Soft wax FAIL!

Hi guys,

I decided to try my hand at making softwax yesterday, following Chris Schwarz's recipe at https://blog.lostartpress.com/2015/1...-try-soft-wax/

Unfortunately it didn't seem to work out. The instant I added the methylated spirits to the wax it curdled. Things didn't improve after the turpentine was added either. The result is a white 'soapy' looking substance, that doesn't rub in well at all (the plan was to use it to lubricate an outfeed table that had previously been coated in poly).

Does anyone know what I might have done wrong? Is it possible to overheat the wax? Or could this be the result of wrong proportions of solvents? (I set out to make my proportions a quarter of that in the recipe, however, between reducing the amounts and converting units, it's possible I got the ratios completely wrong)

I think the white spirit may have had water in it. There is a warning in the guys article about the quality of the white spirit.
Regards
John

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Originally Posted by orraloon

I think the white spirit may have had water in it. There is a warning in the guys article about the quality of the white spirit.
Regards
John

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But .... it wasn't white spirit that Sean added .... it was Methylated spirits
And if the turps was mineral turps that's a problem too .... best to use organic (or gum) turps

Sean, try some bee's wax, white spirit and gum turps .

Rob

Thanks Rob.

Where would I find gum turps? I live in rural Australia, we have a Mitre10 with VERY limited stock (don't even carry a proper range of metric bolts!) and a small Bunnings (maybe a 1/4 size of a normal one) an hour away.

What is white spirit called here in Australia? According to Wikipedia, 'white spirit' in Australia refers to mineral turps?!

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Originally Posted by sean3047

I decided to try my hand at making softwax yesterday, following Chris Schwarz's recipe at https://blog.lostartpress.com/2015/1...-try-soft-wax/

Unfortunately it didn't seem to work out. The instant I added the methylated spirits to the wax it curdled. Things didn't improve after the turpentine was added either. The result is a white 'soapy' looking substance, that doesn't rub in well at all (the plan was to use it to lubricate an outfeed table that had previously been coated in poly).

Does anyone know what I might have done wrong?

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White spirits, also known as paint thinner is a petroleum distillate. Methylated spirits is denatured alcohol. Two different solvents.
and depending on the source, the metho can contain more than 20% water.

You might get lucky, according to Google, Bunnings stock gum turpentine.

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Originally Posted by sean3047

Thanks Rob.

Where would I find gum turps? I live in rural Australia, we have a Mitre10 with VERY limited stock (don't even carry a proper range of metric bolts!) and a small Bunnings (maybe a 1/4 size of a normal one) an hour away.

What is white spirit called here in Australia? According to Wikipedia, 'white spirit' in Australia refers to mineral turps?!

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Gum turps is available at Bunnings ... it is an organic turps ... not a chemical based turps

We just have to rely on the CASRN ref number ... the world wide register of chemicals.

In the US 64475-85 is known as mineral spirit (among other things) https://www.spectrumchemical.com/OA_...0&respid=22372

In Australia 64475-85 is known as white spirit https://www.toxno.com.au/toxins/substance_id_12913.html


Let us know how it goes

Regards

Rob

Thanks everyone for the wealth of information. I'll have another crack at a small batch in a few days after I've made a trip to Bunnings!

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Originally Posted by Tahlee

Gum turps is available at Bunnings ... it is an organic turps ... not a chemical based turps

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can we get away from investing Gum turpentine with the "organic" halo? With the implication that it is therefore good or healthy or harmless compared to the alternative.

Both mineral turpentine (which is a petroleum distillate), and gum turpentine are chemicals and if anything Gum Turpentine has the potential to be more injurious to your health than mineral turps.

Yes - sounds like it would make a royal mess the way you did it. ;) ;)
Perhaps a translation issue between English and English. ;)

melt beeswax
thin it out with mineral spirits/paint thinner/naptha - not methylated spirits/alcohol
thin it out further with gum turpentine.

I would probably try out the odorless mineral spirits before I used Naphtha (generally whats in the good old stinky mineral spirits). It would stink less this way.. But if you have naptha - I wouldnt go buy another jug of different solvent for the need of one good slosh of the stuff.

I would also recommend that this recipe is not a high precision proposition.... Its a lump of wax, a slosh of paint thinner, and enough turpentine to get it to whatever consistency you like.

Methylated spirits may be an archaic name for methanol = methyl alcohol. If so, it doesn't mix with wax, melted or otherwise.
Denatured alcohol is commonly ethanol (found in wine, beer and spirits) which had been "denatured" with additives to make it undrinkable.
Benzene, Jet B (helicopter fuel) are the sorts of denaturants.

To mix with waxes, you have to use some sort of a petroleum based solvent. Naptha to us is a straight run cut petroleum distillate from a refinery.
Coleman stove fuel should do nicely.

I've used bee'swax as a finish on several of my wood carvings which I knew would be exposed to water.
Never again. The carvings came out fine. The mess, the clean-up was a nightmare.

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Originally Posted by Robson Valley

Methylated spirits may be an archaic name for methanol = methyl alcohol.

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Methylated spirits (aka metho) is much the same as denatured alcohol. It used to be ethanol with some methanol added to make it undrinkable (hence t he term methylated) but it was found the methanol has some nasty side effects, eg causing blindness in those who still drank it, so 'modern' metho uses other foul tasting additives rather than methanol.