How do YOU remove 'injection-wax' from INSIDE of a wax-statue? - 26 photos

 How to make a wax statue 'lighter in weight, but not so costly'? There is only one technique and that is to use a specialized "3-tooth bur".

 This bur literally 'removes' the wax inside the separated ligaments where the wax isn't needed.                      

                     This Level of Difficulty is 8.5 out of 10!

 This is a close-up of the wax-carving 3-tooth bur. As it only cuts on wax, the teeth hardly ever wear out. If I need to dig deeper into a wax form, all I will do is to lengthen the bur from the chuck.

    Don't hold any delicate wax-form too long, or it will get soft from the warmth of your fingers. Thankfully with this statue, we won't have this problem.

 Keep all of the remaining wax residue out of your wax-cleaning areas. As this will cover-up what you are doing.

 Please don't speed up the revolutions of the rotating-bur. Take care while doing the carving, or your '3-toothed bur' will pierce the wax pattern. Then a 'repair process' is needed, this will be shown further below.

 This photo shows how delicate the wax-removing can get. BE CAREFUL.

 Examine each 'wax clearing section', Just don't go at it without measuring the wax length needed.

Leave enough thickness for your metal casting. "What remains, will be metal."

  Remove all residue from the "3-tooth bur", removing of wax must be seen with 'no guessing'.

  For being on the safe side, keep the walls of your wax-form thin, but not too thin. REMEMBER THAT THERE IS A 6% REDUCTION between the wax => metal.

                                           Repairing the wax-holes.

  To reach into longer sections or areas, you can extend the cutting bur, as shown below.

 If you keep your long section at a proper angle, you won't pierce the wall. This is what happened here.

There will be times in removing your wax, you will be needing to 'fix' your holes. I really suggest that you use a softer wax than what you are currently working on. 

This wax melts at a lower temperature and as well the newer wax is of a different colour.

 "This operation is surgically delicate", lower your temperature of the wax pen. Keep your melting pen clean by just heating it up and keeping the pen-tip clean where you are working.

Even if  the colours of the 'repaired wax' is of a different colour, that is of no concern.

  Here are both 'arms' of the statue, one is drilled, but the thickness of the wall is still too thick for being 'lighter in metal weight'. More wax removal is required, as the weight is still too heavy.

 

  

 The wall of the arm on the left is the 'desired thickness'. The center 'arm' needs to be contoured more evenly. Of course the 'arm' on the right is untouched.

These are the thin wax-sprues that can be bought in any tool-supplier. I use them for making 'gates' and fixing problems in my wax-carvings.

                                      Weighing your waxes!

 

  This particular arm weighs 3.3 grams and this is before any removing of any wax.

After much 'careful' wax-removing, this arm now weighs 2.5 grams. Nice weight for casting!

The "face" wax-weight is a very heavy 5.5 grams. This was too heavy for metal casting and above all, so very costly.

Now compare the weight shown in the 'hollowed out' head, it's now at 3.0 grams.

 The main torso of this statue weighs (a ridiculous) 25.8 grams. But how did I solve this major weight-problem?

 My solution was easy, but well worth my efforts & labours.

First of all, I split the torso in halves, then easily carved out the wax. This weight went from 25.8 grams down to 8.6 grams for a reduction of 17.2 grams. 

I'd call this a big "WOW".

 This 'leg of the statue' needs much careful separating, as I just can't manage to use any '3-tooth' bur in it's present condition.

 I can easily remove as much of the wax as needed. Then afterwards re-joining the hollowed out pieces of the leg again.

 Even I had a 'challenging time' doing the carving and repairing of the wax. But suffice to say, that through all of these photos, I enjoyed explaining all of the subtle nuances to you wherever you live. "gerrylewy18@gmail.com"

How would you 'cost & weigh' a large wax sculpture?

  In my previous essay, I displayed my 8-inch mold from our family heirloom "circa, 1934" statue.

 As it was too large to cast & to clean being in one piece, I disassembled it into smaller pieces. I'm going to show how it can be cost effective & will be explaining this process further in this, my 385th blog-essay.

 As many of these wax-pieces are solid, I must 'separate & carve' them to avoid the expensive casting costs.

 For now, I will prepare another wax statue just for this process. As these pieces have been sitting in various containers for many years and some pieces got lost or destroyed. 

 I will ask my caster to inject my 8-inch mold as I need to locate the missing parts of the 'feet and both arms'.

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 The complete wax statue (as shown) weighs 106.60 grams. YOU MUST ADD 10% FOR THE (casting) 'BUTTON'. When you are weighing your wax "Piece of Art" always INCLUDE for ALL SPRUES, (these will be removed after casting).

 I used a cost calculating schedule just for this essay from "DENTRITICS.COM" to estimate the costs mainly in .925 silver.

 The metal casting weight is calculated at 1,104.38 grams (710.21 DWT) the cost in USF's is $90.81 plus the (company of your choice) casting fees.

 

 Silver (.925) alloy is at $28.64 an ounce dated on April 20th, 2024. The gold price fluctuates by the hour, silver is much stable. 

 In our Canadian (37.53% added) exchange currency, these costs will be $124.89.

In "Euro" currency, the charges are 84.24.

In "GBP" (English) currency, the charges are 73.40.

Once that I have carved & reduced the many wax weights, these costs will be greatly reduced. I will again estimate the final wax & casting weights, but these numbers shown are only a testament to the rigours of calculating these costs.

 There are so many variables to contend with, I had to make sure that this essay is accurate as possible.

 

  At a later date, I will attempt to display how the wax-carving is actually processed.

 

                          

 

"Filing & Claw Trimming " on a 4-claw setting. - 21 photos.

 The most attractive thing to see on a 4-claw setting are the claws. I hate to see large chunks of metal covering a beautiful and expensive diamond. 

 (This essay is not on the actual stone setting, but it's delicate finishing.)

This process is similar to an artist 'sculpturing' his diamond claws.

The Level of Difficulty is at an '8 out of 10'.

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What tools are needed in this exercise?

1) Pumice wheels #180 grit (Blue colour).

2) Pumice wheels of  #1,000 grit (Pink colour).

3) Emery, "Snap-On" Wheels (Medium, 220grit)

4) Triangular file, 8" in length, with a soft grit of #4. 

 These pumice wheels need to be BOTH of a 'Flat' and 'Tapered' configuration.

 I've borrowed 11 photos from other essays, but more will be seen here for the first time.

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 I like rounded claws, but many times there is a little piece of metal around the claw.

 My answer is to file each of these claws with my Triangular file of #4 grade, therefore there isn't any sliver of metal remaining.

 All of the sides of each claw MUST BE CLEANED AND HIGHLY POLISHED PRIOR TO ANY GEMSETTING.

 In this photo you can see the remnants of some 'extra metal' surrounding each claw. This is not nice to see under greater magnification.

 Before any High Speed Steel (HSS) drilling is to be used, I will use a bud shaped bur and prepare for the seat to be made.

If I didn't use this bud bur, the results could be catastrophic, how is this? The bur could verily be seen with many stone setters as the HSS bur wraps itself around the claw.

 The result is that the teeth of the bur will dangerously 'dig into the claw' as it rotates around the metal.

 Here you can see the after-cutting from the HSS bur. It looks nice, agree? NO! what if the Girdle of the stone is too thick? What do you think what we should do now?

 I'd use a bud shaped bur and prepare a space for that thicker Girdle, simple as that!

 This is the prime example of attempting to set a wide (thick) stone where it wasn't created.

 To have the claws laying FLAT TO THE TABLE-FACET, I truly suggest that using an Emery 'Snap-on' disk at #220 grit and avoid using a 'Pillar' file.

 In finishing this process, all of your claw tips will be of the same height and having the same thickness of metal on the stone.

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 All of the intricate and detailed designs must be cleaned long before any stone is set.

 This photo shows the old & worn emery disk, the one below is the newer wheel. These are quite cheap and if any wheel 'has seen better days', get rid of it!

 All of these Emery disks are of a #220 grit and wonderful to use in 'cleaning and finishing'.

 The following 2 photos are showing why I wouldn't use these wheels again. All of the necessary "Emery Compounds" have been worn away and the wheel is no longer useful. Get rid of it!!!

   Here is a photo of another (excessively used) Emery wheel ready to be discarded.

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 Here are the newest photos that will be an addition to my future 'essay-archives'.

 There was a little flange remaining from the wax-injection and the caster who drew the wax neglected to see it.  I saw it after it was cast and it was removed before stone setting.

 Here is a stone setting that is slightly off center, but still acceptable. The Culet doesn't coincide with the pattern/design of the ring.

I used a #003 Bud-shaped bur to prepare for the HSS bur cutting.

As you can see that the 'seats' for the stone have been carefully prepared.

  Once that the seats are drawn for setting, we can start the actual stone setting.

  The front of the 4 claws are now 'filed & trimmed' on it's way for the final 'claw finishing'.

 These 'final steps' are quite easy to manage, as most of the difficult work in setting has already been completed.

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 The sides of the claws have been nicely shaped and now comes the 'trimming'.

This trimming should be given equal care on ALL 8 SIDES, OF THE 4 CLAWS. I use a Triangular file of #4 cut (smooth texture).

 On the back end of the 4 claws is where a 'rounding' is made. This leaves the claws smooth and with no sharp corners.

 To give more of a smoother finishing, I use BOTH #220 GRIT and a #1,000 PINK Pumice wheels that will  give a higher texture & luster.

 This will reduce the need for an intense cloth wheel polishing that will wear the claws long before the customer gets her ring.

Finally finished, eh!!!!!

What are "Pumice Wheels" and how can they be reshaped? - 8 photos

 The question is "how can you clean the Pumice wheel and return it back to its original shape?"

 What tools are now needed in this exercise? There is only ONE, it is a piece Corundum that will eventually re-carve the pumice wheel to be used again.

Rate of Difficulty is only '5 out of 10'.

 This is a well-used 'Tapered Pumice Wheel', for this essay I'm using a Pink Wheel that is of #1,000 grit. (I like the colour for this ongoing demonstration).

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As you can see that the tapered wheel is no longer 'tapered', but nearly rounded from ongoing use. 

Here is my piece of Corundum rock, I've had it for literally decades and it hasn't worn out, one millimeter. 

I found a little corner of this stone that is my sharp cutting facet. It is so very sharp that it's just like a diamond.

 There is a little extrusion of Corundum in this stone. This will cut into the soft Pumice wheel with no effort whatsoever. I DON'T SPEED UP THE ROTATING WHEEL, I need to be very careful that I don't waste any of the pumice in this resurfacing process.

 The residue of the pumice is easy to remove, I just use my little brush to clean as I need to be sure where the little pointed-edge is touching the pumice. You can also use a sonic-cleaner to clean any remnants of pumice that your brush overlooked.                

If you don't have any Corundum, you can use a Tungsten alloy to do the resurfacing.

The newly resurfaced wheel is now being seen after a complete over-haul. I want to show that any shape of a Pumice wheel CAN BE RESURFACED WITH NO EFFORT.

 A clean Pumice Wheel is essential in accurate Diamond Setting as well as jewellery manufacturing. Sharp and Flat edges are a priority, but they can get easily worn round.

From using a mere sliver of pumice, here is the epitome of a 'new cleaning tool'.

This essay is only on reshaping, but not on using it. I haven't seen anyone else write about this technique. Hoping that you and everyone appreciate my blog-teachings.