Many uses for paraffin wax

Press, 17 August 1978, Page 18

Many uses for paraffin wax

Paraffin wax to most people is something used to seal off the tops for bottled jam, but it has many other useful applications. Many woodworkers rub nails and screws on a bar of soap for easier driving. Paraffin wax does it better. Soap tends to rust the nail or screw in place, making it almost impossible to remove later. Just rub the screw or nail over the flat surface of the paraffin wax cake a few times, or thrust into some of the wax which has been melted and poured into a hole in the hammer handle. Paraffix wax is useful when curtain rings and drapery hooks refuse to slide on the metal rods or poles. Take down the rod and rub the inner and top surfaces with a cake of paraffin until a thin film is evident. Place the hooks back on the rod and restore it to service.

Paraffin wax will also help a tight drawer to run freely. . ( Remove a drawer which has a tendency to stick, turn it over, and rub a cake of paraffin up and down the edges and also the sides, especially on those spots that appear rough from rubbing against the drawer frame. Garden markers of the flat, white wooden stick variety have an irritating way of becoming illegible. A dip in a pan of hot melted paraffin wax after the desired details have been printed with pen or

pencil will preserve the writing for a considerable time. Wooden porch and window ix>xes decay rapidly from within unless they are protected with a metal lining of some kind. The life of a less expensive box may be prolonged many times if the box is treated with paraffin wax when it is new. Paraffin should be melted in a convenient pan or can and brushed over the dry inner surfaces of the boxes before they are used.