I'm looking for a way to keep the grinding wheels cool when sharpening chains. So, I thought maybe I could soak the grinding wheels in melted candle wax. Did anyone ever try this method? I know water is not safe. I thought it would be easier than to keep rubbing wax on the wheel.
Without knowing what the wheel was made of it would be unsafe to soak it in anything that may degrade it's stability, short term or more likely long term.
Vitrified or bonded wheels being out of balance can shatter violently and with the influx of questionable quality bonded as well as some poorly crafted vitrified wheels I would not recommend altering them in any way beyond what the manufacturer recommends. When they break on the grinder it violent and dangerous.
I'm new at this sharpening experience, so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
I would not recommend soaking the wheel in melted wax. Not being able to control the amount soaked in or the uniformity of the process could make the wheel much weaker than it was as well as not all waxes would help the "cooling" process. Most common waxes also have the abilty to creep, meaning that they will sag to the lowest point due to temp., humidity and texture of surface. If you soaked a wheel in a soft wax and left it unused on the grinder during a hot summer week the lowest point of the wheel could gain enough wax to become out of balance during use.
While I have not soaked any wheels here is what I experienced by applying waxes/soaps to wheels.
I have found that rubbing wax(hard cheap candle, petroleum/additives) to be ineffective on a vitrified wheel and barely effective on a bonded wheel.
The wax, to be effective at all had to be applied for each cutter and was messy. It's more important benefit was the reduction of wheel dust float, at which it was very effective.
Beeswax was better but again had to be applied for each cutter.
Ivory bar soap was best, but very messy. Soap can also lead to metal corrosion if left on the grinder. Applied per cutter.
Vitrified wheel with the application of metal buffing compound will impart a very fine grind on the cutter. Messy, applied per cutter. Did seem to have a positive effect on the cutter temp. Very nice edge. Completely worthless effort in chainsaw cutter application. Looked cool under a glass.
A correctly profiled wheel, small bites and the proper "bounce" technique was far more effective than the wax and when using those specifications the wax showed little improvement beyond dust reduction.