Can some of you call makers tell me why people wax a whole piece of wood? I understand that it is supposed to keep the wood from checkering but how is the moisture supposed to leave the wood if it's covered in wax? That just doesn't make sense to me. I can see covering the ends and letting the moisture escape from the sides but not the whole thing.
TRKYHTR
Some turners like to use green wood, especially for bowls and larger items. I have wondered, as you have, why they do the whole blank on smaller blanks.
Joe, It is dipped completely in wax to give it a longer shelf life while it's waiting on one of us to order it, man that wood is as wet as you were when you came to turkey hunt in Georgia. they don't want it to crack in there possession, once you get it in good condition it's your problem to dry it and hope it does not crack. I scrape the sides and rough sand them put it on the shelf and leave it for about a year, or if i need it right away i have a old microwave i use to dry it, takes about 3 minutes @ 1 minute interval's depending on size.
I know what your saying Joe. I had bought a piece of ebony that was covered with wax all over. I ran in through my planer and shaved the wax off the flate sides and left the 4 end sides covered, it was a 2x12sq piece. I left it sit and dry for almost 5 years, before I touched it. As soon as I cut into it, it spiderweb cracked all over so bad that it was unuseable. I've heard other call makers say, never buy a piece of wood that is covered totally in wax, most times it's unuseable.
I have dealt with waxed blanks for years, I learned my lesson like Willow...never buy anything of any kind of density waxed, becuae it will effect the way it dries once it is out of the protective covering. Actually most of the blanks are covered with Anchorseal, when it matures it looks and feels like a wax coating. I have found that Buckeye burl or a spalted wood does fine when it is covered, but I have to dry it, most of the time it hits around 20% in the moisture content. Now a days, I buy blanks that are dipped on the ends. Saves me time and we all know what time is to a call maker....