Wax Reduction. An intermediate step in a size between a large model or pattern and a small die prepared on an engraving machine and cut in beeswax or paraffin; an intermediate reduction. Such a wax model is prepared because of the limits of the die-engraving pantograph at too great a ratio. For example, a 12-inch pattern cannot cut a one-inch die (since ideally a reducing machine's limits 10-to-one). A 12-inch pattern could be reduced to a 4-inch intermediate wax, which would be touched up, cast into epoxy or metal as a new pattern and then placed back on the pantograph to cut a 1-inch die. Three-to-one and four-to-one are ideal ratios for reduction on the die-engraving pantographs. The wax can be melted and set, used over and over again. See intermediate reduction.