Use wax on plane soles?

Oh yeah, it works, It particular important on metal planes, which don't slide as well as wooden planes.

The traditional way is to scribble with a candle.

BugBear

Candle wax or paraffin wiped on works well. Don't get fancy, just rub the candle around the sole and go for it. It does not prevent rust. I suggest you use a non-silicone based polish for that, or one of the commercial sprays. Of course, if you use it often, that works better than anything.

Sort of. Wax is a good idea, but candle wax isn't the best. It's solid, so it's hard to apply and polish out. It's also soft, so it's likely to be sticky afterwards.

You'd be better off reading some of the interminable threads about waxing table saws, and using those recommendations. "Johnson's Paste Wax" seems favoured - it has a solvent in the tin so it goes on easily, and most of these have carnauba wax in them to make them harder in service.

You don't need to "coat" the sole with it, just write a few squiggles along the length with the wax. I picked up a box of canning wax from a craft store about a year ago and it looks like that will last me about 40 years - it was probably $2, IIRC.

And, it indeed seems to reduce friction noticeably.

Mike

I use SC Johnson's wax on my planes. They glide effortlessly (well, almost) with a fresh coat of that wax on them.

David

Jacobe Hazzard wrote:

I wipe mine down with Boeshield. SH

Does this not get wax on the wood? The slightest trace of wax or silicone will play havoc with finishes

See Bob Key's idea about an oil wick for lubricating a plane while using it. I tried it. It works really well.

Bob

How well does LV Waxilit work for metal plane soles?

- Daniel

No idea. I generally use Liberon's Black Bison wax because it's harder.

Wax is NOT silicone. Wax will cause zero problems when applied and buffed on your jointer, table saw, planes, etc.

David

Battleax wrote:

I use a small block of beeswax. As others pointed out, you just need a few scribbles on the sole. It helps immensely in reducing the friction -- you will be surprised.

Of course this doesn't prevent rust and so you will occasionally want to use paste wax or similar for the entire plane.

Cheers, Nate

just rub a little on.

I prefer paste wax. it takes a little longer to use, because you have to let it dry and buff it off, but for use in the shop it's fine. in my jobsite kit I keep a lump of beeswax.

Why? I rub it on before storing, let the first two passes buff it for me when I use the plane. Could care less about unbuffed wax on the sides.

I have been using baby oil in a ball of felt, placed in a tuna can- anyone see any problems with this. Sure slides nice, and I thought maybe it would prevent rust like camelia.

Bob

prolly a work habits thing. I tend to drag tools out as I need them, and as a process progresses, often late into the night, the tools and crap generally pile up. clean up often happens early in the morning, when I'm more interested in making *some* kind of order out of the chaos so I can get to work than in making sure each tool is totally caught up on maintenance. hell, *that* would take forever.... so for better or for worse, it's in the middle of using a tool that it gets sharpened, tuned, waxed or whatever.

None, if you remove the tuna first.

LD

That's why you have a shop cat. Put down the can and in a few minutes all traces of the tuna will be completely gone. (And the baby oil should counteract the effects of the cat spit.)

--RC

If I weren't interested in gardening and Ireland, I'd automatically killfile any messages mentioning 'bush' or 'Kerry'

LOL!

The cat's sitting right here. Now he's asking for tuna!