removing wax?

[john schmidt]

i have a beautiful myrtlewood burl that i purchased from a mill nearly 12 inch diameter. my intention is to turn a bowl leaving the outside natural. its shape and depth lend to this idea. my problem is the entire burl is HEAVILY waxed. it is dry to turn and i'd like to go on it, but how can i get the wax off the natural outside of the burl ? any help??

 

[n7bsn]

Naptha, Coleman fuel and white gas. I'm no fan of using regular gasoline, but it should work also.

All done outside, over a bucket. with a small stiff scrub brush

PS before you turn

 

[waltben]

n7bsn is right, but I'm chicken and use a hair dryer and scraper.

 

[john lucas]

Mineral spirits also work. What I would do is turn the piece close to final dimensions and then remove what little wax is left. Then finish turn. That should be a lot easier than trying to get rid of all the wax.

 

[robo hippy]

I would think the hair dryer would work fine, add some mineral spirits to get some more of the bulk off, and then a solvent based finish over the top. I don't know if you will ever get all of it off, which would make a sprayed lacquer finish difficult to apply.
robo hippy

 

[waltben]

I'd agree on the just turn it to start out, but in my case, I picked up some Indian rosewood squares that had been totally immersed in paraffin right after cutting. They were just as wet as the tree had been and wouldn't dry at all the way they were. I used the hair dryer and scraping method to remove the wax from the side grain and left the end grain sealed. Worked quite well.