Hot Knife?

[Grumpy Girl]

I've decided to simplify working with 4627 and was wondering if anyone used a hot knife with this stuff. I thought I'd wrap pre-measured blocks of it in wax paper and store it in a plastic container so I can just grab what I need without the fuss. I tried heating up a chef knife with the heat gun but it cools off too quickly while in mid cut, which makes the entire process a blast.

Does anyone do this, and where can I buy one of these critters?

I'm open to suggestions on the best way to pre-portion this stuff.

[Henryk]

Where do you buy those things? I think BCN had one at one point. I saw this one (its for bee keepers):

http://www.jonesbee.com/images/lspeedking.jpg

I would like to simplify this also, but I've never heard anyone using a hot knife so never found out if it was worth it to buy one or not.

[KJohnson]

Lone Star has one for about $40

[topofmurrayhill]

Clearly I am an idiot.

I've been seeing these around forever but could never think of a use for one. Quietly and neatly cutting wax slabs instead of hammering them? Who would ever think of using it for that? LOL.

The last time I looked at one and failed to see the obvious was just yesterday, and it was here.

[VickiB in CA]

I bought one a couple years ago for my J223. Biggest waste of money I ever spent :undecided Maybe it worked for someone else.

[topofmurrayhill]

I bought one a couple years ago for my J223. Biggest waste of money I ever spent :undecided Maybe it worked for someone else.

Not powerful enough?

[sawyer's moon]

Here's what I do with my big ol block of comfort blend.

1. Run sturdy knife under hot water for a few seconds.

2. Wipe with paper towel quickly to remove water.

3. Cut.

4. Wrap into waxed paper for storing.

It's really not too bad....

Jen

[Henryk]

I knew there was something that turned me off to it - the price. (but you should see me try to get nice even blocks out of 1260.

[Trae]

They work great for cutting up gel wax, but horrible for paraffin.

Trae

[Trish]

If your comfort blend comes in bags, take a knife and score the edges of the bag up the corners, then pull down. I would then take the heat gun to my knife, and cut blocks off. Some people have used fishing line to pull through this wax as well.

This wax is soft enough that one of the hot knives might work. Good luck!

[pdevine]

Glorybee Foods has them for $22.50 Portia

[SheilaW]

The easiest way I found to cut the 4627 is just to use a sharp knife and cut through the plastic and all ( the colder the wax, the easier to cut ) But no matter how you do it you'll probably end up with that vaseline feeling wax all over the place. ( at least I do:D )

[VickiB in CA]

Not powerful enough?

For my type of wax (J223), the blade was too thick and as I was trying to saw through the block with this thick, dull knife, melted wax was dripping all over the place. One try was all it took Did something with that thing - but I don't remember ever seeing that thing again.

[Donita]

I clicked on Tops link and thought "Holy Moly" I have to get one of those. Then kept reading....guess they aren't that great.....sometimes I just take a slab and throw it onto the floor (I keep a large cut down cardboard box with a piece of wood on the bottom on my floor) It usually just breaks into several pieces.....then if I need them smaller, I use an old knife and hit the dull edge of it to make small pieces. Sometimes whacking the wax has health benefits LOL Donita

[VickiB in CA]

I'm not sure how hard the wax is that you're using but before I got the 150 lb wax melter, my sister and I used to cut my wax slabs with a device we made using a guitar string or wire tied between 2 pieces of wood. It cut straight through and was much easier than a knife.

[topofmurrayhill]

I clicked on Tops link and thought "Holy Moly" I have to get one of those. Then kept reading....guess they aren't that great.....sometimes I just take a slab and throw it onto the floor (I keep a large cut down cardboard box with a piece of wood on the bottom on my floor) It usually just breaks into several pieces.....then if I need them smaller, I use an old knife and hit the dull edge of it to make small pieces. Sometimes whacking the wax has health benefits LOL Donita

There are more powerful models available but it gets pricey. Here's one I found earlier that looks more serious, but a little hard to justify the expense:

http://www.demandproducts.com/hotknife.html

Plus here is one more link I found for hot knife:

http://www.thejoker.btinternet.co.uk/knives3.html

[Grumpy Girl]

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions. The knives are way spendy, but I might consider it if I stick with this wax for the long haul. I'm off work tomorrow, so I'm going to give ye ol' chief knife one more try, both with the heat gun, and the hot water trick. If that doesn't work, I'm taking a chainsaw to it, I swear.

[Grumpy Girl]

So... I ended up standing in the kitchen today for almost 3 hours with a bag of 4627, a heat gun and an industrial size ice cream scoop that has antifreeze in the handle. The knife continued to cool down too fast, so I improvised. However, DH felt sorry for me when he came home from work and found me still tackling the first block of wax, so he ordered the hot knife for me tonight.

It's kinda cool to be able to go to my rubbermaid box, pull out a pre-measured "ball" of wax paper wrapped gooey wax and not have it all over the place though. The scooped worked okay, and I think the second block would probably be a bit quicker once I got a technique down.

[Candle Man]

I use a pastery knife with either a wooden or plastic handle. The one with the rolled metal handle is not strong enough and will bend. Even though they call it a knife it is not sharp just a blunt blade. I use the square end one not the round end one. It workes great for soft wax. Here is one place to get them

http://www.pastryitems.com/prod03.htm Search under dough cutter or pastry cutter or pastery blade. You could find them at some discount stores or a kitchen supply store.