Nifty transfer wax

Southern Custom · Oct 2, 2015

I've been using Mike Dubber's version of black transfer wax for awhile now. (plain Chapstick with graphite). While it worked ok I never liked the greasy feel to it.
Sam's transfer wax on the other hand has the perfect consistency. A few days ago I was looking down at my bench and noticed a little tube of black background wax called Rub N Buff sitting next to my transfer wax and a light bulb went off.
Using a little watch parts tin I put about a teaspoon of transfer wax in and added a pea sized amount of the Rub N Buff, heated the whole thing to mix it and now I have the perfect consistency Black transfer wax. Fantastic, sturdy stuff for the applications one would use this type of thing on.
The ebony Rub N Buff is sold by a company called Amaco.
www.amaco.com
I don't need a percentage if you package it Sam. Just make sure the label reads "Layne's formula authentic and original black transfer wax"
LZ

Barry Lee Hands · Oct 2, 2015

Hi Layne,
That looks like a great product, I bet I could shine my shoes with it also!

monk · Oct 2, 2015

pick a number & wait yer turn for wealth on this. i have sams' wax, which is good. i made a version of mike dubbers'. it too is good. i bought over 10 tubes of chapstick. problem-- it was mentholated ! stunk my wifes' kitchen pretty good. i have made maybe 5 other formulas in the past year. after all the fuss, i use sams' for clear & mikes' if i want dark.
mikes' formula-- i eliminated graphite and resorted to sirchie and windsor & newton black. have enough to last maybe 8 lifetimes !

Sam · Oct 2, 2015

Let's see some transfers made with it. I've colored it myself and never had much success. Maybe your mix is the ticket.

Tim Wells · Oct 2, 2015

Me too, I never could seem to get it opaque enough to do like I wanted it to…

mitch · Oct 3, 2015

Barry Lee Hands said:
Hi Layne,
That looks like a great product, I bet I could shine my shoes with it also!

yeah, Layne, i think Kiwi already makes this stuff. ;-)

Southern Custom · Oct 3, 2015

Sam, I think I took a few pics of some transfers I did when I whipped this up. I made it when transferring letters from a master plate to a set of silverware. Worked like a champ. I'll post of I can find them.
LZ

Sam · Oct 4, 2015

Thanks Layne. Anything would be good. Just pull a transfer from anything you have.

monk · Oct 4, 2015

sam said:
Let's see some transfers made with it. I've colored it myself and never had much success. Maybe your mix is the ticket.

faint, but visible. the black i use for reverse, or mirror imaging. i use yours for direct. am converting a silver dollar into a medallion for an air force vet. will take a couple pics a bit later.

Sam · Oct 5, 2015

monk said:
faint, but visible. the black i use for reverse, or mirror imaging. i use yours for direct. am converting a silver dollar into a medallion for an air force vet. will take a couple pics a bit later.

Faint's not a problem for me either, monk. My experiments with black transfer wax have only gotten faint results. For truly black transfers that are easy to see I use powdered lamp black pigment, but it's really messy and a pain to work with. If there's a black transfer wax that that makes easy-to-see transfers, I would like to see it.

Waiting patiently.

monk · Oct 5, 2015

sam: perhaps i didn't use the correct wording. the final mirror transfer is a BIT easier for me to see. it surely isn't a really great change. perhaps mind over matter. i took 2 directs with yours and mikes'. when i do the "mirror", i'll send it up. using a pocket camera, i'll have to figger a way to do the fotos in meaningful fashion. not even sure if the difference ( if any ) would show in such a foto. either way, i'll at least find out for personal info.

Sam · Oct 5, 2015

No problem, monkster. I just keep hearing about black transfer wax but no one has ever been able to show me a transfer made with it that's any better than the poor results I got. I keep hoping though

Marrinan · Oct 5, 2015

I use a pounce bag or baby powder then brush very lightly with hair make-up brush or feather to remove excess.

Mrfinks · Oct 6, 2015

im having a shocking time using the chapstick method.
I cant get any sort of decent result especially from small things. I'm going to just bite the bullet and purchase sam's package. ill be very happy to just have something that works.
Also Whilst you're all here and related image transfer. I've gone through 2 printers and ,i dont know how many different cartridges, trying to get ink to migrate from my paper to damar varnish but nothing has worked. I have tried to get the ones listed in the tutorials but they are either not sold anymore or dont work. Can anyone recommend a process that works that gets my designs from page to metal. I'm really struggling with this one

Dani Girl · Oct 6, 2015

And please let us know how it goes over time. If the black makes it hard over time or if it stays beautiful like that.

I'll have to try that... when I find my transfer wax. Thanks for sharing the idea.

Danae.

Dani Girl · Oct 6, 2015

Mrfinks said:
im having a shocking time using the chapstick method.
I cant get any sort of decent result especially from small things. I'm going to just bite the bullet and purchase sam's package. ill be very happy to just have something that works.
Also Whilst you're all here and related image transfer. I've gone through 2 printers and ,i dont know how many different cartridges, trying to get ink to migrate from my paper to damar varnish but nothing has worked. I have tried to get the ones listed in the tutorials but they are either not sold anymore or dont work. Can anyone recommend a process that works that gets my designs from page to metal. I'm really struggling with this one

ARE YOU PRINTING ON NORMAL PAPER? I use heat resistant sticky tape and I stick baking paper over where the print goes on the plain paper that goes through first. The ink will come off the baking paper because it's hardly stuck to it at all. What kind of printer are you using? Also just because I had some I watered the damar varnish down 50/50 with turpentine... others use zippo lighter fluid.

Hope you have more luck.

Danae.

simone-cervellati · Oct 6, 2015

I started using plain etching ink a while ago(canned charbonnel, which is a bit thicker than the one in the tubes), I pull it up with transparent tape (done by putting the tape on top and burnishing lightly so the ink stains the tape properly). The tape retains most of his stickyness which is great for positioning, a single pull can easily transfer a design 4 or 5 times with no problems, and, you can clearly see where the ink has moved from the cut to the tape, so no part of the design is left behind. I tend to touch the piece with the tip of my fingers and the transfer wax I find is too volatile for my tastes, the etching ink transfer puts a thin film of ink on the metal surface that immediately starts to solidify.

The only side effects are that you are dealing with etching ink so you'll have to cleanup after yourself, especially if the piece does not include an inked design, but non-cured ink, while messy, comes off quite easily with the proper precautions and the occasional ultrasonic bath

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Mrfinks · Oct 6, 2015

Dani Girl said:
ARE YOU PRINTING ON NORMAL PAPER? I use heat resistant sticky tape and I stick baking paper over where the print goes on the plain paper that goes through first. The ink will come off the baking paper because it's hardly stuck to it at all. What kind of printer are you using? Also just because I had some I watered the damar varnish down 50/50 with turpentine... others use zippo lighter fluid.

Hope you have more luck.

Danae.

Hey Danae
Yeah im using regular paper and acetone/ lighter fluid. ill try that baking paper though that sounds good. Do you just put the baking paper with the ink straight on the varnish and let it set?

RDP · Oct 6, 2015

Mrfinks, you need to use a laser printer otherwise it wont work, check this video by Arnaud,

http://www.engraversstudio.com/apps/vblog/Video/View.aspx?id=8f2c31d3b5

except I don't use the hair spray and I wait until the varnish is tacky but not to dry, you would have to experiment with it until it works for you,
cheers,

Richard

Southern Custom · Oct 6, 2015

I took a quick pic of a transfer using this wax.
While not perfect I've been happy with it. Like any transfer method it works better with some things than others. It also works best with standard scotch tape. I tried using heavy packing tape and it wouldn't lift for some odd reason.
I may go back and add a bit more of the pigment wax as this batch is quite stiff and the pigment wax is a softer stuff.
The first pic is the transfer and the second is before I lifted the tape.I don't have a whole ton of experience with this stuff so there may be a better version out there but this one has worked well for me.

Nifty transfer wax

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