Hard or even brittle carving wax

Jewelry Discussion
1

I’ve never done much carving-- I’ve always constructed my pieces.
Back when I was working strictly with ceramics, I did a lot of bas
relief carving in porcelain, and I liked carving that, but I dislike
the “bounce” of wax, the sort of rubbery quality.

I have some designs in mind now that would need to be carved. I may
actually carve them in porcelain instead of wax or metal, but it may
be too brittle to withstand the molding process. So here’s the
question. Is there any type of carving wax that carves more like
ceramic-- that is, hard or even brittle but not flexible or rubbery?

Thanks for any help!
Noel

2

Noel.

I do a lot of cnc ‘carving’ My favourite is a hobby class casting
resin. Alumilite. Not a wax but hard, tough, and it carves very
nicely. Stuff is tough enough for a client to make a hot vulcanizied
mold (although my success ratio is less than his cold moulding
should be fine)

jeffD
Demand Designs
Analog/Digital Modelling & Goldsmithing
http://www.gmavt.net/~jdemand

3

Noel, green carving wax (Ferris) is what you’re after. It’s available
as slices and blocks and is machinable. You can get extreme detail.

KPK

4

Noel,

Take a look at the ‘machinable’ waxes from ProtoWizard. They do an
orange grade that is quite brittle and stiff. The purpose is to make
it take fine detail from high speed milling cutters, but it may work
for your application. It is certainly not rubbery.

Mark Bingham
Fourth Axis

5

The hardest carving wax is brittle. Green, in the brand I have.

M’lou

6

Wizard wax (orange) is also very hard/brittle but I have a hard time
seeingit because of the odd color. High heat melting point and a lot
of powdery dust as well

7 
Wizard wax (orange) is also very hard/brittle but I have a hard
time seeing it because of the odd color.

This is a good point. I guess Wolf Wax is the best color, no? Aside
from looking more like metal, does it carve any differently than
other waxes?

Noel

8 
Wizard wax (orange) is also very hard/brittle but I have a hard
time seeingit because of the odd color.

Good morning Margie, Is wizard wax harder than green? I would love to
find a wax harder than green!

Mary Reiter

9 
I guess Wolf Wax is the best color, no? Aside from looking more
like metal, does it carve any differently than other waxes?

The reason I use a darker color wax for carving is to see the
details. I’m not here to push my DeepDetail wax on anyone but I do
believe it’s the very best for getting very small areas and detals to
show up. It does not absorb light as much as other waxes. SO - The
lighter the color of wax, the harder it is to see. The
hardness/softness is also a factor. I’ve carved just about every kind
of wax one can imagine in the last 25 years. They are all different.

Margie

10

Wolf wax is the best color for showing to clients. Personally, I
still like looking at the green. Errant crumbs really show up, and I
seem to see details well in the green. That said, I just used Wolf
gold for my latest model, and it was very nice. I think it is
tougher, more flexible, than my green.

M’lou

11

I wonder if it would be possible to have a page here where we could
list the waxes we use in jewelry/metalcraft work and then rate them
numerically in appropriate ways. Perhaps we could rate each wax from
1 to 10. 1 the best, 10 the worst (or vice versa, as long as it’s
clear which is which).

Each wax should be listed as specifically as possible:

[] Manufacturer
[] Model or product number
[] Color
[] Suggested uses
[] Burnout temperatures
[] Whatever else might be deemed appropriate

Suggested categories for grading might be:

[] Hardness
[] Pliability
[] Burnout
[] Carving
[] Whatever else might be deemed appropriate

With the collaborative spirit here in Orchid I’m sure this could be
refined and made into a useful tool for all Orchid members.

What do you think?

Mike DeBurgh, GJG
Henderson, NV

12

Wax in each form is distinctive. If one is interested in waxes then
that person should get some of each and try it out. Duh!
Investigate, problem solve.