Which wax is best?

[littlecherryhill]

I want to have a bash at a little wax carving. But I'm unsure which wax to start with. I know of 3 different colours - purple, green and blue.

For those that have experience in this, which is the best wax to begin with?? Also do you recommend any particular carving sets?? I have my eye on the Wolf Wax Carving set at RIO.

Thanks guys :)

[oiseaumetalarts]

i prefer green, but i started with the blue having not known about the other colors.
as for carving ive got an assortment of dental tools, modified exacto blades, and some nice new clean files.
oh and one of these things is escential.

http://www.riogrande.com/Product/Matt-Ring-Tube-Sizer/700570?pos=1

[littlecherryhill]

Thanks Damon! I've added that tool to my wishlist.

[SaaraReidsema]

I second the Matt ring tube sizer!

The harder the wax the less tacky (will clean more easily from files and burrs)

I love blue for it's flexibility and green for everything else.
I haven't found an application to love purple.

An electric wax tool is a great investment, you can repair mistakes, fill voids, build bezels, build shapes etc.

Good luck and have fun!

[maythenwolfbane]

I prefer the purple wax myself. I find it the nicest to work with followed by the blue.

The best advice I could give you is if you can get a small amount of all three colours. Play around, see how they feel while working and go from there.

[madstarsilver]

I think that most teachers start with the purple, the mid hard, but truthfully, i don't find much difference between the green and the purple. Supposedly, you can get more detail with the green...

My husband's a dentist so I have access to all kinds of goodies...his personal favorite carving tool is the Vee carver. Your dentist probably won't have old tools to give to you, because they don't wear out, but if you're on friendly terms, the real tools are better than those they sell for wax carving.

My teacher says to forget about special wax burs...the standard metal ones are fine. He said this, of course, after I had bought wax burs. Another handy thing for all kinds of clean ups is 3M emery paper.

And a wax pen is also very very nice to have.

Have fun.
Marilyn

[Former_Member]

any suggestions on books or videos on making the wax models? not planning on doing rings, more things like sheet background and floral/creatures on top.
i ordered the matt wax gun and dvd from rio. wow the forms created w/ that gun were amazing. also just received some wax wire and bezel and sheet combos from rio.
dh will be away on vacation last half of april and i hope to practice on wax then

[madstarsilver]

That's interesting about the gun. I'll a look at it. Can you post pictures of what you've made...very interesting.

If you're interesting in playing around, get the thin pink sheet wax...lots of fun.

[Former_Member]

marilyn, i haven't made anything yet. i watched the dvd. they show making flat wax, that i think was made by dropping it off the gun into water. then wax wax was squeezed out in long threads to be used in woven designs, such as woven ring bands. another example was dropping the wax onto a wooden ring mandrel in freeform scrolls to compose the ring band.
i ordered a selection of the pink sheets. must get tax prep finished before i start to play. i think while dh is on vacation i will just live in the studio hahaha, i've been known to just hyperfocus, order in food for several days, load up the animal bowls with food and water
my best vacations are when i'm home alone hahaha

[Former_Member]

this is the dvd i purchased
http://www.riogrande.com/Product/DVD-WAX-CARVING-WITH-MATT-TOOLS/560615
they have several other wax dvd as well
http://www.riogrande.com/Search/wax-dvd

[madstarsilver]

jeanne,

there's such a huge selection of waxes out there including wax wire.

this is supposed to be the bible
http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Wax-Modeling-Adventure-Creativity/dp/4905588286/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1...

believe it not i paid $60 for the book so $49 on amazon is a bargain. I haven't looked at it yet, but i bought the one by kellenberg.

a good divider is key, but you probably know that.

There are two ways to approach wax...one is just by winging it and the other is by measuring and segmenting...

but fooling around is always a good way to start because at least then you will figure our what you don't know.

marilyn

[SaaraReidsema]

My dad used an antique veterinarian metal syringe for shooting wax into water... Oh the late 60s and early 70s!!

[Former_Member]

I prefer the blue wax, and I do most of my carving by hand. I personally could not live without my Matt wax ring sizer, a 6 inch wax file in medium and coarse (with one safety edge) and my set of tiny eyeglass screwdrivers, and an xacto knife with a broken and sharpened blade. for tools, be prepared to do a lot of scraping.

You can also get several kinds of wax and blend them to get the characteristics you want (like alloying metal, really)

There are also softer waxes that you can actually model with, some go pliable at body temp, others you need to heat in water.

The best thing i could suggest for wax type, as mentioned before, is to get a few different kinds to play with and see which you like best.

Xacto knives are nice, but the blades tend to flex and bend a bit which i don't like for most things.

The ganoksin forums have several articles on wax working, as well as modifying dental tools to use for wax (Which most of my tools are currently made out of)

[Former_Member]

i go back to the dentist group in 10 days, should perhaps ask ahead of time for tools. i got to see the screwdriver he used to unscrew/screw in my tooth implant
kenneth i had a question on the bezel waxes that rio sells, the gauges were so higher, how do they correspond to finished size, and the bezel wire folks buy?
too tired to make a clearer post nite all

[Former_Member]

I'm thinking your talking about the Cowdry profiles stuff, which I've never used. The size of your waxes compared to post-cast depends alot on your techinique. WHen I was steam casting, I would carve a size 10 ring at a size 10 wax, and the shrinkage was small enough that during finishing, you would take it down to a perfect 10. Now that I'm vacuum casting, I find I have to make the wax for a size 10 ring alkmost a full 10.5. I have never tried centrifugal, so I don't know about that...

Probably the best thing to do, is get some of the wax you mentioned, and just take measurements before and after a cast. You can always grind/sand a little of the metal off after the cast if you need to, and it can always be soldered onto other silver.

Just remember, always try to mix a minimum of 50/50 already cast silver with virgin silver, and you can't cast silver that has solder on it.

Wish I could have been more help on the bezel tape. This is something I plan to get more into myself, in the near future.

[Former_Member]

Green is my choice. It's what I learned on during my apprenticeship and have come to love.

[Former_Member]

I've spent the last week or 2 hand carving and casting bezels for smaller cabs (Largest is 12x10mm Onyx) and have found the shrinkage on such a small piece to be minimal to none. I actually have to cast my piece just barely (.5-.25) small, so I get a nice snug fit after finishing.

My guess would be that wax bezel tapes and cowdry profiles would have the same minimal shrinkage if the stone size wasn't a monster.

@Jeanne - If you work get around to working with bezel wax, post back and let us know your findings.

[Former_Member]

I have this set of Wolf Wax Carving tools:
http://www.riogrande.com/Product/Wolf-Tools-ldquoWicked-Sharprdquo-Micro-Wax-Carving-Tool-Set/700890...

It's a wonderful set and I highly recommend it! But what I love even more is this...
http://www.riogrande.com/Product/Professional-Comfort-Grip-Denture-Short-Two-Edge-Wax-Tool/700305?po...

I use this wax carving tool the most of any other tool I own and would be lost without it.

During my apprenticeship, I never learned how to use actual wax carving tools. Instead, we used gravers which can also be one of the best investments you could make - even just for wax work. Someday I hope to pick up a really nice set myself!

[littlecherryhill]

Thank you everyone for your advice. I went and got myself a stainless steel set of dental/carving tools...didn't want to spend too much just yet as I might not take to it. So I will buy a few different colours of wax and have a play and see what I like I guess. I just really need to bring in something new into my work and I think it could be lots of fun......maybe I should do that workshop on it......

[Former_Member]

Does anyone know how to resize wax rings that are in the pink soft injectable wax? I don't know how to work with that wax without it melting too quickly? I'd like to be able to resize my own rings using the wax models that caster gives me but this pink injectable wax seems too hard to work with. However, my caster is able to work with it! Any ideas? Thank you!