Removing waxy substance from Rockler exotics

[oarlock]

Hi There.  I just picked up some exotic wood blanks from a garage sale. They are all labelled as Rockler and they are covered with a waxy substance, which I presume is meant to protect from oxidation.  Before I start in with a card scraper to remove the wax, does anybody have a faster way?

[joe1086]

Not that I have an answer to your question....but Rockler blanks come waxed to keep the moisture in and prevent checking until the piece is turned.

[wood-chips]

Not that I have an answer to your question....but Rockler blanks come waxed to keep the moisture in and prevent checking until the piece is turned.

And to add... When you clean the wax off you better be ready to turn, because in most cases they will begin to check pretty quickly once the wax "seal" is removed. Don't ask me how I know 

[SteveS]

Running them through the jointer is faster.

[iclark]

Turning them on the lathe is faster.

fixt

What sort of blanks are we talking?

If pen blanks, drill and lightly use a countersink on the end that you are inserting the tube (just to keep from smearing the wax into the glue-up. Center the tube length-ways and the trimmer will cut the wax right off.

Bowl blanks would depend on what you use to hold the blank for roughing. Unless you can verify that the blank has dried out in the wax, I would treat it like a green turning and do a twice-turn approach. Of course, if you are into thin bowls that are not round, never mind.

Peppermills might be problematic if the wood is still wet. If you have a way to check for moisture content, then you can tell if the blank(s) is(are) ready to become a mill or if it needs a few more years in wax.

[K. L. McReynolds]

planer/jointer for me.

[Stwood_]

I can understand using a jointer, but I don't think I would want all that wax in my planers steel rollers, if it would even grab enough to pull it through.

[oarlock]

The blanks that I purchased at the garage sale were all different shapes and sizes.  The gal at the sale said that  they were all 20 yr + old.

[jcredding]

Just my preference, but I've always used a scraper and kept it away from the machines. Probably unfounded, but if there's anything in the coating that I don't want on my blades, push pads or anything else, I don't want to take the risk that it transfers to something else (recognizing it should just be wax, which is why this is probably unfounded). As a hobbyist so I'm not worried about the extra few minutes it takes, and I've never found it to take very long even on large bowl blanks. To the extent there are inclusions with wax in them, those just get turned away.

[arthropod98]

Just my preference, but I've always used a scraper and kept it away from the machines.  Probably unfounded, but if there's anything in the coating that I don't want on my blades, push pads or anything else, I don't want to take the risk that it transfers to something else (recognizing it should just be wax, which is why this is probably unfounded).  As a hobbyist so I'm not worried about the extra few minutes it takes, and I've never found it to take very long even on large bowl blanks.  To the extent there are inclusions with wax in them, those just get turned away.

that's what i do too . . . scrape off the worst of it.