The Notorious Wax #5.. FOUND!!

[Chrispy]

Hey everyone! I\'ve finally found the wax#5 tool that has eluded my grasp for so long! I just thought I\'d share the wealth.. seeing as I have no money to buy it..

http://www.widgetsupply.com/page/WS/PROD/dental-carver/DEMT14-64B

 

[Dragon Forge Design]

Well its not thee Wax #5 made by Lustra.. Now thats the holy grail of wax 5\'s

To be honest the #5 isn\'t the end all be all of tools. I do more work with a modified x-acto blade that I made myself than I ever use my wax 5. It does come in handy now and then but don\'t kill yourself trying to get one.

Originally posted by Chrispy
Hey everyone! I\'ve finally found the wax#5 tool that has eluded my grasp for so long! I just thought I\'d share the wealth.. seeing as I have no money to buy it..

http://www.widgetsupply.com/page/WS/PROD/dental-carver/DEMT14-64B

 

[Minigrrrl]

there are so many places you can get good quality dental tools(which includes a wax five), like medical tool suppliers, sculpting specialty shops, specialistic model shops, even certain tool stores have them. The main thing is to make sure the blade has a nice curve, and isn\'t too sharp. TBH, that one looks a little dodgy to me...

 

[supervike]

but you can\'t beat that low low price. Heck, if GW could slap there name on it they might charge 18.00 (and I\'d probably still buy it from them!!!lol)

The sculpting set I got from Micromark has some very good tools in it...now If I could just learn to sculpt.lol

 

[minimaker]

Tammy is right. Here is a picture of a wax 5 by Tiranti (I believe they also supply them to GW). Bottom of pic. As you can see it\'s quite different.
Tools

Don\'t imagine a wax 5 to be the ultimate tool. What you\'ll find is that when you\'ve got a good tool you\'ll end up using that most of the time. With me it\'s a home-made tool with a rounded knife shape on one side and a straight blunt spear-end on the other side. I\'ve seen others using modified x-acto blades, wax shapers and other homemade tools. You can look on the page that my picture came from as I\'ve put up examples of tools. Both commercial and home-made ones.

 

[Minigrrrl]

i actually use the other end of the wax 5 more than the blade, that together with a rubber wax shaper are the two tools i use most for sculpting.I also have some rounded nib thingies, that work quite nicely...

 

[minimaker]

Here are some addresses where you can get sculpting tools. Up to date address over at 1listsculpting or actually on my harddisk since I maintain it. Feel free to add to it if you know more addresses.

Most of these have wax carvers. Some make specialised tools and in the case of Masquerade miniatures, those tools are designed by a 28mm miniature sculptor.

Sculpting tools
Australia
http://users.bigpond.net.au/redwarf/

Canada
www.imperialhobbies.ca

Germany
www.masq-mini.de

France
www.actramac.com
www.e4m.fr

Great Britain
www.proopsbrothers.com
www.tiranti.co.uk/
www.ebobminiatures.com
www.sylmasta.com
www.amazonminiatures.com/
www.wargamesfoundry.com
www.heresyminiatures.com

Netherlands
www.hazelaar.nl
www.Toemen.nl

Portugal
KITMANIA, Av. General Roçadas, 34-H, 1700-163, LISBOA

USA
http://www.sciplus.com/
http://darksondesigns.planetofinnovations.com/shop.html
www.fdjtool.com
www.michtoy.com
www.micromark.com
www.perfect-touch.com
www.riogrande.com
www.sculpturetools.com
www.squadron.com
www.casker.com
www.colourshaper.com (clay shapers)
www.widgetsupply.com

By the way, I\'ve got a large tool collection because that\'s one of the weaknesses of mechanical engineers: totally toolcrazy. I mostly use the one I mentioned and three rubber tipped clay shapers.
Oh, Tom Meier showed the tools he uses most: a bend edge sharpened needle, a wire bent in a kind of p shape, and a modified x-acto blade.

 

[freakinacage]

dammit! like a chump, i paid £20 for a wax no.5 just because i really wanted to see what they are like and i finally broke after having a bad afternoons sculpting. i ordered it about 3 months ago and still haven\'t got it. grrrrrr

thanks for the links minimaker

 

[Chrispy]

Thanks minimaker! I was up all night trying to find one, and that\'s the first one in the US I saw that looked similar.. I Know it\'s used to sculpt wax for Jewlery, but I didn\'t know they call them dental picks.. Not sure I want to go t a dentist that uses them, though!

 

[minimaker]

Dental picks are those thin bend pointy ones that a dentist uses to probe your teeth with. A wax 5 type of tool is a carver. Wax carver to be more precise. In dentistry they are also used when making prostheses.

 

[waxfive]

to be exact the lustra wax five is a spatula, not a carver
Its superiour to the tiranti sg only cos it has a pointier blade end.

It is unfortunatly the best on the market, although if your ordering in the u.k. a word of caution sylmasta tried to pass off some tragic piece of crap as a lustra wax 5 to me a couple of days ago. If it wasn\'t for the fact that i know what i want then i would have shelled out £25 (inc shipping) for a sub standard product. if ordering from sylmasta do stress that you want a lustra carver and not the dodgy alternative that they sent me ( which is going back in the post to them tommorrow)

if you dont mind the stubbier nose then i highly recomend the tiranti \"sg\" less than half the price of the sylmasta one!!

 

[Minigrrrl]

I actually have botrh, and although i use the other end of the tiranti one more than the actual carver bit... the lustra one is vry nice for sculpting. I knowmany designers who blunt their tiranti ones a bit, to get rid of the sharp edge...

 

[minimaker]

@waxfive, can you post a pic of the lustra one?

I did some experimenting with a wax 5 and they made a modified version of it with a blunt tip and curved back on the blade end. That worked better for me.

 

[freakinacage]

ok i ordered mine from sylmasta - i couldnt find one on the tiranti site. i must be blind! what section is it in and what do they call it? i may just phone sylmasta and tell them not to bother - they\'re taking the mick now