A 'Boring' wax idea

Jewelry Discussion
1

I don’t have a regular lathe. When I have to turn a wax I use a #30
handpiece clamped in a drill press vise. Works OK, not ideal, no
tailstock, no tool rest. I cut 3 samples of wide bands, 8-10mm to
show for approval of final width. It was laborious to try to get a
uniform fingerhole, where the surfaces are parallel, no taper. On
something that wide its a consideration since the outside
configuration is dependant on the inside dimensions. Without a tool
rest its all freehand, accuracy not so good because you can’t see or
measure the far end of the hole. I used various cutting tools but it
was hit or miss, and missing three times is a pain. So I land the job
and have to make a good wax.

Then I remembered I still had a set of carpenters’ spade bits in my
toolbox from when I did the fitout 3 years ago. Why I kept that in my
jewelers’ toolbox I dunno, too lazy to bring it home maybe. This
thing cut like a dream, self centering, pretty close to needed finger
size, no chattering, waste wax not nearly as messy. Because it has a
long shank you have something substantial to hold onto and just
eyeballing the alignment got me within 1/4 size side to side. I’d
call that parallel enough.

Great, I’m a human tailstock.

2

Hey Neil,

Then I remembered I still had a set of carpenters' spade bits in
my toolbox from when I did the fitout 3 years ago.

Good save, but have you considered the ‘matt wax mini lathe’ ? In my
opinion its a lot less trouble. I don’t know how much they cost now
days because I bought mine 10 yrs ago, but it will do that job in a
flash. Of course, some of us old carpenters just like to get every
last dime’s worth out of our spade bits don’t we?

Good Will To All
Kevin Knoch

3

Neil

Just in case you might be interested in another tool, I will put in
a plug for using Matt Wax’s reamer, which is settable to any ring
size (altho you need a magnifying glass to see the sizes) and pretty
easily cuts out a hole of the appropriate size from a wax ring blank.
It is actually pretty much like your spade bits in its’ function.
Costs around $50. I will tell you that I also use a wooden mandrel,
marked with ring sizes and having a steel ridge on it to bore out
ring waxes, and that works pretty well too, and costs a lot less!

Ivy