Bees Wax

[MGySgt]

I guess it is time to try some home brew lube - What is a good price for bees wax? Any suppliers that are reccomended?

Thanks for any info.

Drew

[357maximum]

I have gotton some good stuff in the past from HONEYCHASER on ebay, good quality,fast shipping, but watch the price, seems to vary. I bought around 25 pounds awhile back for around 30.00+8.00 S/H.

[Murphy]

MGySgt,

You may want to take a look here as well. I purchased from them recently. Great qaulity, fast shipping.

http://www.texasdrone.us/

Respectfully,

Murphy

[montana_charlie]

MGySgt,
What is your goal? Better lube...or cheaper lube?

I am very new at the BPCR game, so I plan to use SPG until I get some loads figured out.
But the price of lube sticks ($4 per stick) seems entirely too much when considering the cost of the ingredients. That, coupled with the fact that there is no 'store' near me that sells casting stuff (or lube) makes me want some self-sufficiency.

But, as an experiment...
Smoot Honey is headquartered five miles north of me, and their hives are all around the area where I live. They keep a small supply of cleaned beeswax available, and sell it for $3 per pound...so I got some.

Following a tip from a shooter in Canada, I bought two 7 ounce jars of Camp Dry Beeswax Waterproofer (for boots), which is a Kiwi product sold by Ace Hardware...among other places.
This stuff is too soft to use straight, but appears to be a close copy of SPG when mixed 50/50 (by volume) with beeswax. I made up enough to fill a paper cup just to have some to play with. My next trick is to compare it with SPG to see if it melts at the same temperature.
It will be some time yet before I actually try it on bullets.

It looks like my pound of wax will be enough to do both jars of Camp Dry when mixing by volume. So, my total cost will be $14 for enough stuff to make 'a bunch' of those 1 1/2 ounce lube sticks.
CM

[MTWeatherman]

MGySgt,
What is your goal? Better lube...or cheaper lube?

But, as an experiment...
Smoot Honey is headquartered five miles north of me, and their hives are all around the area where I live. They keep a small supply of cleaned beeswax available, and sell it for $3 per pound...so I got some.

CM

Welcome Charlie! It's nice to have another Montanan on the board... quite a number of us here now. Sounds like you're northwest of me by about 25 miles.

I had considered stopping by Power to see if Smoot sold beeswax...I pass it frequently while heading north to fish at Francis or Tiber. Hadn't done it because I had beeswax on hand. When the supply has dwindled, I know where I'm headed. Thanks for the information!

[drinks]

A person who has been shooting BP for over 35 years has tried a bunch of lubes, he has settled on 50-50 Bee's Wax and Peanut oil and is happy.

[MGySgt]

Well - I dont shoot the 'Holy Black' - yet. (except in my 54 Renegade, but that don't count for this).

I am looking to make a lube for pistol (mainly 44, but there will be 45ACP and 38's thrown in). And my 45/70 and 45/90 (both about the same velocity).

I was Graciously given some home brew to try by Bass Awkard and it worked a whole lot better then Rooster Red. I was thinking of trying some more of that, just softer.

I would also like to try some of Bull Shop's Speed Green, and some other's.

Drew

[MGySgt]

MGySgt,

You may want to take a look here as well. I purchased from them recently. Great qaulity, fast shipping.

http://www.texasdrone.us/

Respectfully,

Murphy

Murphy,

Thanks - that is one of the links that I found and is a possiblity.

Drew

[Teach]

Go to one of the home improvement stores like Home Depot or Lowe's, and buy a wax ring seal for a toilet. It's pure beeswax, and the ones without plastic guides, etc., sell for 99 cents each on sale at most of the local stores around middle Tennessee. I stock up on several when I catch a sale, and store the unused ones in the fridge in the gunshop. One ring, melted in a double boiler, plus about 4 tablespoons of multi-purpose automotive chassis grease works great for most of my shooting. If a harder lube is desired, add a little jelly-sealing parrafin, available in the canning department of Wally World or the grocery store. Cheap and effective! Melt a crayon into the mix if you want to color-code your lubes.
Jerry

[StarMetal]

Teach,

Those toilets rings aren't beeswax and haven't been for quite some time.

Joe

[Teach]

Whatever they are, they work well, good carrier for the grease, no leading, and the Lubersizer meters the mix well. I guess I'm just not too picky about something that works!
Jerry

[StarMetal]

They are a refined petroleum product now.

Joe

[MGySgt]

Teach,

Those toilets rings aren't beeswax and haven't been for quite some time.

Joe

I had heard they weren't beeswax anymore, but I thought - If parifin works OK, why not this mess? Don't know about the melt temp though.

I have found a source, another member of the board PM'ed me about some and I am getting some from him. Probably a life times supply if I don'[t experiment too much with different lubes.

Drew

[357maximum]

This is what I was I come up wiyh after a few pestering phone calls.......

Them toilet bowl rings are now made of a low grade oil rich SLACK WAX , which is what microcrystalline wax and petrolatum(vaseline) is further refined from.

That is what William H. Harvey Company which is sold through the PROVEN BRANDS name is supposedly made from anyway.

You can make a darn good lube with em if you are willing to play with it and add b wax and/or paraffin to suit your needs, kinda eliminates b.p use though. And at .79 cents apiece it is worth messing with.

[mooman76]

I bought a couple toilet rings on someones advice and the ones I bought (the box)said they were Bees wax. I don't think they were 100% but I don't know because I have never experienced bees wax in the unpurified form! They were awful sticky though. I mixed it with parafine, citronila wax and a little carnuba. Don't ask how well it works because I haven't used it much because I just made it a few weeks ago.

[StarMetal]

The ones with beeswas in them will have a sweet smell. The newer ones smell like a petroleum product. All of them are pretty sticky.

Joe