Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi All

What type of wax do you suggest for sealing the ends
of tops, backs and sides that are stickered?

It's been stinking hot and extremely dry here lately
and some of our wood is starting to split

I was going to melt down some candles but I thought I'd better ask for some advice before jumping into it.

Thanks

Bob

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

Bob,

I have used PVC glue (the blue stuff for PVC retic pipe) with good success. New stuff is fine, but the old stuff that has gone off in the bottle a bit and is no longer useful for pipe gluing is fine if your on a budget. Best of all, it even comes with it's own applicator brush.

I have found that it seals well against moisture (surprise ) but also, as the viscosity is high, it will does not tend to wick up the end grain like hot wax or some other thinner solutions will.

Cheers

Kim

Bob

As Kim says PVA Glue is quite good, the best in my opinion is parafin wax if you can get it.

Hey Russ,

I have tried PVA glue as well and it works well, but the thick blue plumbers goop made for fixing PVC water-pipe joints is excellent for summers here in AU.

Paraffin is good as well but when Bob says that it has been really hot here he is not pulling your leg. In Australia, it is sometimes soo hot in summer that even paraffin can melt and leach up the end grain of softwood which can ruining a top.

Cheers

Kim

Thanks Kim and Russ

I think I've got some of that blue plumbers glue hiding in the shed somewhere Kim so I'll give that a lash.

We've had three or four days here already this summer in the low forties (celcius) and it usually doesn't get hot in Victoria until January and February.

I've got some spruce tops that have come from the US/Canada that are waxed and they are holding up OK at the moment Russ, but I'm concerned about some of the wood we've resawn ourselves - including a couple of Brazilian sets - that I don't want to ruin.

I guess I'll just have to decide how I'm going to do my Brazilian - waxed or PVC

Thanks for the advice.

Bob

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

Todd lately I've been using the stuff from Rockler. Looks, smells, drys and works like Anchor seal for about 1/2 the price.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=1178&SearchHandle=DA DBDCDDDADADDDGDEDCGFGEDFDJDCDACNGBDIDJDACNDEGFGCDGCNDIGCGEDH CNDADIGBDDDIDIGBDGGBDJDHGDDADADADBDADADADBDHGHHCGFGFGOCAHHGP GPGECAHDGFGBGMGFHCDADADADEDADADADADADADADBDFDADADADBDADADADA DADADADADADADADADBDADADADBDHGHHCGFGFGOCAHHGPGPGECAHDGFGBGMGF HCDADADADBDB&CFID=9930806&CFTOKEN=29625697

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

I use latex paint.

Al

Artist's acrylic gel medium also works well. It doesn't wick, and it won't melt.

Your right Kim

My recommendation was based on the UK Climate, and I can see that parrafin wax would be a problem in a hotter climate.

Russ

I dry a lot of lumber that I use for furniture making and I have used Kilz ( a comercial primer you can find at any Home Depot or Lowes) with very good results. It's about eight bucks a quart and goes a long way.

                           Paul

I, too, have used latex paint. The point is not, as I see it, to entirely stop moisture from getting out of the end grain, but rather to keep the losses about the same on all surfaces. A couple of coats of latex paint works fine for this, and it sticks really well even to dripping wet wood. A friend and I used in on a spruce tree we got, and I helped another friend resaw, treat, and stack a nice curly maple using latex with no porblems. I also used it on some dogwood that somebody gave me, which was only cut in quarters. The 90 degree angles have lost about 5 degrees, but there is no end checking.