"unwaxing Pots"

[David F.]

I have waxed the lips of some jars and the botom of some bowls poorly. Can I remove the wax by heating it in the kitchen oven?

[Mark C.]

Maybe?I do not seee why not.

I have never used my house oven for ceramics-its for food but at 500 degrees the wax should go away after some time. 

Be ready for some burned wax stink.

Mark

[oldlady]

it doesn't work if your wax is like mine, melted candlewax.  what are you using?

[atanzey]

Based on how my kiln shed smells as the wax burns off, I don't recommend it - that stuff is supposed to be highly toxic.  I know it burns my throat, so I stay kind of clear of the space while it's burning out.  The whole house will probably be filled with it.

 

Alice

[Pugaboo]

I think you can just run them through your kiln again. I read somewhere that to get the wax off just re-bisque the pot. Some people use a heat gun to remove it as well.

 

Terry

[Marcia Selsor]

you can run it in your kiln and shut it off after 500 or so.

At least that works on the wax I have been using. You can take it a bit hotter if you want to be absolutely sure.

 

Marcia

[minspargal]

Do not use your oven, use your kiln.

[David F.]

I am using melted blocks of paraffin wax. I know i can re-bisque but I was wanting to get them in the next glaze firing and don't have enough ready for bisque yet.  Maybe I should stop trying to push the river.

thanks for everyone's responses. 

[TJR]

Keep your oven for food. Your kiln is where you melt off wax. Just like you wouldn't cook garlic sausage in your kiln, you wouldn't burn off wax in the oven. Kiln is vented[i hope], your oven is not.

TJR.

[Mark C.]

You could bake a wax pie  at same time next kiln fire-now that you have crossed over from kiln to oven firing.

I have spent so many yeasr telling cutomers its not paint and not baked-maybe I had it wrong?

 

 

Just kidding of course.

Mark

[Evelyne Schoenmann]

I wouldn't use the kitchen oven too to get rid of wax. Don't like toxic pizza...

 

Can't you scrape the wax away from the pot with a sharp knife and then blowtorch the pot to get at the wax that's in the pores? Or holding a candleflame to the waxy parts (beware of the soot). Or scrubbing the wax away first with a knife and then with steel wool?

 

I hope you'll find a solution. Good luck.

 

Evelyne

[Darcy Kane]

As an impatient potter myself, I can tell you from experience that cut corners produce subpar results.  The first big step to producing professional looking ware is to take the time to do things correctly.  Personally I *hate* glazing and would do most anything to move that process along.  What I have found is that the  best way to hurry the process along is to slow down and do it correctly the first time.  AND if I know that the result isn't going to be worthy of the pot the glaze is on, rinse it off and start again.  So I would say you are half way home, you recognize that the waxing needs to be redone so put them back in the kiln and refire them and start with a clean slate.  

[Idaho Potter]

This is an aside to TJR:

 

When attending BSU, we frequently had workshops and part of the package was dinner that consisted of roast turkey, baked potaotes and a salad.  The turkey and potatoes were cooked in a bisque only kiln.  Oh my, what I didn't know--back in the day.

 

Shirley

[Mark C.]

I have removed wax by putting the pot on a warm bag wall in cooling off hot kiln as well as a hand held touch-this requires some care to not crack the work.Parrifin burns off better than water soluable wax for me.

Mark