Shopsmith Forums

Great story Ed reible!

Ed in Tampa, the Trewax that SS currently sells has carnuba wax in it.

Hi 3d (reible)! - - Very interesting test and wonderful rite-up! I never would have thought to do a test like that. Great minds do great tests!:D

chrispitude wrote:Hi Ed,

Great writeup and great experiment! Let me ask you a different question... How much difference did you see between the waxes? Although they differed in their ordering, would you go with any one of the three if you had one available locally and the others had to be ordered online plus shipping?

- Chris

This is really a good question.

I would have to say that any of the above work, as well as maybe a lot more. The thing that will most likely come out as the top factor is actually doing the waxing on a timely bases. Once you have a feeling for what it should feel like you will notice when it starts getting in need of a wax job.

Some people will just do it at some number of days/weeks which I don't have the skill to stick to but might be a good idea. I do do several system checks, lub, cleaning and waxing but between them I will get a feeling that things are not as smooth as they should be and do another wax job.

So get the wax that you can get local and just keep up on it. BTW I am still on my orginal can of wax and I'm not sure I'll ever use it up... maybe one of my kids will after I've been gone a while... maybe their kids will use up the remainder of all three wax I have open... and yes they will be using it on the shopsmith that will still be running (unless we no longer have electictity or wood to cut).

One other comment, the trewax says 50% of solid wax content is Brazilian Carnauba wax. And it is UL listed??

Ed

reible wrote:... Once you have a feeling for what it should feel like you will notice when it starts getting in need of a wax job.

Some people will just do it at some number of days/weeks which I don't have the skill to stick to but might be a good idea. I do do several system checks, lub, cleaning and waxing but between them I will get a feeling that things are not as smooth as they should be and do another wax job.

... BTW I am still on my orginal can of wax and I'm not sure I'll ever use it up...
Ed

HA! GOTCHA!! In a previous post you said you took a long Lunch and went to buy some Treewax. So you now have to be on at least your second can.

I was very surprised to here that you don't go through wax very fast, using it as needed. Anyway, I seem to go through a can per year, using the same thinking as you. Mark V - router table- OPR table. Guess the sawing season is longer here. Wonder if someone is willing to do a study of number of boards crossing the table between waxings? I've read of guys that carry a candle with them to their job site to wax the saw table as needed.

I clean out the headstock and lube about once per month. That is set up using no discipline. Just stick a piece of masking tape on the headstock with the date last lube happened. It's a wonderful reminder. Waxing comes as needed - not on a schedule.

Well Chuck I'm sorry but you will need to re-read my post....

..."They didn't have the wax either but when I ask the guy grabbed a can of the butcher's wax and said to use that. I declined and ended up finding my can at home some weeks later."...

Boy you do use the wax! You must put on a lot more then I do!

Yes you are right about the longer season, I have not done hardly any power tool operations since early Dec... picture no work for almost 3 months!!!!!!!! This has been a different year with the cold and snow just adding up the days. On a typical year I can work until mid Dec and can start again mid Feb. Looks like I'm going to loose at least a month of wood working season this year. I do have a kerosene heater but at almost $8.00 a gallon I can't afford to use it.


Ed

Hi Chuck,
I can see where you could have gotten confused. Ed is on his 1st can of Trewax; his inherited can of Butchers Wax; and his 2nd can of Johnson's. At least that is what I ciphered out:D .

[quote="a1gutterman"]Hi Chuck,
I can see where you could have gotten confused. Ed is on his 1st can of Trewax]

You are indeed astute!

Ed

Yeah! I missed the 'lost can' part!

Ed. Hope you get through the rest of your Winter pretty soon! I keep seeing news about your storms. About time for a thaw, some mud - and flowers!:) Your Shopsmith is beckoning!

Hi guys,

If you are looking for a source for these waxes, I came across:

http://doitbest.com/

They seem to have a large network of affiliated local hardware stores, such that you can order things from their page and have it shipped free to the stores. Butcher's, Johnson's and Trewax are all available! I'm going to be near one of the affiliated stores tomorrow morning, and I will swing in and see what's available. If they don't have what I want (and I don't know what I want yet), I'll just order it and have it shipped to the store.

Edit: also found a thread which mentioned that Johnson's was available at their local Lowes in the cleaning section.

- Chris

In light of other discussions of late here is an old post that might be good reading.

You will want to read all of it if you have interest in the discussion on waxes.

Depending on when you got involved with shopsmith you will have a different wax of origin, and things like it being the original or best is not necessarily related to what you think you know. The key is more "using the wax" then which of the 4 that have been offered at different times from Shopsmith.

In fact in tests I did for how slick the surface after waxing came out to be a wax that was not what most of you expect. The post contains details.

Ed