End grain wax for drying

[Big Ry]

I'm looking to apply wax to the end grain of some wet wood in order to control drying. I'm looking for a durable hard wax that can withstand handling without coming off on my hands or stickers or anything else. I initially tried pure soy wax for candle making, but it ended up being too soft and would scrape off in a paste like manner relatively easily. I then tried adding some carnuba to it, but it became too brittle and cracked throughout (and was still kinda soft). In both cases, i did not use solvents or oils and instead just heated the wax to melting temp and dipped the wood a few times. What wax or wax blend am I supposed to use for this?

 

[Jonkou]

Treesaver works better than wax and is much more user friendly for both applying and turning away. Available from Craft Supplies USA.

 

[Big Ry]

Treesaver works better than wax and is much more user friendly for both applying and turning away. Available from Craft Supplies USA.

Honestly the reason i was trying to use wax is cause i can get wax for free lol

 

[Mike1950]

Free is not always cost effective. Slow drying
Woods like ebony parifin is preferred, it really slows drying. Others anchor seal on ends

 

[Big Ry]

Free is not always cost effective. Slow drying
Woods like ebony parifin is preferred, it really slows drying. Others anchor seal on ends

Ok I'll look for parafin wax. It really wasn't difficult to wax them. It's just that the wax i chose was wrong. I really like the fact that i can build up multiple coats in just a few minutes. There's no drying or curing, only cooling, which takes only a few seconds.

 

[Mr. Peet]

When doing small pieces, I used paraffin, canning wax. I have several diameter steel coffee can sizes. I heat the wax to near boil, dip, coating about 1/2 to 1 " up the sides of the wood. If it is really wet wood, I hold it in the wax a few seconds and listen. The hot wax can boil the moisture out of the end of the wood and get a better coating. High moisture wood often will push the wax in time. If it does that, you can just re-dip the piece and get a better seal. A knife maker just uses his propane torch and heats the wax on the wood. If you try this, do it outside as the wax can vaporize and ignite.

Avoid soy wax. Mice love it and will eat the waxed wood as well.

 

[Big Ry]

When doing small pieces, I used paraffin, canning wax. I have several diameter steel coffee can sizes. I heat the wax to near boil, dip, coating about 1/2 to 1 " up the sides of the wood. If it is really wet wood, I hold it in the wax a few seconds and listen. The hot wax can boil the moisture out of the end of the wood and get a better coating. High moisture wood often will push the wax in time. If it does that, you can just re-dip the piece and get a better seal. A knife maker just uses his propane torch and heats the wax on the wood. If you try this, do it outside as the wax can vaporize and ignite.

Avoid soy wax. Mice love it and will eat the waxed wood as well.

Crap. I guess i need to redo all that pricey Australian wood i got from Fred, cause i already dipped that in soy wax!

 

[Nature Man]

Crap. I guess i need to redo all that pricey Australian wood i got from Fred, cause i already dipped that in soy wax!

Soy to the world, the mice have come…

 

[Big Ry]

Soy to the world, the mice have come…

The mice (rats) came for my Honda Accord knock sensor wiring harness when i was living in Baltimore. That was made of soy! That was the last straw with that car. Sold it right after lol

 

[DLJeffs]

David ( @gvwp ) has those nice looking canary wood turning blanks for sale and I see they have the ends dipped in wax. This thread seemed like the place to ask my question: why just the ends? Is it because more moisture is lost through the open grain on the ends and the side grain doesn't loose as much? Or is it because cracking occurs more frequently on the ends so you want to slow the drying, especially on the ends? Or both?

 

[Big Ry]

David ( @gvwp ) has those nice looking canary wood turning blanks for sale and I see they have the ends dipped in wax. This thread seemed like the place to ask my question: why just the ends? Is it because more moisture is lost through the open grain on the ends and the side grain doesn't loose as much? Or is it because cracking occurs more frequently on the ends so you want to slow the drying, especially on the ends? Or both?

Technically both, but it's really the rapid moisture loss that causes the end checking and splitting to occur.

 

[djg]

I use paraffin wax, because I use to be able to get that free, and had no problems. Want to send me some of yours lol?

 

[Mike1950]

David ( @gvwp ) has those nice looking canary wood turning blanks for sale and I see they have the ends dipped in wax. This thread seemed like the place to ask my question: why just the ends? Is it because more moisture is lost through the open grain on the ends and the side grain doesn't loose as much? Or is it because cracking occurs more frequently on the ends so you want to slow the drying, especially on the ends? Or both?

Read somewhere that 90% of moisture in a 2×4 exits through both ends. Makes sense. That is how water travels up and down tree.

 

[Mr. Peet]

David ( @gvwp ) has those nice looking canary wood turning blanks for sale and I see they have the ends dipped in wax. This thread seemed like the place to ask my question: why just the ends? Is it because more moisture is lost through the open grain on the ends and the side grain doesn't loose as much? Or is it because cracking occurs more frequently on the ends so you want to slow the drying, especially on the ends? Or both?

Think of it as wood vessels, like a bundle of straws, bottom to top. Plug some of those straws and slow down the dry rate to allow a more even dry.

 

[gvwp]

David ( @gvwp ) has those nice looking canary wood turning blanks for sale and I see they have the ends dipped in wax. This thread seemed like the place to ask my question: why just the ends? Is it because more moisture is lost through the open grain on the ends and the side grain doesn't loose as much? Or is it because cracking occurs more frequently on the ends so you want to slow the drying, especially on the ends? Or both?

Yes. Typically, you will see the ends check first. For kiln dried blanks I only wax the ends. Domestic blanks rarely have a problem with checking in kiln dried blanks, but the exotic can still check even when kiln dried. For green blanks I wax the entire blank. I ship blanks worldwide and there are a lot of different climates so better safe than sorry when it comes to checking. I sometimes get complaints about the wax but would get more complaints with blanks arriving checked.

 

[TimR]

Used to be the go to end grain sealer was Anchor seal Classic until UC Coatings came out with Anchor seal 2. which gave inferior performance by a lot of folks online. Anchor Seal 2 came out as an environmental superior product and the only way to get the classic formula was ordering 5 gallon or heaven forbid, 55 gallon. One of our local woodturning clubs ordered a half dozen or so 5 gallon containers and wed divy it up to save a few bucks. I’ve noticed you can buy various end seal products in qt and gallon. To get Anchor seal classic, now, go to mfr site, UCCoatings and they have down to gallon or qt size.

 

[Big Ry]

Used to be the go to end grain sealer was Anchor seal Classic until UC Coatings came out with Anchor seal 2. which gave inferior performance by a lot of folks online. Anchor Seal 2 came out as an environmental superior product and the only way to get the classic formula was ordering 5 gallon or heaven forbid, 55 gallon. One of our local woodturning clubs ordered a half dozen or so 5 gallon containers and wed divy it up to save a few bucks. I’ve noticed you can buy various end seal products in qt and gallon. To get Anchor seal classic, now, go to mfr site, UCCoatings and they have down to gallon or qt size.

You can buy OG anchorseal in 1 gallon cans now. I just bought a gallon a few months ago. Ive been using it on my high dollar exotics,

 

[TimR]

You can buy OG anchorseal in 1 gallon cans now. I just bought a gallon a few months ago. Ive been using it on my high dollar exotics,

Just curious, did you order from UCCoatings or or where if not?

 

[Big Ry]

Just curious, did you order from UCCoatings or or where if not?

I ordered it on Amazon, but it says it was sold by UC Coatings...so yeah I guess I did lol