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Thread: What are you guys waxing your plane soles with?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
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    New Jersey
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    What are you guys waxing your plane soles with?

    I use paste wax, rub on, wait, buff off. It works but it's slow. I've recently seen some people just scribble a couple squiggly lines with some sort of more solid little chunk of wax, but i don't know what it is. What works for you guys?

  2. #2
    Gulf Wax. You find it in the canning section of the grocery store. One box will last a lifetime.

  3. #3
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    Gulf wax. I cut one end off the carton and continue to cut the carton back as I use it.
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  4. #4
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    Awesome thank you. Bonus points because I love when i can walk into a "regular" store and buy something useful for woodworking!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
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    I just use tea lights, pull the wicks out and they're good to go.

  6. #6
    I got a bag of old candles from my mom. It should last forever.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nathan Johnson View Post
    I got a bag of old candles from my mom. It should last forever.

    Ain't it the truth.
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  8. #8
    I mix 2/3 beeswax to 1/3 boiled linseed oil in a old muffin pan. Melt in the oven at a low temperature. Once all the wax is melted pull it out of the oven an let it cool to room temperature. It hardened to a little bit harder than a normal candle an will last years.

  9. #9
    Join Date
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    I bought a little beeswax candle at the farmer’s market.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
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    N. Idaho
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    FWIW, I find paraffin from tea candles (same as gulf wax) works considerably better than beeswax, which has a bit of tack. Even though I prefer the idea of using beeswax... I go through about one candle once every very long time.
    "You can observe a lot just by watching."
    --Yogi Berra

  11. #11
    Oiled rag in a can, candle, Gulf wax, it all works and kinda depends on what is handy. Not worth obsessing over.

    ken

  12. #12
    I use both a "rag in a can" or a chunk of paraffin, cut off a block of paraffin. Trying to decide which I like better.

  13. #13
    Join Date
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    I have a rag in a can, a chunk of beeswax lying around and some chunks of gulf wax. Whatever is convenient.

    Packrats prefer beeswax.
    ~mike

    happy in my mud hut

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
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    twomiles from the "peak of Ohio
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    Soles will get a few squiggly lines from an old , plain candle less than a dollar at Wal E World.

    To "oil" the rest of the plane....old, plain, cheap paint brush that has a "filling" of 3in1 oil.....just rub the brush around as need be.....brush is around a dollar bill, got it while getting that candle.

    I also use that candle on the threads of screws....helps prevent them from snapping off in the Ash, or Oak....Candle started out as a white 6".....now down to ~4"....

  15. #15
    Join Date
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    It depends on what is at hand.

    There are a couple hunks of candle wax in the shop. A couple hunks of bee's wax in a drawer.

    There is also a rag impregnated with furniture oil/wax used to rub down planes, tools, turnings and even furniture.

    There is also a piece of cloth with the old cloudy version of Johnson & Johnson's paste wax that is occasionally used.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

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