Wax Filler Sticks (woodworking)
- Thread starter Munroast
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D
Deleted member 174758
Liberon isn't the only brand - there is also Briwax (part of Rustins), Hafele and Konig. As to getting a full set? Good luck there - there must be 150 or more shades on the market! (I came across a set of greys this afternoon looking this up).
I've had some cheaper stuff from Amazon before now - no problems with it, other than the sticks being a bit on the small side. Depending on what you are doing you probably only need 6 or 7 colours (?) for solid wood work - something like Jacobean oak, mid oak, pine/light oak, dark walnut, red mahogany and white - which if mixed together can form a lot of wood shades and hues. I've had a Hafele set with 24 colours for ages - and only bought-in a few larger (Liberon) sticks as required, mainly light and medium oak (because hardwoods I deal with are predominently oak or ash species), which then get mixed with small amounts of the Hafele colours as required to get a better match. If you want to blow your mind have a mooch around the Konig UK website - truly enormous range
I'm left wondering, though, how much wax you think you'll need in a lifetime?
I've had some cheaper stuff from Amazon before now - no problems with it, other than the sticks being a bit on the small side. Depending on what you are doing you probably only need 6 or 7 colours (?) for solid wood work - something like Jacobean oak, mid oak, pine/light oak, dark walnut, red mahogany and white - which if mixed together can form a lot of wood shades and hues. I've had a Hafele set with 24 colours for ages - and only bought-in a few larger (Liberon) sticks as required, mainly light and medium oak (because hardwoods I deal with are predominently oak or ash species), which then get mixed with small amounts of the Hafele colours as required to get a better match. If you want to blow your mind have a mooch around the Konig UK website - truly enormous range
I'm left wondering, though, how much wax you think you'll need in a lifetime?
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I just buy light, medium and dark brown, can be mixed to suit most jobs.
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very little, and the couple I have they are years old and still half left. Probably drying a bit now.
Never thought of mixing them !
So is Konig a good make? never know what you are buying on ebay
Would you think "set120 mixed wood colours" would be a reasonable buy for most woodworking ?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/173541965342?
D
Deleted member 174758
I almost always find that the wax stick colours don't match what I'm filling, so I scrape off a small bit of the nearest colour, and add other small additions to it: dark walnut gives you more of a blue-black (cold) hue, mahogany adds redness (warmth), pine or even better antique pine adds yellowness, white lightens (you can get the same effect with limed oak), but shouldn't be overused, etc. Wood colouring is quite subtle, but it is always earth tones, natural colours, so by mixing different "species" colours you will often get a more appropriate tone
A little hint: I have a very thin, very flexible 1in stopping knife which I've ground the corners off (rounded) and an old ceramic mug. I fill the mug with boiling water and drop the wax sticks in, leaving them for a few minutes to soften before fishing them out. I then use the stopping knife to scrape off some of the main colour which I roll into a ball in my palm. I add little scrapings of other colours to get a near match, then use the stopping knife to cut small pieces off the ball and push them into cracks/holes leaving a little bit of excess (not spread all over the surface as I so often see people doing - wrongly). Five minutes later it is normally cool enough for you to be able to use the stopping knife to cleanly remove the excess (which gets reincorporated into your coloured "pea" - in an oak project I often have 2, 3, 4 slightly different coloured peas running at once). For anyone who has never done this - you only wax AFTER lacquering work is completed
It may sound a bit odd, but it works for me
Well, why not buy direct from Konig? Konig is one of the brands favoured by the "plastic men" - these are the specialist suppliers that French polishers use for repair and invisible mending work on all kinds of furnishings. Probably the best firm of their type anywhere - browse the web site and remember the name!
Good set!
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