Hello again.
Back from Exeter now and getting ready to go to Didcot now. Hope I’ll see you at one of the shows I’m attending.

First question this week is one that we have been asked before in this (sometimes) overly-safety conscious world, and that’s whether the stick waxes are considered hazardous. As they don’t contain any solvents or the like they are not classed as hazardous, but I reckon you could do some damage if you sharpened one and poked yourself in the eye with it. Don’t try that at home.

Another question about stains, this time from someone who hasn’t used them before, asking if they ‘muddy’ the wood. We took this to mean if they hide the grain and the answer is a definite ‘no’, they are completely translucent and will allow the pattern of the wood to show through very clearly.

An interesting question earlier this week was from someone who’d made a spinning wheel and finished it with Microcrystalline Wax. Whilst very happy with the finish it was causing a little bit of friction and impeding the smooth spinning of the wheel on one part, how could he remove the wax? White Spirit will dissolve most waxes and remove most of it, if there’s any left a bit of abrasive will clean up the last bit.

We were asked if Tung Oil is toy safe. We expect so but it’s not one the products we’ve had tested for toy safety (we have certificates for all our products we say are toy safe), we’d expect the Finishing Oil and Hard Wax Oil (both tested) to be more popular for this use. Should we have Tung Oil tested as well??

And finally, at the Exeter show, we were asked about the difference between the stick waxes we produce:
The Woodturner’s Stick Wax is a blend of beeswax and carnauba wax, making it a bit softer to use, less likely to scratch soft wood and potentially better for first time users.
Carnauba Wax Stick is a pure block of carnauaba which will give a very hard wearing, high gloss finish but can be a little fiddly to get on with. It’s also a bit brittle which can be a problem for us and deliveries!
Finally is our Microcrystalline Wax Stick, which is, in effect, our Microcrystalline Wax in a stick form, so there’s no waiting for it to dry and it still gives the added protection that Microcrystalline Wax will give. It can also be used on the C Wheel of our Buffing System.

So that’s all for this week, hope I might see you at the weekend (or in Ireland the week after, Harrogate the week after that or even Cardiff after that!)

And if I don’t, have a great weekend anyway and I’ll be back next week.

All the best

Terry