. I finish off with a paper towel and DNA. I don't know if this leeches any penetrated wax out or not. However, I have had no finishing issues over the ebony cleaned this way. Just my experience.

[Vic Damone]

After you've scrapped of as much of the excess as you can use 3M Adhesive remover, outside. This is some gnarly stuff so wear gloves. It won't harm paint, even lacquer, and it evaporates. It's great for removing road tar from paint and it has many other uses.

[Mike Henderson]

Most of the time, I take a cut with my table saw and cut off the waxy part. I've never known the wax to penetrate the wood to any real depth.

One thing I have seen is a layer of wood that has changed color from exposure to light or air, but it isn't very thick and you can cut it off pretty easy.

Mike

[Dave Mura]

I just cut it off

[David Keller NC]

Jerry - If you've got wax penetrating the outer layers of the wood, and you want to keep that outer layer, your best bet here is a solvent.

The wax used to seal this wood is parafin (petroleum wax). Mineral spirits can be used to leach it out of the wood, but you will have to soak it in it, as the dissolution process is fairly slow. Laquer thinner will dissolve it much more quickly, however you will want to test the wood with the thinner. Partially polar solvents like laquer thinner (as opposed to mineral spirits, kerosene, and turpentine) may dissolve some of the natural dyes in the wood, affecting its appearance. This seems to vary from species to species, so a test is in order.

The same thing is true for denatured alcohol - it can dissolve certain natural dyes in wood. This is really obvious with bloodwood, but certain types of rosewood will do this as well.

[Jerry Murray]

I did a quasi experiment today with a piece of the wood.

As I was ironing my clothes for work I kicked the iron up to max and laid some paper towels over the offending chunk and 'ironed' it. Surprisingly it drew a bunch of the wax onto the towel, but it also allowed more to seep into the wood.

Oh well...I'll try some paint thinner, denatured alcohol etc next. I might just have to live with it.

[Lee Mitchell]

Jerry, try reversing the order.

Clean as much as possible, first. Then using a mat of paper towels, iron it. Keep the heat just above the melting point of the wax. Keep changing the towel so fresh clean towel is next to the wood. This may pull out even more.

Just a thought...

Lee in NC

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ie50220a022

Apparently there is a little more to it than meets the eye

[John Thompson]

Forget the de-natured acholol as mineral spirits.. paint thinner is the solvent for most waxes as already mentioned.

Good luck...

Sarge..

[Von Bickley]

Jerry,

What about some pictures of those pistol grips......... :D

[Jerry Murray]

Jerry,

What about some pictures of those pistol grips......... :D

sure...they are drying now from two coats of tung oil, so after I polish them, I'll do some photos.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Jointer? That would remove less wood than a table saw. I have, or had, an old jointer I used to remove the wax coating. It makes the jointer messy, but I don't think it hurts the blades. Gave away my old jointer, so now I guess I'll have to use the new one. I could be wrong about the blades.

Or you could use a lathe, but that would make your wood round, which would probably not help you.:)

[Jerry Murray]

Jointer? That would remove less wood than a table saw. I have, or had, an old jointer I used to remove the wax coating. It makes the jointer messy, but I don't think it hurts the blades. Gave away my old jointer, so now I guess I'll have to use the new one. I could be wrong about the blades.

Or you could use a lathe, but that would make your wood round, which would probably not help you.:)

the wax on the surface I remove with a sharpened putty knife. It's no big deal to do it that way...just the amount of wax that is getting inside the wood. In some places it goes in by almost 1/2"