Glen
03-21-2007, 01:22 PM
Like many of you, I make my own lube (I like 50/50 beeswax/moly grease). Initially, I had a little aluminum pot that I picked up at a garage sale for a quarter and I would melt the stuff on the stove and pour it into my lube-sizer. This would generate some smoke and generally elicit a few choice comments from The Better Half.
Then Chargar told me about putting lube in a jar and melting it in the microwave. Much faster, easier and best of all NO SMOKE! I used an old mayonaise jar (bad choice), and melted the lube in the microwave for a couple of years. And then, without warning, one time while I was heating up the lube the jar broke. Having a quart of melted bullet lube in the family microwave makes a mess that you don't want to even think about. Once again, The Better Half was not pleased.
So I shifted gears and put my lube into canning jars, thinking that they are tempered glass and made to be boiled, etc. This has worked pretty well for several years now, but I did have one jar crack on me (I suspect the jar was defective).
A friend of mine recently came up with an even better idea -- he went down to the grocery store and bought one of those thick-walled Pyrex measuring cups that are made explicitly for microwave use ($2-3). Its already got the handle and the pour spout in place, making it easy to pour the lube into the lube-sizer. And in between "melts", you can just leave the lube in the measuring cup and cover it with aluminum foil.
Then Chargar told me about putting lube in a jar and melting it in the microwave. Much faster, easier and best of all NO SMOKE! I used an old mayonaise jar (bad choice), and melted the lube in the microwave for a couple of years. And then, without warning, one time while I was heating up the lube the jar broke. Having a quart of melted bullet lube in the family microwave makes a mess that you don't want to even think about. Once again, The Better Half was not pleased.
So I shifted gears and put my lube into canning jars, thinking that they are tempered glass and made to be boiled, etc. This has worked pretty well for several years now, but I did have one jar crack on me (I suspect the jar was defective).
A friend of mine recently came up with an even better idea -- he went down to the grocery store and bought one of those thick-walled Pyrex measuring cups that are made explicitly for microwave use ($2-3). Its already got the handle and the pour spout in place, making it easy to pour the lube into the lube-sizer. And in between "melts", you can just leave the lube in the measuring cup and cover it with aluminum foil.