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Erik Hauri
 Post subject: Stripping wax
PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2008 7:59 am 
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OK....I need to strip the wax off an oil-finished bass guitar, so that I can refinish it (gloss conversion varnish). What's the best way to do this?

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WaddyThomson
 Post subject: Re: Stripping wax
PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2008 9:34 am 
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Won't Mineral Spirits dissolve wax?

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Daniel M
 Post subject: Re: Stripping wax
PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2008 12:10 pm 
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I don't know this for sure but... Might it not be a good idea to scrape off most of the finish before hitting it with a solvent? Seems to me like solvent is going to melt the wax & drive it deeper into the wood / pores. What kind of wax are we talking about?
Oil finishes that harden (like Watco) are a good base for many finishes. Waterborne & oil based.
If the instrument has had a silicone wax applied, you've got your work cut out for you.
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Dave Fifield
 Post subject: Re: Stripping wax
PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2008 1:36 pm 
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Yes, mineral spirits will disolve paste wax nicely. A rag dampened with mineral spirits will wipe paste wax (furniture wax) off easily.
It won't touch silicone wax though....

Scraping (carefully) works too!

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Erik Hauri
 Post subject: Re: Stripping wax
PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2008 6:05 pm 
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No idea if it's paste or silicone....right now, it's just "wax".

I'll try mineral spirits first, then scraping.

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Mitch Cain
 Post subject: Re: Stripping wax
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2008 8:09 am 
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A good bath in mineral spirits first, then a complete wipedown with naptha - if the surface is looking good at that point and you are just going to re-topcoat it, do yourself a favor and put down a barrier coat of Sealcoat shellac first. That way if there is anything on there that you don't know about, you are somewhat insulated from it.

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Erik Hauri
 Post subject: Re: Stripping wax
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2008 8:31 am 
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I'll be shooting pre-cat conversion varnish over it. So after stripping the wax, I am probably going to sand/scrape through the underlying oil finish and down to bare wood. I'm not so much worried about the oil, I'm more concerned about removing any wax residue before moving to the CV, and sanding/scraping to wood seems the most reliable way to remove ALL the wax.

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