Tumble Lubing--Made Easy & Mess-Free

[onesonek]

OK,, what do ya do when you can't find any JPW????? I've searched high and low for weeks.Will sraight carnuba work??

I looked high and low too,,,don't ask why, but found I was looking in the wrong area. For some reason I headed to the automotive departments.
Finally found it in the paint/finish, as it's primary use is wood wax so it seems.

[J Burleson]

For those of you in Northern California, I found some JPW at Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH).

[joecool911]

Johnson paste wax shows up on the home depot website too. Maybe in stores?

[Boolseye]

I found it at a local building supply center

[jlmomaha]

about JPW, every ace hardware, and walmart ive been in has it

[cptkeybrd]

This place has it for like $6.20 a can.
http://www.scjbrands.com/mailorder/)
for all that cant get it at a local store you can order from them direct.
As posted previous

[prickett]

Is there anything magical about the 300-350 degree temp for burning off the solvents? I put my JPW in a can in a pot of boiling water (poor man's double boiler) and let it heat up for 30 minutes. Is that sufficient or do I need higher heat?

[crappiejig]

I looked high and low too,,,don't ask why, but found I was looking in the wrong area. For some reason I headed to the automotive departments.
Finally found it in the paint/finish, as it's primary use is wood wax so it seems.

Maybe you just figured it out for me! LOL!!!! I work on cars for a living, so, I automatically went to the automotive section.I'll swing by Lowe's and Home depot tomorrow!

[alamogunr]

You can also find it in the household cleaners and chemicals section.

Been there, done that. Took me two trips to find it.

John
W.TN

[kelbro]

Trewax clear paste wax also works.

[chuebner]

Local Lowe's has JPW for $4.99/can.

[Recluse]

Is there anything magical about the 300-350 degree temp for burning off the solvents? I put my JPW in a can in a pot of boiling water (poor man's double boiler) and let it heat up for 30 minutes. Is that sufficient or do I need higher heat?

Actually, the 350 degree setting is just the setting on my griddle that I use. I have no idea if it actually heats anything up to that temp.

All you're looking to do is "cook" most of the solvents out of the JPW along with getting it as warm as you can in order to blend and mix the alox. You can then control the viscosity with the mineral spirits.

[Moonie]

OK,, what do ya do when you can't find any JPW????? I've searched high and low for weeks.Will sraight carnuba work??

I've found it at home depot and Lowes in High Point.

[mold maker]

Most of the solvent your cooking off is MS. You might experiment with less heat/time and not have to add MS back. If you still cook off too much, there's nothing lost. Just reduce heat/time more for the next batch. Mostly heating the JPW is to make it liquid so as to mix easily with the Alox.
For many years, I heated it by the quart to use as a pattern and mold release, that was applied with a paint brush. This worked it into the pores of carved Wooden Models so that the pores were sealed but still visually pronounced.

[Whistler]

What kind of velocities have you guys been able to reach with your concoctions of LLA?

I have used regular LLA with good success in .38 Special and .44 Special loads, but when I use magnum loads (1300fps) and in my .444 Marlin BFR (1500-1800fps) I get leading near the muzzle, indicating that the LLA is not enough... I tumble lube with two coatings (one before sizing and one after).

[prickett]

Most of the solvent your cooking off is MS. You might experiment with less heat/time and not have to add MS back. If you still cook off too much, there's nothing lost. Just reduce heat/time more for the next batch. Mostly heating the JPW is to make it liquid so as to mix easily with the Alox.
For many years, I heated it by the quart to use as a pattern and mold release, that was applied with a paint brush. This worked it into the pores of carved Wooden Models so that the pores were sealed but still visually pronounced.

Hmmm, my first batch (made by placing the can directly on the hotplate, rather then double boiling) wasn't cooked long enough and my A/JPW/MS mixture ended up grainy (like the out of can JPW is). Not sure what component gives JPW its graininess, but I'm hoping THAT is what cooks off. My resulting lubed boolits didn't dry to a smooth and hard finish.

[crappiejig]

I've found it at home depot and Lowes in High Point.

well,, the local Lowe's here carries it, but they were out of stock. None at Home Depot or Wally World, so I left with my head hung low. I decided to make a last ditch effort and stop at a local mom n' pop hardware store that just opened near home, and BAM!!! They had it! $5 a can,,,, Wooohooo!

[Texxut]

After reading this thread, you got me thinking about the pot you melt in and the interesting post about the fire the one fellow had. While in the local thrift shop I picked up a fondue pot and an oversized lid. It worked great. The idea being, the shape of the pot should drastically reduce the chances of splashing the flammable liquid out of the pot. The lid is kept handy, in case of fire in the pot. Just set the lid on the pot, fire goes out. The reason the lid is oversize, is, so you don't have to be too precise when placing the lid on the pot. (I do have a fire extinguisher handy whenever I'm working with flammables. Just a good idea, never had to use it)

Thank you for a very informative post Recluse.

[Hometek]

Tried this recipe over the weekend and had great results. Used my wifes electric griddle to heat up the JPW in a cheap pot I bought from a dollar store. Bought a 16 oz can of JPW from Ace Hardware. Cut it in four pie shapes and dug one out and started melting it in the pot. With the griddle set at 350ºF I cooked the wax for about 30 min. It steamed a lot but didn't seem to reduce much. Stunk up my shop and gave me a sour throat though. Poured it in a jar to see how much I had. Dumped it back in pot and emptied a LLA bottle in the jar. There was about 15% less LLA than wax. Dumped the LLA in the pot and heated it for a few mins and then shut off the griddle and let it cool down to warm and added a little less than 10% of the sum. Mixed it well and poured the lla bottle full and stored the rest in a jar.

Cooled down to a solid at room temp. 1 min in micro made it runny. Sprinkled the bullets and tumbled until all had a slight coating. Repeated in an hour. Reloaded the next morning. Bullets were not tacky and had a slight varnish like hue. I fired them through my new Metro Arms AC Commander. Barrel was clean of lead. Very happy with the results. I had been lubing with straight LLA with satifactory results but like the dryness and drastically reduced down time between lubing and loading.

Bullet was a Lee 452-230-2R loaded over 4.8 grains of redot.

[Fire_stick]

Thanks Recluse. This is a great post and thread. I made a batch tonight.