Waxed my kitchen floor!

[riverbee]

yes i did, waxed my kitchen tile floor two days ago...........i mean i did it up good. still cleaning it up.
i swear wax spray and bits of wax propagate just because, and good thing it's MY kitchen...........

it all started with this, i had to purchase about 15 lbs of extra wax from my supplier, i ran short of my own wax:



i chipped all the wax into small chunks to throw in my new fancy dancy wax melter. i went to pour and filter the wax (for candles) and quickly realized the wax had honey trapped in it, and some debris. i don't mind debris (can filter out) but honey requires a water bath to release the honey from the wax.  also, when it comes to making candles honey and debris can really challenge wick selection, and i like to have the cleanest wax so i am not challenged.........

when i realized the wax had honey in it, and as i was filtering into a pouring pitcher i thought i shut the valve off. well i didn't, i opened her all the way instead of closing it and poured the wax from the pitcher back in........serious brain fart here!!!

it's amazing how far wax shoots out and flys from a 4 quart stainless steel industrial wax melter with a reduced pour spout on it!......

seriously, my barefeet were waxed right along with the tile floor about 4 to 5 feet in diameter on a white tile floor.  the wax hit my feet, at about 165 df, and the tile floor, it took about 30 seconds i guess before i shut the thing off.  i did have some wax paper on the floor underneath, it did catch some of the wax..........

so i shut the thing off....lol..........lots of non disney language, a stiff drink, two scrapers, and towels to kneel down on the tile floor to start scraping before the wax gets too solid.  btw, my hip hardware is still not to user friendly when i am on my knees for too long.  and then mr. river comes home....
again, good thing it's my kitchen and i messed up!.........

so some of the conversation, (he's got to come up the stairs and enter the kitchen)  being mr. cheerful as he always is!

mr. river: "hey, missed you today, uh, uhm....how are you? what are you doing, what happened?"
me: "i am fixin' a flat tire"
mr. river: chuckles a little and says "hmmm okay"
i immediately instruct him to take his shoes off, and don't walk the perimeter of the waxing..... don't want wax transfer through the house.
mr. river "well i don't want wax on my socks".....
me: "take your socks off and don't come in here!"
shoes and socks off and needs a beer from the fridge, he's gonna need it so will i....................

so he's standing in the living room at the edge of the wax explosion with a suit and tie on, no shoes and socks on, drinking a beer and watching me try to clean up the wax.......and slurping ..........
also, while he's standing in his suit and tie outside the wax explosion he was trying to fill me in on fixing our well, a gas pipeline issue, a farmer who decided to plant corn on our land for the past 3 years without permission and wants reimbursement for crop loss, AND  a whacky client or wife of, he has..............

anyway, he stops and says to me:
"what can i do to help you fix the flat tire"..............

i say let's order dinner...........

so here's the wax i sent through the wax melter without water, top view:



this is what honey looks like on the bottom of wax when heated and cooled:



i added two inches of water and 4lbs of wax to the melter, heated it to 165. once heated to 165 i shut it off and waited for it to cool down.
all the honey goes into the water and debris goes to the bottom of the melter and not on the bottom of the cooled wax. once cooled, i drained off the honey colored water from the melter. i filtered through a t-shirt material. this is what i came out with:



and added a cool drink to the process:



from a local brewery in river falls; rush river amber ale............'unforgiven'............

and it's great stuff to help fix a 'flat tire'..........

[Perry]

Anyone who has had to deal with any amount of wax melting must certainly be able to appreciate this story.

[Wandering Man]

Here's to your successful repair of the flat tire:

[Wandering Man]

Speaking of Wax Explosions, I saw this just after reading about your experience:

http://www.kbtx.com/content/news/KBTX-anchor-burned-by-exploding-wax-fire-shares-safety-tips-reminders-454204953.html

I hope you are uninjured.

[Bakersdozen]

I have nothing to say except I hope you weren't injured and thank goodness it wasn't me!


riverbee, I bet you never make the same mistake again. 

[riverbee]

wm, that is some scary stuff and a very, very unfortunate accident. i keep two charged fire extinguishers in the kitchen when i am messing with melting wax down for candles.  with my new wax melter it is much safer than double boiling wax on the stove. also, i will have test burns of candles/wicks going in the kitchen this time of year to make sure the candles burn properly. i never ever leave these unattended. water on burning wax is like throwing fuel on a fire.

thanks for the flat/FAT tire fix!........

wm and bakers.......no injury, i don't heat the wax beyond about 165 d F.  when the wax hit the top of my feet, i really didn't notice, well it was warm, but did not burn. just caked and layered the top of my feet very nicely.....

i put a note on the melter "CLOSE THE VALVE"............

thanks perry, very true~ i know you have had some wax mishaps!

making candles is a challenge, and can be, just as much as keeping bees.

[Les]

Oh boy, sorry you had such a mess to clean up!

[riverbee]

thanks les, it took several days to finally get all the wax up off the floor, the hard part was getting it out of the grout, the legs on two chairs and a leg on the kitchen table. i'd scrub the floor down and little splatters kept appearing, so i'd scrub/scrape it again.

i had to add 3 waxed cork trivets to the list of kitchen equipment to replace, i had a subsequent mishap spilling wax as i was filtering into a pitcher and forgot to cover them with wax paper. lol and almost a turkey baster, but managed to salvage that.

i took a break the last couple days, and decided to switch to labels and honey jars.

[rober]

this is why I've moved all wax melting & sugar syrup, & candy board making outside. I use a turkey fryer/seafood boiler or a hot plate. I have a permanently waxed section of driveway that reminds me that I made the right choice.

[efmesch]

RB, the most amazing part of this saga is your good spirits shining out between the lines.  I can't imagine something like that happening in my house and being around afterwards to tell the story, certainly not with a "smile" in my literary voice!!