Reconditioning dop wax?

Hi Folks, At the risk of appearing a total cheapskate, does anyone
have any ideas for bringing old dop wax back to life? After a couple
years of use and reuse, it becomes thick and gummy. I tried adding
some orange flake shellac and paraffin… let’s just say, “that
didn’t work.” Writing from John Sinkankas and Paul Downing seem to
recommend just dumping it out and melting more, which is fine if you
have more on hand. Seems like there must be a way to restore it’s
nice melting and adhesive properties. Has anybody come up with a
solution? P.S. It’s the green cabbing wax… with a little residual
brown faceting wax thrown in.

Thanks in advance,

Dave
Dave Sebaste
Sebaste Studio and
Carolina Artisans’ Gallery
Charlotte, NC (USA)
dave@sebaste.com
http://www.CarolinaArtisans.com

Dave - The secret ingredient is beeswax! Evidently there are enough
volatiles in beeswax that their evaporation changes the character of
the sealing wax with repeated heating. Start by adding a very small
amount, and add more until you get the consistency which you need.
And it isn’t cheap, it’s frugal!

Jim Small
Small Wonders

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Hi Dave, I added some beeswax to mine and it seems to have improved
it. Karen in cold but sunny Toronto

Dave, don’t re-use dop wax. It is not worth the little cost of the
wax. You get your best bond to a stone with FRESH wax. Reheated
wax gets crumbly also. Same for wax that has set around for years.
If the surface of the wax stick is not shinny, it the trash it goes.
The stuff only cost a dollar or so a stick, and a stick will last you
for several hundred stones.

If I am cutting a number of stones at one setting, I will sometimes
take the stone off the dop, and then apply a new layer of wax to the
old wax on the dop and mount a second stone. I will never take a
dop out of the bin that has wax on it and try to reuse the wax on
it.

It is so much fun to see that opal you are polishing out go flying
and break as it hits the floor. All for the 2 cents worth of new wax
that would have prevented it.

One final point, I never use a dop pot, but rather melt the wax
directly from the stick to the dop. A dop pot will evaporate off
the wax over time and after just a while the wax in the pot is no
where as good as the wax straight off the stick.

Don

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