JPW substution question

[waltham41]

I am working on getting the components to make a batch of 45/45/10 tumble lube.... Sent the wife to Lowes and she got the mineral spirits, but they didnt have any JPW in the store..... they sold her a 1 lb can of Miniwax (the brand name) Paste finishing wax for wood. (natural for lighter woods.)

it says it has solvent in it, and also contains aliphatic hydrocarbons. Says it is flammable...

Is this close enough to JPW that I can use it? Hate to open the can if it cannot be used........

The can is yellow and reminds me of the JPW can we used to use on the floor in the military.....

any help is most appreciated.

[waltham41]

Never mind guys, I called Lowes and they do have JPW..... it was 3 aisles over from where they sent her, and its half price of the Minwax..... when she goes over to town next week she will be exchanging it.

[onondaga]

A decent quality neutral colored shoe polishing paste wax in a can like KIWI or ESQUIRE neutral shoe polish is a good substitute for JPW.... and even cheaper.. it is the carnuba wax and solvents common to all of these that allow them to work in a tumble lube mix. The higher carnuba content in JPW is what makes it so nice, but others will work fine if they can be rubbed onto wood or leather, dried and buffed to a hard shine. Wax polish is pretty much wax polish all the time.

Gary

[nanuk]

According to the MSDS for JPW, the contents that matter to lube is Solvent, Paraffin, and Carnauba.

paraffin CAS# 8002-74-2/carnauba CAS# 8015-86-9 is 2-1 to 3-1, remainder is iseparaffinic hydrocarbon solvent CAS# 64742-88-7(ask someone else what those numbers mean). According to Recluse you would cook off the solvents, so using a 2.5/1 (?) ratio SHOULD work just as good..... I think a good quality paraffin wax has to be available somewhere...

[onondaga]

Pretty much all the paraffin in the world and all the petroleum jelly in the world comes from Pennsylvania's unique petroleum resource. The least expensive white candles and canning wax are usually pretty pure paraffin.

Gary

[mongo]

Look in the aisle with all the cleaning solutions. Had a heck of a time finding it also. Just learned where to look. Everyone in the store sent me to the paint dept.

[zxcvbob]

FWIW, I'm using Minwax finishing wax and Lee alox melted together without boiling the solvents off first and w/o adding any mineral spirits. I just mixed up about an ounce of each because I had them already, and that little bit just keeps going and going. I get some leading with tumble-lube bullets cast with medium soft lead and loaded hot. But even that doesn't build up too bad and it scrubs out pretty easily.

JPW (the yellow stuff) is probably a better product, but I don't know how much better. You could also use any old paste wax and add a little carnauba flakes to it. I also wonder if turpentine might not be a better solvent.

[nanuk]

onondaga: that is what I used to think, but i've heard others say there are different grades, and some work better than others.

I dunno.... a few years ago, I bought a 10lb block from a craft store for candlemaking. I think that should last me awhile.

I originally bought it to melt over a shoe polish stock finish. I used a darker polish and kept melting it in until I got a nice color, then used paraffin over that.
I got that idea from an archery sight, and have used shoe polish on my wood bows

[grullaguy]

FWIW, I'm using Minwax finishing wax and Lee alox melted together without boiling the solvents off first and w/o adding any mineral spirits. I just mixed up about an ounce of each because I had them already, and that little bit just keeps going and going.

I do the same thing with a product called Aerowax. JPW is not available here and I had the Aerowax for years as I use it to wax the limbs on my bows.

After my bullets have dried they have a light waxy coating. The solvents in the wax also do a great job to thin the LLA.

The bullets smell like wax crayons when the solvents have evaporated!