I recently needed to mail out a bunch of invitations. Seeking a classy touch, I used sealing wax and a signet stamp. I melted a large stick of wax in a metal ladle and spooned it out one blob at a time with a teaspoon. The process worked ok, but gunked up my utensils big time. God this stuff is tenacious.
Any ideas for getting it off? Is there a solvent that dissolves it?
Have you tried boiling water ?
Just melt it again, and wipe it onto something else, something preferably disposable.
Actually, you could try putting your utensils in the freezer for a bit. I do this when my aluminum candleholder gets all gunked up, and the wax pops right off - no residue.
Freezing might work too, by making it brittle. Also the metal will change size while the wax won’t, which may break the bond.
My recollection is that sealing wax is composed in part of shellac and as such could be removed with alcohol, rubbing or denatured.
Freezing, or heating above the melting point also, as above,.
Nail polish remover? Acetone is a great solvent.
If all the above fails, try deep frying the utensils. You can get oil to a much higher temperature than water, and, I’m guessing that the oil would be a good solvent for the wax.
When done, drop the boiling oil on the peasant revolting outside the window.
Guessing that oil is a good solvent for wax… no, it isn’t. Depending on the type of oil and the exact composition of the wax, you might end up with one almight mess of gunk in the pan that is a bigger problem than the one you started with.
For those who’ve never had the pleasure, sealing wax is quite distinct from regular kinds of candle wax, and is much messier, as the OP has discovered.
Break off the larger bits of unwanted wax as best you can - and cold temperatures will help, of course. However, if you stick metal things in the freezer for a while to chill them, be careful you don’t give yourself freeze burns when you subsequently handle them.
After that, to finish the job you’ll need denatured alcohol and or acetone, as suggested above.
Denatured alcohol, by the way, is one of the greatest all-purpose solvents and cleaning agents you can find, but because it’s not a ‘brand’ product it doesn’t get hyped and promoted and advertised. It’s good for pretty much anything on a small-scale - audio stuff, hi-fi, camera and photographic stuff and lenses, model-making, brushes… blah blah zzz.