Cutting this PITA wax???????

How do you all cut your wax... (not your cheese!?) I tried a coping saw with dismal results... I am going to need about 1/2" thick pieces.. Just school me on the whole wax cutting thing..... Thanks!!

 

LMAO.... Who cut the cheeseeeeeeee? Stick it in a plastic bag and beat the snot out of it with a hammer. Toss the pieces in your wax pot and get to work. Whip out the plaster of paris and pour your pieces to start with. Here's a hint. Find some wood thats about the size you want. Lube it up with booty butter and stick it in a lubed junk store 10" round cake pan. Pour in the PoP over it. Let the PoP setup and then pull it all apart. Now you will have your first plaster pan cake. (one of many) After it dries, soak in water and pour in your hot wax. Let set up and pop it out. This is handy for getting the general shape to begin with. Or slice it thin, and start assembling the layers together until you have the desired thickness. I have to do this all the time.

The best way I have found to cut the stuff is with a utility knife blade. They are thin and go through pretty easily. Be careful, blood and wax dont mix. lol
IF you are really ambitious, dig up the ol' cam corder and start a YT channel. Working wax is something that requires some trial and error. The stuff you have, doesn't really saw that well. It's not that hard and gums up the teeth pretty fast.

 

Yep, pouring it into a mold 1/2" thick is the way to go. Cutting it precisely is difficult because as Jason said it will gum up the blade. Even if you use a straight blade it tends to wander through the cut.

You can cut wax with a straight non serrated blade if you heat the wax up so it gets a bit soft. Otherwise there isn't a good way to cut it that I've found.

 

Meat Slicer

 

HA.. meat slicer. Now THOSE give me the willys. I like my 10fingers thank you very much.
Doubt it would work, the heat buildup would turn into a slimy mess me thinks.

 

wouldn't a hot wire cutter be the way to go???

 

It would probably end in a fire.

I heated up a serrated knife the other night with my propane soldering torch to cut a block into chunks.
It didn't work very well and made one hell of a mess.

I broke out the 3 lb sledge and beat the life out of it and into smaller pieces.
Anger Management.

I guess if you made a hot knife similar to the ones used for sculpting air plane wing cores and had a very large drip pan under it, it may very well work.
Maybe use a piano wire instead........

Trial and error.

 

Yup. I tried that too. No dice. Get it cold, hit it hard. I pulled my hair out for the first month when I got my wax, but I knew it was something I had to figure out.
It was worth learning to make nice with this material.

 

Depends what type of wax you are cutting. If it is a hard wax like a jewellery wax or a very brittle casting wax you can use a spiral jewellery saw blade. You can buy this specialist item from a jewellery supplier of make your own with a standard large tooth jewellery saw blade, 2 pairs of pliers and a candle. Heat a small section of the blade in the flame of the candle till it glows red and twist it with the pliers. Repeat all the way along the blade till you have an even spiral along the length. This will make a self clearing blade for hard waxes for fine work. The joy of this type of blade is that you can change the direction of the cut without changing the position of the saw as the teeth are now pointed in 360 degrees. Just apply pressure in the direction you want the cut and the saw will cut. Don't cut too vigorously tho or you will melt the wax around the blade and it will jam and break.

If you are working bigger than jewellery size,just as others have said chill your wax and whomp it with something hard and heavy. I tend to put my hard casting wax 10kg billets in a hessian sack and bash it with a hammer till it will fit in the wax pan.

If it is a soft modeling/casting wax (victory brown etc) you can cut it with a wall paper scraper or a pizza rocker if the wax is warm enough.

 

He's got the 2ab150... Same stuff I'm running. too soft for a jewelers saw. I tried. Pizza rocker.... Might have to try that one.

 

OK I asked the experts here are their professional answers

V/r HT1

 

First answer has possibilities.
I've seen people put a table saw blade on backwards to cut plexiglass and the like, it works.
But it also works with the blade on the normal way too, just has the chance of binding and kick back.

Maybe put a blade on backwards on a circular saw and give that a try.

The rest of the bunch????, well ...............

Although the fourth reply about the wax fusing back together is spot on.

 

If its soft a pizza rocker works or a good sharp knife with multiple passes till its thin enough to separate by hand is what i do. This leaves a nice crisp edge. Hot knives work quicker but you sacrifice the sharp edges.

 

The 2ab150 is just hard enough to not make it fly paper sticky but hard enough even a serrated red hot knife won't cut through a slab.
I tried and it made one heck of a mess in the attempt.

I'm thinking outside of beating into oblivion and small pieces the only way to reduce it in size without heat is make a cube cutter and divide it with a hydraulic press.

Now,
I could have had some serious fun with this but for some strange reason I've taken a liking to you all and since I was the one to bring up the topic about using a reverse saw blade I went ahead, drug my good contractors table saw out and did the unthinkable.
Don't do this unless you have an OLD saw you "really" don't care about.

"For Your Entertainment Purposes Only"

Placed the block of wax in the freezer for about 5 minutes and the rest speaks for itself.

Myth Busted!!

Had to get the table to cold.



Set the blade on at half depth, multiple passes ...............





Old blade installed backwards







Wasn't THAT bad cleaning the mess out but once again, not recommended.

David, and here's your first post for the Hall of Shame "No No's".

 

a long time ago....Id eat so many of those icy pops that the plastic would cut the corners of my lips.. that's a new use for them for sure on that saw.
Nice mess. lol.

 

I strongly disagree!!!! There is no shame in what youve done, all i can see is a roaring success! Great creative use of the ice lollies and a clean cut on the wax. Mission accomplished i say. Now you just need a dedicated saw and maybe a walk-in freezer.

How do I 'Like' this post?

 

Never mind, found it! Sometimes i think my eyes are painted on.

 

Exactly what I was thinking while I was cutting and the wax began to get soft-ish.

If anybody does go this route make sure you use the thinnest kerf blade you can find, and only cut during the winter months.

Don't feel bad, my "eye" is already half shoot. Blind Man