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Author: Andrew_Gott, Contributing Editor
 | I use a mortar and pestle to grind my damar into a fine powder so it melts better, but if you don't have access to one, you can put it in a few plastic bags and give it a few good whacks with a hammer. |  |
 | Once I get the double boiler up to temperature, I add a small amount of wax to it to melt, as seen on the left. The wax will melt at about 140-150 degrees. Let it melt, then allow the temp to increase gradually. Note the thermometer probe- The digital thermometer I use has a remote readout, and an alarm on it, so I can set it to beep at me at whatever temp I choose.
The damar will need to be brought somewhere over 200 degrees before it will melt- the stuff I am using now melts around 204 degrees or so. Use your thermometer to keep an eye on things- once it gets up to around 200, I add the powdered damar, as seen to the right. I never let mine get over 250 degrees, for safety reasons. Stir the wax as it melts, then slowly stir in the Damar, until it is melted into the wax. |  |
 | You can see the Damar 'clumps' in the shot to the left- It is not hot enough yet (only about 190 at this point). You need to keep heating it until the clumps disappear. It will also stick to your stirring tool, as seen to the right, until it has melted completely. Keep going until there are no more clumps! |  |
| Once the Damar is evenly distributed through the wax, add the remainder of the beeswax slowly, stirring all the time, until it is all melted together- |
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 | Here is what it should look like when it is done- all melted together, and no 'clumps' of damar left in it. When you added the remainder of the wax to it, you probably noticed that the temp of the wax went down a bit- it isn't uncommon to loose 40-50 degrees. Allow the medium to come back up to the melting point of the damar yet again, stirring all the time. |
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