Stopped at a Wyoming truck stop and noticed the mechanics all had the same trick

I was killing time at a Love's off I-80 near Cheyenne last month and watched three different guys crack seized bolts with a handheld torch and a candle. They just melted wax into the threads, let it cool, and the bolt came out clean every single time. I've been turning wrenches for 12 years and never tried that, felt like a rookie in my own trade. Has anyone else picked up a quirk like that from just watching another shop work?

1 comments

1 Comment

bailey.sam1mo ago

Ever try heating the bolt and letting penetrating oil cool it down instead? I picked that up from an old timer in Nebraska, works about the same but no wax mess. He'd torch the nut till it just started to glow, then hit it with a squirt of PB. The heat sucks the oil right into the threads. Took me a few tries to get the timing right, but now I do it on anything that's been sitting in rust for years.