Time to cut up some wax blocks....

[Darbla]

 

 

Seriously, can someone advise me of a better way to chop up blocks of IGI 4794?  I've been taking a huge pointy screwdriver, and banging the handle so the tip drives into the wax and breaks it up.  But the screwdriver just goes into the wax and sticks as much as it breaks any wax off, and it's a struggle to get that back out and start over.

Edited August 13, 2017 by Darbla

[Belinda]

I usually drop mine on my floor in the bathroom while it's still in the box or wrapped up. It breaks in small enough chunks for me to put in my melter.

[barbaranj]

Well this is what I do....

I put a 10 pound block in a very heavy duty plastic bag and loosely close the end.

I take a hammer and pound away.  

Great stress reliever.

 

I kinda like Belinda's method too!

 

[grama]

I have a tool from walmart sort of like a painter tool with a wide sharp blade and handle and just hammer it and does a good job of cutting it up.  Something like this -  have used one like this before but the one I have now is just straight without curve.

Edited August 13, 2017 by grama

[Jcandleattic]

20 hours ago, Belinda said:

I usually drop mine on my floor in the bathroom while it's still in the box or wrapped up. It breaks in small enough chunks for me to put in my melter.

I do similar, but in my driveway, however, I have to be careful because I live in a neighborhood filled with police officers, and I did that one time, and my neighbor who is SWAT, thought it was a gunshot, and came around the corner with his gun drawn. That was quite the conversation afterward... LOL 

 

[Flicker]

I leave it in the case, put a small chunk of the wax from the last box under the first slab and whack with a hammer. It breaks apart easily as long as there is space beneath it. Just reposition, repeat. I can bust up a case in about 10 minutes. My mamma always said, work smarter, not harder.

[birdcharm]

On 8/13/2017 at 1:03 PM, Darbla said:

 

 

Seriously, can someone advise me of a better way to chop up blocks of IGI 4794?  I've been taking a huge pointy screwdriver, and banging the handle so the tip drives into the wax and breaks it up.  But the screwdriver just goes into the wax and sticks as much as it breaks any wax off, and it's a struggle to get that back out and start over.

 

 

LOL on the cartoon, made me laugh when I saw that ...

 

Some great tips here, I'll have to try new methods myself, I usually just use a sharp pointed knife.

 

 

[Candybee]

When I used to buy those wax blocks I would put them in a large plastic container that held a whole case of wax blocks. Then as I needed a new block I just hold one up on its side and break with a hammer. The pieces fall back into the container so no cleanup or debris gets on them. The wax stays clean in the box because I keep the lid on. But seriously one or two blows with a hammer busts up a large block into lots of smaller pieces.

[coconut]

I switched to pelleted wax and gave my 4794 to Goodwill. ?

[Jcandleattic]

6 minutes ago, coconut said:

I switched to pelleted wax and gave my 4794 to Goodwill. ?

I haven't found a pelleted votive wax that works as well as 4794 does, so I'll deal with the occasional gun drawn on me when I break it up. LOL

It's really not difficult enough for me to give up on a great wax, but that's just my experience. 

I hope your pelleted wax works for you. 

I do love the ease of the pellet waxes though, and use a pelleted pillar blend for all of my pillars. 

[coconut]

23 hours ago, Jcandleattic said:

I haven't found a pelleted votive wax that works as well as 4794 does, so I'll deal with the occasional gun drawn on me when I break it up. LOL

It's really not difficult enough for me to give up on a great wax, but that's just my experience. 

I hope your pelleted wax works for you. 

I do love the ease of the pellet waxes though, and use a pelleted pillar blend for all of my pillars. 

I didn't make votives, only melts, so I can't comment in that regard. Glad that 4794 works for you.

[Jcandleattic]

1 minute ago, coconut said:

I didn't make votives, only melts, so I can't comment in that regard. Glad that 4794 works for you.

4794 is billed as a votive wax, which is why I mentioned that.

 

For melts, I mix 4794 + 4625 at a 50/50 ratio with some other additives, and they are perfect for my application. 

 

Both waxes are hard slabbed paraffin blends, and I break them up the same way as mentioned above.