Will melting Carnaubas Blow you up!?

eShine · 01-10-05, 01:45

There were a few people concerned in this thread,

New P16S Carnauba!

That the heat of melting Carnauba waxes will "Blow you up". Being unsure myself I wanted to insure the 115Degree melting point of Carnauba waxes was not so close to the flash point where a fire can occur. Here is my test...

My Poor Santa Shot Glass is about to get hotter than the north Pole! LOL

At 129 degrees the Carnauba is a liquid,

At 300+ degrees the Carnauba starts to boil and steam

386 and still going, almost 4 times the heat required to melt.

399 was as high as I can get it, the Carnauba was boiling and evaporating but not blackening or smoking (What you see is steam in the camera flash), I was not able to get it to flare. This experiment was done for my own interest, I will continue to use P16S. I can not speak for other brands but Megs #16 and P21S melted together seems safe to me. Proceed at your own safety!

SpoiledMan · 01-10-05, 01:50

Chris, have you thought of trying out for Mythbusters?

eShine · 01-10-05, 01:52

Quote:

Originally posted by SpoiledMan
Chris, have you thought of trying out for Mythbusters?

LOL, These experiments are fun for me!

G35stilez · 01-10-05, 01:59

Wow thats hott!

Are you gonna use that sample?

Thanks for the test.

dcswd · 01-10-05, 02:11

Wow, nice test. How is the stuff when it melted back down? Does it seem to be okay? or is it really messed up now?

LightngSVT · 01-10-05, 02:12

Id actually be curious to see how the extreme heat compromised the wax. Maybe you should try some of it on a test panel for comparison?

eShine · 01-10-05, 02:31

Te be honest, the wax looks just as it did. Its not discolored in any way and cooled to the same consistency. It also feels the same. I dont know if the performance has changed.

Gonzo · 01-10-05, 02:33

The safest way to melt wax would be using an electric hot plate, outside using a double boiler. Electric because there is no flame, outside in case it did flare and double boiler to ensure the mixture below could get no hotter than 212 F.

I recently brewed a mixture of bees wax and about 15% carnuba and turpentine according to an old furniture wax recipe in a reference book. All waxes disolved in the turpentine at that termperature in about 1/2 hour. When cooled there was no layering or segregation into constituent components.

The wood (antique rosewood veineer on an armoire) looks really good now!

txz28 · 01-10-05, 02:38

To me the most telling part of this experiment is the fact that the wax melted at 129 deg F. That demonstrates why I get poor performance with carnuba wax in the Texas summer heat. It just will not hold up in that heat.

Axe · 01-10-05, 02:41

eShine · 01-10-05, 02:48

Quote:

Originally posted by txz28
To me the most telling part of this experiment is the fact that the wax melted at 129 deg F. That demonstrates why I get poor performance with carnuba wax in the Texas summer heat. It just will not hold up in that heat.

It actaully melts completely at 115 degrees. I just happened to take the pic at 129.

txz28 · 01-10-05, 02:54

Quote:

Originally posted by eShine
It actaully melts completely at 115 degrees. I just happened to take the pic at 129.

Even worse. Yep, polymer sealants only in the warm months for me. Warm being from March to early November.