Sealing Wax WHOA!

[Dok Yager]

Anyone ever use or run into a sealing wax that has an Extremely pungent odor of what I would call a 10 year old little girls perfume? It`s pink in color and WHOA just knocked me for a loop when I tried to scrape if off a couple of pieces I bought. The wood is Madrone which is odorless at least the first batch was. And looking it up on Toxic woods says odorless as well. Yikes I don`t know what I have here but it`s Nasty.

Any insight would be appreciated!

[Aaron Craven]

Maybe whoever sealed it was reusing old scented candles? :D

[Dok Yager]

LOL!! :rolleyes:

[Brice Rogers]

I have a question about anchor seal versus paraffin (candle wax). I read that anchor seal doesn't stop moisture from escaping a chunk of wood, but significantly slows it down. (Which is all good). How about paraffin? If I completely seal a piece, will it hold in all of the moisture or is it like anchor seal and just (significantly) slow it down??

BTW, I have sealed stuff with old candle wax. Once a year we have a community garage sale and I can often get a whole bunch of partially used large candles. But it stinks up my workshop when I'm melting it. :eek:

[Steve Peterson]

I recall my grandparents using sealing wax for canning fruits and jelly. This may have been before the days of Ball canning jars, or maybe it was just cheaper. It seems like it would have to be fairly air-tight or else bacteria would get in. Maybe it would be OK to seal the ends with wax to let the entire piece of wood dry through the side walls.

Steve

[Reed Gray]

It may just be an old candle. Madrone has almost no smell to it.

robo hippy

[Steve Doerr]

As was said by Aaron, it was probably sealed with a variety of old scented candles. I used some one time and decided not to go with the old scented candles because of the way it stunk up the shop.

Brice--I now use sealing wax exclusively to seal the end grain on all of the tree wood that I cut into turning blanks. Anchor Seal does have some sort of paraffin in it but they are ale to keep it in a liquid state. I have found that getting the paraffin good and hot so that when I brush it on the end grain that it dries clear has been more effective than if the temperature of the paraffin is lower, such that it dries white. I have found that it does let some of the moisture out thru the end grain but mostly thru the side grain. For me, the paraffin is cheaper (I use a 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby) and easier for me to get than is the Anchor Seal.

Steve--I think one of the difference between using it to seal end grain and using it to seal fruit jars is the thickness of the layer of wax. On the wood, it is about the thickness of one or two coats of a good quality house paint, where in the canning process it needs to be about 3/8" to 1/2" thick for it to be an effective sealer. Thus, it prevents the bacteria and other things from penetrating into the food.

[Dennis Ford]

I have a question about anchor seal versus paraffin (candle wax). I read that anchor seal doesn't stop moisture from escaping a chunk of wood, but significantly slows it down. (Which is all good). How about paraffin? If I completely seal a piece, will it hold in all of the moisture or is it like anchor seal and just (significantly) slow it down??

BTW, I have sealed stuff with old candle wax. Once a year we have a community garage sale and I can often get a whole bunch of partially used large candles. But it stinks up my workshop when I'm melting it. :eek:

Paraffin is about as close to a complete seal as you are likely to get.

[Brice Rogers]

...Anchor Seal does have some sort of paraffin in it but they are ale to keep it in a liquid state. I have found that getting the paraffin good and hot so that when I brush it on the end grain that it dries clear has been more effective than if the temperature of the paraffin is lower, such that it dries white. ....

If my wax isn't hot enough, I've had the same issue with it being white/milky. I sometimes hit it with a $10 HF heat gun to make it go clear.

I recently upgraded from a hot-plate for the wax to a "red-neck" wax melter - - it is an old electric iron that I hold upside down in a vice. I saw it is a collection of joke pictures on an email of redneck solutions and thought that it was a good idea. ha ha...

[Aaron Craven]

..."red-neck" wax melter - - it is an old electric iron that I hold upside down in a vice...

I have a buddy that uses an old crock pot minus the ceramic liner -- one of the big ones like you'd use for a small turkey or chicken. That way he can adjust the heat as needed.