I melted down some more carnauba wax yesterday. However, this time I placed it in the freezer to cool directly from the oven. Initially everything was fine, but then the wax cracked badly. No matter, back in the oven to remelt and then an hour or so cooling on the bench-top and everything was ok again.
As you can see the colour of the quick-cooled version is the same as the bench cooled version. The quick-cooled wax does have a slightly more consistent appearance. But I noticed that when I put the remelted wax on top of the cool (big) stove-top hotplate in my kitchen it cooled rapidly without cracking and also had a more consistent appearance.
I think the day that I did the original batch it was quite warm so the outer layers of wax had longer to cool and set before the middle layers started to cool and set. Not that it makes any difference I guess, but I am trying to make the highest quality product possible and every little thing may help. Let's see what HD can do with that initial block :)
As you can see the colour of the quick-cooled version is the same as the bench cooled version. The quick-cooled wax does have a slightly more consistent appearance. But I noticed that when I put the remelted wax on top of the cool (big) stove-top hotplate in my kitchen it cooled rapidly without cracking and also had a more consistent appearance.
I think the day that I did the original batch it was quite warm so the outer layers of wax had longer to cool and set before the middle layers started to cool and set. Not that it makes any difference I guess, but I am trying to make the highest quality product possible and every little thing may help. Let's see what HD can do with that initial block :)
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| Badly cracked but more consistent in colour. I'm quite impressed by how resilient carnauba seems to be, not even poor handling seems to change it's physical properties. |
The first block you made looked big but when i used it today it was great nice and easy to hang on to.
ReplyDeleteI am sure that the first method worked well.
I also run the buff all around the block to take off the sharp edges.
How can wax have sharp edges ?.
This stuff is so hard.
Lol, I was thinking the same thing re. sharp edges. I dropped a piece on out kitchen table...the carnauba won - the pointy corner didn't even chip a little, the table now has a new hole/ding.
ReplyDelete