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I have been playing with a lube made of 1 pound bees wax 1 pound parrafin wax and 4 tablespoons vegetable oil. It seems to work well but I have to heat it and roll it into balls and apply by hand before sizing. Does anyone have thoughts on how to make it more user friendly?
I'm no expert in lubes, but I would guess you have way too much wax. Have you read the stickies on the lube forum?
If you're using a lubesizer press, add a heater.
I don't 'pan lube', but I 'dip lube' some oversized 44 boolits that I don't want sized, then I use a homemade kakecutter to trim the excess off.
try 1lb bee's wax, 1lb lard, 8oz STP (smokeless) or 8oz cornola oil (black powder)
Pan lubes like a dream. Pushing plain base beyond 1700fps, no leading.
Why vegetable oil? I can think of many things better than vegetable oil for use in a lube.
I would add about 4 ounces of Vaseline to what you have now and see what that does. Should make it much more user friendly. If it still needs to be heated a bunch I would add another 4 ounces or so.
Next time start with a known good recipe, it helps keep from having large amount of flux.
Thanks for the feedback. I will try the vasaline. If nothing else this blend with a hemp wick through it makes a good candle for smoking molds.
Properly cleaned moulds don't need smoking AND a candle is not the thing to use if you do smoke a mould. Use either a wood match or better use a butane lighter. Candle flames are full of wax and oils, the wax melts and then burns. Combustion isn't complete so there is wax in the soot, not something good to put into the mould.
Please don't smoke your mould, it just isn't needed.
Good to know
I use Felix Lube and get no leading in my 1911s. I found it on this forum. It did take some time to get all of the ingredients. The biggest problem was Lanolin but I finally found it at Walmart in the baby section.
I can send you the recipe if you'd like.
Dump the paraffin, too hard and brittle. It can be used in very small amounts to stiffen a soft lube but a full pound???
Time to start from the top:
http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Contents.htm
I make up a lube with about 55% paraffin and 45% vaseline with a tablespoon of the old RCBS gooey case lube. I forget the name but it works for me for pan lubing. You could adjust the amount of vaseline to get a lube that would work through a sizer. I suspect this would. I usually try to shoot bullets the size they drop out of the mould. I'm not sure the case lube really adds anything.
That case lube is similar to STP. It has some lube qualities but it also adds some stickiness.
I have found it to be much more productive and less frustrating when starting a new addition to my hobby, if I go with a proven component, mebbe not as much fun, but way better (my first cast bullet for my 45 ACPs was a 225 LRN, and my first home made lube being Speed Green). Your beeswax and paraffin could be used for Darr lube (take your mix and add Vaseline and STP) and adjust for consistency you need. There's a bunch of easy recipes for lubes that work in the stickies (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...s-Lube-recipes)...
You have so little oil in that that you can probably use what you have and soften and stickiefy it by adding lanolin, STP, Vaseline or some other oil.
I wouldn't worry about the paraffin. I made a lube I am using now with paraffin, Lucas Red 'N Tacky grease, Ivory soap and Bardhal oil treatment. I am quite happy with it. I have used it for pan lube as well as hot tumble lubing (small amount melted in a cast iron frying pan then roll boolits around in it).
I started out with just the first three ingredients but the lube was too hard and did not stick to the boolits well. By adding the Bardhal oil treatment the lube both softened and got stickier.
Not sure how the vegetable oil would mix with oil treament or lanolin but one of those should soften the lube and make it stickier. As mentioned, a little Vaseline should soften it nicely too.
I like to play so I would take a small amount of what you have in three or four lots then add Vaseline to one, oil treatment to another, lanolin to another and see what happens. You might need to add stearic acid or Ivory soap to hold things together but something should work. I would not do a big batch until you are sure you have what you want though.
Also, if your lube is working for you as is then just try hot tumble lubing or pan lubing. That would be your easiest solution. I like to shoot as cast when I can so don't want to bother with sizer/luber if I can do it faster pan or tumble lubing.
Longbow
^^THIS^^ Then you could add some Vaseline if it's still too hard.Quote:
Originally Posted by 44man
Yeah, my first thought was that there is a lot of paraffin in that mix and not a lot of actual lube, although beeswax by itself does have some lubricating properties. Cut back on the paraffin and/or add Vaseline until you reach the desired hardness.
I've come to think of paraffin as mostly just a filler in lube recipes. It's like macaroni & cheese made at one of those cheap buffet restaurants vs the kind you make at home. The stuff at home is full of gooey cheese but the stuff in the giant tub is mostly corn starch with just barely enough cheese to (kinda) flavor it. Paraffin in a lube mix is kinda like the corn starch, except that it can have a hardening effect.