got Carnauba now what?

[Mungo Park]

I bought a stick of carnauba wax, from Lee Valey, for finishing some knife handles. The wax is hard as a stick!
I did a search and one post said melt equal parts of parifin, bees wax, and carnauba together. Another sais disolve it in "turps".
Could anybody ferret out which would be best for a hard waterproof finish for knife handles, and how to apply it?
Cheers Ron.

[soundman]

Id say if you want hard, you will not be wanting to mix it with softer waxes.

Seeing as you can't spin the knife in the lathe safely & friction polish it.

You'll be needing to either disolve/ soften it with a solvent.
or
soften it with heat.

Either way you will end up with the pure carnuba on the job.

how hot do you have to get it befor it starts melting?

hould you warm up the handle and rubb it in?

I'd be doing some experiments.

cheers

[Master Splinter]

Melting point of carnauba wax is around 85 degrees, so you can just melt it in a pot in some boiling water. Then drop the knife handle in for instant waxing!

If you want to thin it with a solvent, warm it up and thin it with Xylene (from Bunnies paint section).

[Mungo Park]

I did try to melt a small piece in a double boiler it did melt very slowly. Once melted It did stay soft for a while which was encourging. I think I will try the melt it and disolve it in a slovent and apply it that way. Thanks for your help. I will tell you how it goes.
Cheers Ron.

[Mungo Park]

Well I melted the carnuba with parifin 4 carnuba to 1 parifin and a small amount of bees wax, diluted with mineral oil. I tried out the stuff it is soft and goes on well but does not dry well. I might have to leave it overnight to get it to dry.
Cheers Ron.

[soundman]

Well theres your problem right there.
diluted with mineral oil. that isnt going to evaporate in a hurry is it.

You've just made boot polish, or maybe saddle soap.

Try what we would call mineral turpintine (mineral spirit) instead of oil.


Remember if you are doing this over heat you are playing with fire. This stuff can go KAFLUSHA.If you aren't carefull.

cheers

[Mungo Park]

Oil, spirts whats in a name, just joking, thanks for pointing this out.
Back to the drawing board with spirts.
Cheers Ron.

[Master Splinter]

Xylene, and although I haven't tried, probably any of the proper paint thinners (supa-cheap auto's general purpose thinners). If it's a thinner that instantly takes all the oil out of your skin, then it should dissolve warmed Carnauba wax.

And have a look here

[soundman]

Xylene Why are we talking about Xylene.

Xylene is an exotic, expensive, possibly dangerous and definitely bad for the enviroment.

If you are wanting to make a wax polish you need to be looking at a simple low volatility hydrocarbon solvent. Like turps.

Mineral turps (aka mineral spirit)... what you use to thin ordinary oil based paints.

cheers