different wax

[Kirk Miller]

Yesterday, a good friend stopped by and dropped off a six lb. chunk of wax. He said that his father used to lube boolits by hand with it. Supposedly it's BW BUT I don't think so. There is no BW odor and neither is there any petroleum smell. This wax has almost no smell, is dark brown and is very fibrous and soft. It basically has the feel of a soft lube all by itself. I have yet to test the melt temp. but have no idea of what to compare it to. Any ideas?
Thanks for your time
kirk

[bangerjim]

If beeswax......you would DEFINITELY know by the yummy sweet smell when you cut into it. That smell never goes away!

Sounds like you may have a hunk of melted-down older toilet bowl floor seal wax. Probably was used in the old days to lube. They used anything they could find. My grandfather just went out in the orchard and got a honey comb from there and used that wax in the mix.

Today (if you are still using grease lubes) there are modern mixes that are easy to make and work very well. I quit using grease 4 years ago when we on here developed/discovered powder coating technologies. Much better and cleaner.

Unless you want to spend a lot of development/testing time with that “hunk-o-stuff”, I would just thank your friend for the thoughtfulness.......and leave it alone for now.

Bangerjim

[Kirk Miller]

Badgerjim , You are probably right. If you are, I'll just make it go away.
Thank you
Kirk

[dubber123]

I"ve got a bunch of rendered beeswax, and its way too hard to be rubbing into lube grooves with your fingers.

[bangerjim]

Yes beeswax is defintely much harder than most think. I have about 60# of the stuff and it is in 4# cakes. Got it back in the “good-ol-daze” for 25 cents a pound! Very hard to cut off pieces to drop in my casting pot for reducing Sn back in. In HOT summer weather, I cut it and roll it into pea-sized balls for easy use. But is is hard stuff, especially if cold.

[Kirk Miller]

This stuff is definitely not BW. I've made enough lubes to know the smell and hardness. Weird stuff though. It glides and feathers just like a good homemade lube should but no telling how clean or nasty the stuff would be when shot. Even so, I'm still half way tempted to hand lube a couple boolits just to see what happens.

Who knows, it might be something that could be used in a pinch. Really though, I'm curious as I have never seen anything even remotely like this wax. Banger Jim is probably right though. It could very well be some old time toilet bowl wax. Anyway, it's at least 40-50yrs old. Oh, and it is super sticky.
Kirk

[Tom W.]

Try a few and see. The worse that could happen is a bit of leading an a strange fragrance.....

[GhostHawk]

Agree that it is likely toilet wax ring or a similar blend.

Beeswax if you rub it, warm it slightly sticks. And yes I don't think you can ever totally remove that honey smell.

Petroleum based tend to be much more slippery.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

While the old NRA formula is 50-50 Alox/BW...The OLD OLD NRA formula is equal portions of BW/Vasoline/Paraffin wax and that should have the softness and feathering feel you describe but would have a low melt temp.
Satan's lube (by 357Maximum) was that lube with a ivory soap addition to raise the melt temp.

[Kirk Miller]

Jon, Satans lube is my most used homemade lube for handguns. This stuff feels like it but when I melted some, Oh man, the stink. No BW smell or petroleum. So, who knows? Ideally, the soap lubes are what I want to wind up with, but finding micro-wax in smaller quantities has been a problem. When I did find one lb., every mix that I put it in would weep when put on the dash of my car and left in the sun.

Just to make sure, I placed the mw by itself exposed to the hot sun and it did the same thing. Even though satans lube got extremely soft, It never wept or completely melted. And yes, I do like using conventional lube. Therefore the quest continues.
Thank you gentlemen for your help and input.
Kirk

[cajun shooter]

Sometimes life's little things are the best way, it's a great joy to take a few things and mix them together and see it work. This not only gives a person pleasure but lets them know that when all the new fancy stuff goes away, they are able to do it the old way. Take Care David

[Mr_Sheesh]

I'd think you could use Stearic Acid instead of Ivory? I only have the former, not the latter. I'd try the stuff out, see what it does, but I am a curious character

And it's GOOD to have friends who try to help!

[Wolfer]

Before I started keeping bees I lubed my 45 colt with 1 toilet bowl ring ( new ) and one slab of parrifin.

Worked great but about anything works great in 45 colt. No idea how it would work for rifles but I suspect it would be fine as long as velocity doesn't get too high.

[mdi]

Old toilet bowl rings used to be made of bees wax and some added "stiffeners". Today they are made from the dregs/trash from refining and really low grade. Way back when, I tried wax toilet bowl rings and it was a consistent, firm, brown wax. No fibers, but no bees wax smell either...

[Kirk Miller]

mdi, you just described exactly what I have.
Thanks
Kirk

[maglvr]

Sounds like a good paying it forward item to me

[Tom W.]

But you can finger lube the boolits, size them and tumble them w/ JPW. After it hardens you should get good results.

[Reverend Al]

This stuff feels like it but when I melted some, Oh man, the stink

Maybe it is USED toilet bowl seals?

[randyrat]

Yes beeswax is defintely much harder than most think. I have about 60# of the stuff and it is in 4# cakes. Got it back in the “good-ol-daze” for 25 cents a pound! Very hard to cut off pieces to drop in my casting pot for reducing Sn back in. In HOT summer weather, I cut it and roll it into pea-sized balls for easy use. But is is hard stuff, especially if cold.

Freeze it good and hard, then place it in a box, hit it with a hammer and you will have small pieces