Can you make your own wax sticks.

[JDarvall]

..by just melting regular candles and mixing oxides in it, like used for colouring concrete ?

thanks

Jake

[tea lady]

Regular candles are a bit soft. You can buy the various waxes from around the place. (That said, the Huon bowl I turned at my freinds place 20 years ago was finished with bees wax. ) Is it for filling or finishing?

[Woodwould]

Yes you can make your own wax sticks, although the oxides used for colouring concrete are far too coarse; you'll need to buy some artist's earth pigments.

Combine beeswax and carnauba wax (experiment with the proportions to arrive at the desired hardness), add the pigment(s) and then pour the mixture into moulds.

I used to have a few wooden 'bullion bar' shaped moulds that I lined with aluminium foil.

Use a trigger-operated soldering iron to melt the wax and run it into areas that require filling.

[JDarvall]

thanks. been going through a fair bit of it, and its not cheap.

just filling small holes. Normally I just jam it in there, scrape over the top, to remove excess (and stop the sandpaper from clogging) then just sand it, hoping the dust will mix with the wax blending the colours even better.

like that soldering iron idea woodwould. what I normally do is just use a lighter to run it.