[Jewelry making - Article 00235] - Re: [Orchid] [Source] Allot of Wax!

[Peter W . Rowe]

========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm  ]========


>        Hello all, another question here. Anyone know of any good wax
>     suppliers? I suspect I'll be messing up a bunch of it while I
>     perfect my technique. At some point I should have enough projects
>     gone wrong to melt down and carve again. 

    A number of jewelry tools suppliers sometimes carry Ferris
    "seconds".  these are usually the larger bulk size blocks, not ring
    tubes etc.  cost is about half the per pound price of the regular
    "firsts".  Just a usable, but with varous flaws in the size of the
    block, or it may have some external damage to the block, etc. Also,
    check into Do-All company, the machine tools supplier.  They used to
    carry a product that is identical to the ferris blue file-a-wax for
    use in verifying CNC cutting tool  programs.  Too fast a feed rate in
    the wax won't break expensive end mills...  And the wax from them was
    a lot cheaper than from 46erris.  I'd bet the machine tool guys are
    the original manufacturers, and 46erris relabels it, but that's just
    a guess. 

>     The carving clay was nice and all but the smaller and finer the
>     shapes the details would soften in my hand. Would green be the best
>     to start with rather than purple? 

    Blue is the softest and most pliable, and many commercial wax
    workers use the blue as their default choice.  It's fastest to carve
    and cut, and most resistant to breakage by mistake.  but tiny details
    can be more difficult, since it's flexibility lets thin sections move
    instead of carving cleanly.  for many waxes, though, it's the best
    choice. 

    My own overall default is the purple.  I just got used to it. 
    Medium hardness, and holds details better.  I've also got a wax pot,
    the manual press down pump type, filled with this stuff.  And a set of
    plexiglass machined molds that GIA used to sell, which let me inject
    short sections of ring tube.  The results are not quite as reliable
    as the commercial tube, since this is reused wax, and occasionally
    there will be a flaw in the wax to work around.  but it lets me reuse
    the scraps (not the dust, which is usually contaminated with
    something or other by the time I collect it from the bench pan.  If
    you choose to reuse wax by melting it and pouring into a mold of some
    sort, you can make usable wax blocks easily.  The thing to remember
    is that in remelting, even if you're very careful not to overheat it,
    you'll be burning off some of the plasticizers in the wax, which is
    what makes it hard and strong.  So reused wax tends to be softer than
    that grade would ordinarily be.  My purple wax cast tubes from my
    molds are still closer to the commercial purple in working
    characteristics, than they are to the commercial blue, but they are
    slightly softer.  I've found reused blue wax to be almost too soft
    for many models. 

    The green is also very useful for those instances where you really
    need a rigid wax that will hold details very well.  You can carve very
    thin sections and delicate wall thicknesses without they're flexing
    appreciably under the pressure of the files or carvers.  the downside
    is that the stuff is then more brittle too, and it's easy to break a
    wax model if you're careless.  Or let a customer push one onto their
    flabby finger...  for waxes done with machine tools (lathes, mills,
    etc), or carved with flex shaft driven cutters, you'll find the
    surfaces you get with the green wax to be superior to the other,
    softer, grades. 

    so the upshot is that there's a reason for several grades of wax,
    and each has it's own best use.  Try them all, and make your own
    choices on that basis.  It will depend on what your carving, how
    you're carving it, and your own preferences for the feel of the
    process. 

    Peter Rowe  

____________________________________________________________________
T h e   O r c h i d   L i s t
Open Electronic Forum for Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Procedures
____________________________________________________________________
Orchid FAQ:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/faq.htm
Orchid Archives:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive
Orchid Galleries:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/gallery.htm
Invite a Friend:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm
____________________________________________________________________
Tips From The Jeweler's Bench - Article Archive
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/tip_sear.htm
The Jeweler's Selected Bibliography List
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books
Buy Orchid Jewelry:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/shop
____________________________________________________________________
-Unsubscribe:
-Email: orchid-request AT ganoksin.com Body=unsubscribe subject=blank
____________________________________________________________________