museum wax

[brian]

Hi All,
Does anyone know anything about this stuff? How to make it and where to get the waxes..I got this recipe from a museum website :

100g of microcrystalline wax

25g of polyethylene wax

230g of white spirits

But there are many types( eg. hardness + colour) of these waxes and I can't find which ones to use.
Seems like it's a really good finishing wax so would like to give it a try.

Regardez Brian

[Jymm Hoffman]

See if you can find pure carnuba wax and an analysis of it to compare. The last museum I worked for used carnuba to preserve iron artifacts, after removing rust, etc, normally by electrolysis. Their method with smaller parts was to leave submerged in hot carnuba wax until no more air bubbles were coming from the iron and the iron was the same temprature as the wax. While this is normally impractical to larger work, applying Tree Wax (brand name with carnuba) to warm ironwork is one option I use for indoor pieces. Most of the time now I use tong oil or Penetrol with japan drier. Dipping into or liberally rubbing on and letting drip dry while the metal is cold to warm, wiping off the drips.

[blkbear]

I have some that is called conservators wax. I got it from Lee Valley tools. Have a look at Leevalley.com

Brian
Ottawa