All microcrystalline waxes not equal

Ryan Mooney

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The Gorge Area, Oregon
I've been playing around with some different top coats and friction polishes and had gotten a bar of Carnuba wax which is astoundingly hard stuff (from beall). Outthinking myself I figured hmm, well if pure carnuba wax in bar form is so nice and hard I wonder if anyone sells microcrystalline wax in bar form. Sure enough they do, so I bought a 1lb bar of Jaquard Microcrystalline which is normally used as a carving wax (should have been a hint I guess) and well its softer than canning wax :doh: I believe its actually a laminating grade wax which is quite soft.

A small amount of research would have saved me $20 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcrystalline_wax - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Wax gives the specific formulas) - but I figured I can use the wax for its original purpose and have some carving practice.. so not a complete waste.

A bit of poking around and it appears that you can get hardening waxes in small quantities, the common use appears to be for candles http://www.candlemakingsupplies.net/candle-wax-additives/micro-wax-195/cate_109/p___P0787010.html Unsure how well it would work as a friction polish.. but I may give it a shot once I've run through some of the current collection of things to try.
 
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