Felix Lube - the Short Version

[NucEm]

After reading everything in here about making the lube i have started to locate all the ingrediens. Never made my own before, and i will surely end upp making my own action and barrel too before long. My own bullets and my own lube in my own cartridges sounds better if i add my own gun and barrel too Thanks for all the information, iam on my way to get all the stuff needed and melting time is near

[robertbank]

Since you are about to join the club here are a few life tips worth noting:

1) Always ask your bride which pot you can use before starting.

2) IF you have a stove fan over your stove turn it on before you start. Probably isn't necessary but your bride will think you are thinking of her.

3) Stir the ingreidants as you add them. This gives your bride the impression you know what you are doing. That way what ever the results are you can always claim that is how it is supposed to be.

4) Ask before using your brides measuring cup to store the lube in. Women, I discovered, have a thing for measuring cups their mother gave them. Kind of a female attachment I guess.

5) When pouring the lube into your lubricator have a pail or old towel under the lubricator to protect the floor from spillage. Women really hate cleaning up spilled Felix lube.

6) Pay attention to how much lube you have poured into the lubricator. Surprisingly it doesn't take much to fill it.

7) Let the lube harden BEFORE you attempt to lube a bullet.

Don't ask how I discovered the above tips. It only took a week of silence for my girl to get over my first attempt at making the lube. As an aside the lube worked really well.

Take Care

[Rick459]

here's a link for a place to find most of the ingridents:

http://www.thesage.com/catalog/FixedOil.html

HTH
Rick

[hopper_64]

After reading everything in here about making the lube i have started to locate all the ingrediens. Never made my own before, and i will surely end upp making my own action and barrel too before long. My own bullets and my own lube in my own cartridges sounds better if i add my own gun and barrel too Thanks for all the information, iam on my way to get all the stuff needed and melting time is near

Hi, you can get almost all ingredients here: http://www.crearome.se/
and the soap (tvålmassa) with sodium stearate at www.pandurohobby.com

Jocke

[Newtire]

I added the 1/2 (by volume) Molybdenum Sta-Lube brand automotive grease to the already made Felix lube and it came out more workable than the straight Felix-Lube. Fired 10 full-power .30-30 AI loads without any leading using 170 gr. 311407 (group buy mold) bulliet. got great accuracy with both lubes. I bought a sizer base heater for the regular Felix lube and it flows better for sure without having to torque so much on the pressure screw. I don't think I will ever buy anymore lube for sure!

[Doc - J]

I was just looking at my shaving cream.. Barbasol in spray can. ingrendents include "stearic acid'. Has anyone played with this?

[felix]

Stearic acid, soap without a metalic element association, has a very slight hardening effect, and lowers the lube melting point. Sodium, a good companion making sodium stearate, is the only usuable stearate which will raise the melting point. Stearic acid is not needed in our lubes, generally speaking. ... felix

[Char-Gar]

Wow.. What a horror story! I suspect this will throw the delivery of the Fatter 30 behind, but that is of no consequence. Maybe, Lee will keep their eye on the ball better when they start to cut that order. This much recutting and loss might teach them a lesson on how to cut molds to specs.

[jtmonroe]

Cures moles, colds, sore a$$**les and makes childbirth a pleasure!!

Long time lurker, first time poster.

A wise man once told me that the only truly satisfied person was a dead one.

From reading this thread it appears that you alll are alive and well!

[JSH]

Ken, you may want to make this into a sticky topic.

This is something that needed to follow us from the old board, for new members to use. I've made the formula corrections Corky had pointed out, to this rendition.

Felix Lube formula

2 Tablespoons mineral oil
1 Tablespoon castor oil
1 Tablespoon Ivory, or homemade soap (grated)
1 Tablespoon Lanolin
Beeswax - Piece approximately 3 1/2" X 3 1/2" X 1 "

Heat mineral (baby) oil until it starts to smoke.

Add castor oil, and stir continuously for 1/2 hour.

Sliver the soap, and stir into the mixture a little at a time, until melted.

Add the beeswax before the lanolin, and then when that is melted, reduce or remove the heat and add the lanolin, thus not running any risk of burning or scorching the lanolin.

1 teaspoon of carnuba wax can be added to give a shiny bore. This can be found on the seal of Makers Mark whiskey, or the red wax on cheese from the supermarket.

Once made, let cool. This can be remelted in a microwave, and poured into the lubrisizer.

I have read and reread this thread top to bottom front to back. The above isn't what my original recipe was. I have it printed off and put away for safe keeping, I have yet to find it,lol.
My first batch I made came out excellent. I don't recall what size of batch it was, as I determined that by the size of the block of beeswax. I took the above to a batch X4. The oils and soap didn't come out as I remember. The first batch of oils and soap came out almost like snot or warm glue. This batch of oils and saop looked more like gravy? I did turn the heat down a bit and it seemed to come back into more of a liquid. It may have been almost to the boiling point for what I had in the pot. It is cooling as I type this. Another hour and I will look and see if it seperated. I think not as I used a heaping T of soap instead of level.
I did use a grater this time rather than shave it with a razor blade. That may have caused a problem on the looks of it. The grater was a rather course one.
Also, did "we" ever decide on what "Beeswax - Piece approximately 3 1/2" X 3 1/2" X 1 " " ever was? I called it 8 oz, so I used 2 pounds + or- beeswax.
I read the replys from the others that it never seems to come out the same, but still with good results never the less. We will see.

Also some of the fellows that are wanting to make this and are on a budget or just plain old want to stay in good graces with the queen bee. Stop by the second hand stores,aka Goodwill, Salvation Army etc. They usually have an assortment of odds and ends pots and pans and large stirring spoons. Also make sure and at least glance through the books, you may be suprised at what you find. I stopped in one this past summer and found several large stainless steel spoons and strainer type spoons with handles about 18" long for $1 each. Some had "US" stamped on them, those were kept back for proper use. I asked if they had any more like them and the gal said yes but smaller,hmmm. She a couple of shoe boxes full of the newest looking alum. handled US marked mess kits I had seen. $3 for all of them, curosity got the best of me, any little funny looking pans back there too? Yes sir, how many do you want? How much per each or for the whole bunch? The whole bunch, forks spoons knives and mess kit tops and bottoms, $15, SOLD.
The kids didn't think much fo the new "dish set" and silver ware,lol. The daughter doesn't think I am nuts, she knows I am.
Jeff

[Newtire]

Hi JSH and the rest of you aspiring or accomplished Felix-Lube makers out there. I am of a mind that some things work even ifj you try to screw them up. To tell you the truth, no way did I sit outside and stir the oils for 1/2 hr. I mixed up the stuff, added the soap and stirred it for 10-minutes tops. then added the Beeswax in little chunks and made sure I didn't burn it or catch it on fire. I stirred in some lanolin hair dressing (since then I found lanolin in our local hippie market). I even just put a dab of Tre-wax car polish in since it said it had a high concentration of carnauba. It smells like hair-doo stuff but really am satisfied with how well it works. I use alot of Liquid Alox but this stuff was fun to make and I have lots now and it works great even with full-power .30-30 loads. I got a huge chunk of beeswax from a guy on our board and I am set! ramble ramble...

[JSH]

Well it didn't seperate is the good thing.
It is a bit softer than the last batch I made. I am hoping that it will harden up a bit as it gets to a netural room temp. If it is to soft I guess just add some more beeswax? The wax I used was from the fellow in NV that had the big lot. It does look to be more refined. The block I got from the hobby store had a honey smell to it. This batch looks like shortening to me, or lard. I can take a table knife and cut some out pretty easy. I would say it is about as sticky and soft as the RCBS lube. I may just put a dab more beeswax in it.
Actually I had thought I put enough beeswax in it to make it on the hard side.
I will give it a few days and see. Will also check back here through out the week to see what some of you fellows think.
Jeff

[Edward429451]

What a great thread...

I have all my ingrediants together and am ready to try makin a batch of FWFL. I could've swore that somewhere in the thread it was said that you could use olive oil for the castor oil, so I got that. Now that I re read it I don't see that but Felix said at one point ...

"...If you are not adding castor oil, then you don't have to cook the castor oil with the petro oil(s). Cooking is for poly-ing the castor oil only, and only when a petro oil is present, or will be in the future when fine tuning the mix for an application. Keep in mind that parrafin, baby oil, ATF comes from petro oil..."

Soooo, is castor oil essential or will I be OK subsituting the olive oil and keeping the rest of the recipe exact?

THX.

[felix]

Castor oil NOT required. ... felix

[carpetman]

If you substitute olive oil Im not sure if you need virgin olive oil or extra virgin or if you need the non virgin type---not sure what it's called **** maybe? Ever seen olives doing it?

[JSH]

Well, the lube stayed a bit softer than I had wanted. I put a small chunk of candle in it to stiffen it up a bit. It has now set for a couple of days and seems to be pretty close to what I wanted. I think some one said the parafin would cause some smoking??
Also stopped at the hobby store this past week and got some wax dye, 3 colors. They had it on the clearance shelf for $1.09. They also had some small blocks of dye. I did look around there in their candle moulds to see if they had any molds that i could have used to make some sticks, no luck. I will just keep melting and pouring for now I guess.
Jeff

[robertbank]

Oddly enough I find melting and pouring much more convenient then the sticks but then I am kind of weird.

Take Care

Bob

[Edward429451]

Alright, I'm cookin today. After work of course...

The batch of olives I have must have been promiscuous...

thx

[Edward429451]

I made a double batch of it yesterday and from what I can tell, it came out great. I havent tested it for leakage yet but I think it will be ok. I'll know tonight.

It only took about 30 or 40 minutes to make since I didn't have to cook, only melt. I cut it last night to look for layering and it mixed well. It was so low impact on the kitchen that she says I don't have to make it outdoors...! She didn't like the smell when the ivory melted but it wasnt bad.

I wont be able to lube or shoot any until after next week but I think we have a weiner here. It turned out harder than alox but softer than my RR hard lube. One whole blue crayon colored it to a nice greenish blue. I plan on trying it on a crapload of 429421's I have sitting there first.

From what I can tell, I made about 56 dollars worth of lube as compared to the 4 dollar a stick RR, with enogh beeswax left over for another 14 sticks/ 56 dollars worth.

Woohoo, FWFL on the shelf.

[PineTreeGreen]

Wills,I did see your post before you edited it. I do understand your total frustration over plastic coffee cans. Not to worry,there is help available. Dr Phil will soon have a seminar offering help for those on the brink from plastic coffee can syndrome.(PCCS) It will require both you and your spouse to attend as it is a family dysfunction.

My mother used to stretch those metal windings from coffee and Spam cans and use them for icicles on our Christmas tree:coffee : Be careful they are sharp.