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How To Make Fish Mounts 



or the melting point is low. It is difficult to work a cast which is 

 brittle; and it would prove embarrassing if, on a hot summer's 

 day, when you were proudly displaying a wax-cast trophy to a 

 friend, the fish's jaws began to droop and its tail began to sag. 

 Therefore, a small portion of another type of wax such as 

 carnauba is added to inexpensive paraffin wax. The carnauba 

 wax brings the composition to a higher melting point. 



Other qualities desirable in a wax casting compound are 

 toughness, bending without breaking, and no warping or crack- 



Fig. 47. Grayling cast in wax. 



ing. Common rosin, which is the resin of a pine tree and often 

 called colophony, added to the wax in a correct amount does 

 the job. It also causes the composition to harden more slowly 

 and thus prevents cracking to a great extent. For the correct 

 preparation of this casting wax, see section on formulas ( Chap- 

 ter 12). 



Anyone interested in using wax as a casting medium may 

 come across many different formulas. The individual formulas 

 may be composed of different types of wax— all of which have 

 about the same melting point. The addition of several kinds of 



