Do I need to strip the wax from my wood for it to season properly?

[Burl Source]

If you can find someone with a pinless moisture meter I would check the mc of the wood.
I can never get accurate measurements with the pin type and dense woods.
The pinless measures the moisture content 3/4" deep.

If the moisture content is under 15% I would feel safe removing the wax except the end grain.
Otherwise I would leave it on the shelf.
A lot of workers do not have the patience to let the wood dry and acclimate.

I see a lot of posts saying "I'll never use **** again".
When the problem was usually caused by using wood that was not ready or maybe overheating the wood while drilling or shaping.

My thoughts about waxed wood is that I always assume it was cut and coated while green and still wet. Otherwise why coat the whole piece.
Spalted made a good point about humidity.
When I buy Koa from Hawaii, even kiln dried to 8%, the mc will be 14-16% if it was stored outdoors. But.....the ambient moisture goes away much faster than green wood drying.

Sorry about the rambling.
Summary......if it is almost dry you can remove the wax. Otherwise leave it on the shelf for a few more years.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Not true. The real deal from USFS data. Check the chart for air dried wood moisture content relative to ambient humidity and air temp. It's referred to as EMC

Sorry, forgot to add link to chart: http://www.csgnetwork.com/emctablecalc.html

Yes, My post numbers were just fictional for example. What I was really trying to say is that the wood will dry in most situations. A simple drying cabinet with a light bulb will also dry the wood well.

I will just add that the humidity in Tidewater VA is pretty high most of the time and my wood gets to below 10% with enough time. According to the chart, that is impossible.