Why didn't I try it sooner - thank you candle

[Kevin Wolfe]

I just wanted to publicly admit my ignorance here. After watching numerous videos of guys rubbing a wax stick on the bottom of their planes, I finally tried.

I was walking past my linen closet and saw some plane jane white candle sticks and thought "we have had these for 11 years and never used them". So I grabbed one and took it downstairs to my bench. Got out a scrap of black walnut, tried out my No7 without then ran a squiggle of wax down the plane and tried it again.............

HOLY COW!! I feel like such a jack@ss for not having tried it before. It was like glass. Cut better with more control.

So, thank you everyone and sorry I didn't listen sooner. Won't make that mistake again.

[Pat Barry]

Doesn't that wax transfer onto the wood? Won't it affect the finish later on?

[Bill White]

I use plain old paraffin wax from the grocery store (Gulf Wax). Never had a finishing prob.
Kevin is right. The waxed sole really makes the planes work well.
Bill

[Jim Koepke]

I was walking past my linen closet and saw some plane jane white candle sticks and thought "we have had these for 11 years and never used them".

What no power failures in your area?

Doesn't that wax transfer onto the wood? Won't it affect the finish later on?

The plane is shaving it off as you go.

You would have to put an awful lot of wax on a plane's sole to leave enough behind to cause a problem.

It doesn't seem to cause a problem for anyone who uses wax on the sole of their plane's. Woodworkers have been doing it for centuries.

jtk

[Mike Cherry]

The best part is you can buy a 5 dollar pack of paraffin at your local craft store and as long as you don't lose it, I can't imagine ever needing more.

[Jim Matthews]

Nah. You plane it off, with each pass.

[Judson Green]

The best part is you can buy a 5 dollar pack of paraffin at your local craft store and as long as you don't lose it, I can't imagine ever needing more.

Yeah, ya could probably even give half of it away and still not run out.

Also great for router bases, table saw fences, anything that slides. At a commercial shop I worked at there was always a stick near by.

[Daniel Rode]

I bought a box of gulf wax. I cut a 1" square off of one of the bars. That piece will probably last many years. The gulf wax / canning wax is slightly softer and maybe slicker than candle wax. Seems like it was made for this. Some folks swear by bee's wax but it seems gummy or stickier that caning wax to me.

I haven't been doing this real long but I've never had a problem with finish adherence and I've never heard from anyone who has. Woodworkers have been waxing plane soles for a long time.

[Chris Parks]

As an aside, I was watching a Japanese woodworker on YouTube the other day and he rubbed the chisel he was using across a pad which I guess had some form of lubricant in it.

[Winton Applegate]

Wax is even more of a must on a bronze plane.
Have you tried wood bodied planes ?
They glide like that practically ALL the time with little or no wax. That was a revelation for me.

Another alternative that the dudes of old used was a block of wood with a big hole bored partway into it and a roll of linen tightly rolled up (like a cinnamon roll) end of roll upper most and stuffed into the hole in the block. To that allow some oil to soak into it that is not going to turn rancid. I like just mineral oil like baby oil but the thinest stuff you can find. The latest version of "camillia oil" seems to be about all mineral oil so now I use that but in the past it used to thicken and get kind of gummy.

Anyway then put that block on your bench and you can just pull the sole of the plane backward across it to lube the plane sole without having to pick up a candle stick. See DVDs of Jim Kingshott to see what I mean.

[Daniel Rode]

Paul Sellers uses something similar. He has a small can with a tightly rolled rag the stick up maybe 1/2" above the rim. The rag is soaked in oil and he pulls the plane backwards across it to lube the sole and Chris and Winton describe. He also picks it up and wipes his saw plates if they need lubrication. Seems to work well enough but I like my wax.

I've never used a woody but I always thought they would glide. In fact, the seem more comfortable to hold and use in general.

[Winton Applegate]

Also great for . . . anything that slides

It (candle wax and paraffin) is the only thing to use for drawer glides.
DO NOT USE BEES WAX on drawers.
I made that mistake.

[ken hatch]

I keep both a oil box and a oil can on or near my bench year around. Winter time I will also use canning wax, Summer not so much as my shop isn't AC'ed and a Tucson summer turns canning wax into a puddle.

[Hilton Ralphs]

It (candle wax and paraffin) is the only thing to use for drawer glides.
DO NOT USE BEES WAX on drawers.
I made that mistake.

Pray tell why please?

I just bought some Mutton Tallow from those nice people in Canada so I'm keen to try that out.

[Winton Applegate]

Oh, the tallow should work, I have no experience with that but have seen it well received in other threads.
Sounds nasty to me but I have bad memories from working with 55 gal drums of rough lard to mix with oil to slather on concrete forms.

. . . bees wax . . .
the drawers glide great
initially
but if they aren't opened daily they tend to kind of set up like glue and then you got to pop them loose and then they glide again.
Might be a bit of honey left in the bees wax. Makes good super mild loctite though.
I use it on my new spokes when I build a bicycle wheel.
Works better than any of the commercial spoke preps including purple loctite which on larger fasteners is about like bubble gum but on 56 threads per inch 1.8 or 2mm bicycle spokes purple loctite is still TOO tenacious.
I have built ALOT of wheels over more than forty years and used every prep out there.
Bees wax is the s___.
It is only a must have on radial wheels though. A nice touch on all the others. Wheels stay a little truer with it for very enthusiastic riders (we are talking 4,000 to 10,000 miles a year).