Bees wax

[jmoss]

Hello everyone here,

I was wondering if there is anyone here in this amazing forum knowing if there is a difference between carnauba wax and pure bees wax for finishing.

Thank you very much

[oklahoma red]

Carnauba wax is much harder than beeswax and thus is more durable. Even tho, carnauba will need to be touched up now and then if one wants to keep the shine.

[pipedreamer]

Carnuba is a hard wax we use to put that final polish to the pipes, applied with a soft wheel. Bees wax is a soft wax that will impart a low, soft lustre, and is usually applied to tenons to stabilize and snug up a loose fitting. Also used to wax Meerschaum pipes to assist them to turn a soft lustrous glow. I use Carnuba on the last buffing of a pipe and will occasionally use Beeswax on a tenon, but prefer using Shellac to stabilize a mortise. Hope this helps.

[jmoss]

Thank you very much Gentlemen! Very helpful tips.

[mcgregorpipes]

beeswax melted with walnut oil makes a fantastic low lustre finish on just about anything you don't want to buff.

about stabilizing the mortise and loose tenons, I've done this a few times and found the alcohol swelled the mortise and made a tight fit, but a couple weeks later the tenons fit loose. my shellac is a thin cut maybe 1lb. to be fair the tenons were a bit loose to start and i figured the shellac would also line the mortise and help fix it. have you run into this issue with stabilizing the mortise with shellac? i work with apple and cherry wood and being softer than briar with more directional grain seems more prone to moisture making a loose tenon, would like so figure out best process to stabilize

[Sasquatch]

I'd suggest that stabilizing a mortise with shellac is probably about as effective as using raw meat as bear repellant. It might have a stabilizing influence on a per-smoke basis, where it's maybe preventing water absorbtion by the briar, but in terms of controlling the mortise size over a 30% humidity change? I don't think it could do that. It's not wrong to put something in the mortise, but it's not going to make a bad fit a good fit, or not for long.

[The Smoking Yeti]

I'd suggest that stabilizing a mortise with shellac is probably about as effective as using raw meat as bear repellant. It might have a stabilizing influence on a per-smoke basis, where it's maybe preventing water absorbtion by the briar, but in terms of controlling the mortise size over a 30% humidity change? I don't think it could do that. It's not wrong to put something in the mortise, but it's not going to make a bad fit a good fit, or not for long.

You're totally right here. You have to have a good fit to begin with. The shellac will not completely halt mortise size changes, but in my experience it does lessen them substantially.

[PremalChheda]

beeswax melted with walnut oil makes a fantastic low lustre finish on just about anything you don't want to buff.

about stabilizing the mortise and loose tenons, I've done this a few times and found the alcohol swelled the mortise and made a tight fit, but a couple weeks later the tenons fit loose. my shellac is a thin cut maybe 1lb. to be fair the tenons were a bit loose to start and i figured the shellac would also line the mortise and help fix it. have you run into this issue with stabilizing the mortise with shellac? i work with apple and cherry wood and being softer than briar with more directional grain seems more prone to moisture making a loose tenon, would like so figure out best process to stabilize

The problem with mixing wax with anything else including other waxes is that it will lower the melting temperature and rub off more easily. Pure Carnuba applied by wheel is the best wax I have used so far on the finish.

Search "stabilize mortise" on this forum. I think I have covered it a couple of times, and others have too.