So I went and got some wood today and picked up a scrap piece of Desert Eucalyptus that is covered in wax. I asked the guy what it's for and he said to keep the wood from drying out.
What I forgot to ask was whether I should clean it all off before tooling (and the best method) or just leave it on. I imagine that the wax would likely gum up my tools fairly quickly so I hesitate to work with it on there.
Anyone have any comments they'd like to share about this?
bkr
Woodturning supplies ?
Depends how you're going to work it. A hand scraper will take it off if you wish, but for turning the roughing gouge just won't care. If you're going to sand it immediately, then definitely take it off. For bandsaw resawing, it's somewhere in-between - a thick layer might gum up the guides with now-sticky sawdust, but it's not usually a problem.
Another issue is that of drying. Your timber is still somewhat green when it's waxed. Some timbers are waxed because they're more prone to checking during this final drying. Once turned to a thinner section then they'll survive it more easily, but may have some shrinkage.
If I'm making boxes with decorative panels, I buy timbers like thuya burr from a turning supplier. I scrape the wax off and resaw them roughly, but I let them air dry (stickered, on a shelf) for some weeks before planing the surfaces.
What kind of wax?
James... Note: The old timers use to coat almost all their cutting tools with beeswax (bear grease, whatever) to facilitate cutting.
Common way to slow the moisture loss from endgrain so that end checks won't develop. Wax should only be on the endgrain, though, or the piece had better be a few years old.
Turners do this sometimes when they rough out a piece of green wood into a turning with thicker than final walls. Water emulsion waxes like Anchorseal are applied to the outside (some, inexplicably, even coat the inside) of the bowl to slow loss and checking, and the bowl is allowed to seek equilibrium with its surroundings at leisure.
Doubt it will hurt your tools, unless it's collected some gunk along the way - see beeswax as lube thread - but I'd remove it because the heat of machining could drive it into the wood you're not removing, forcing you to adjust your finishes to accommodate it. Scrape well, follow by a wipe with mineral spirits.
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