Minding my Beeswax!

[yman]

Hey guys I'm a newbe here on your sight but I been reading around and like what I see. I been messing around with casting bullets,mostly 38s & 45s and I've started working on a good bullet lube. I dont have one of those fancy luber/sizers(yet), so I'm pouring & cutting. Anyway I've relized I have a very limited supply of beeswax. Where can I buy more,that wont cost me an arm and a leg. Can I use that Gulf paraffin wax they sell for canning? (Boy my wifes going to be mad about that). Let me know where you get yours please.
Also if you have any recipes that you want to share for some homemade lube I would really like to hear them. Thanks!

[wiljen]

Short of finding a beekeeper locally,check walmart, or buy it online. Ebay usually has it for about $3-4 a lbs if you shop around a bit. The local craft store here are outrageous ($15-20 a lbs) and our walmarts don't stock it although I've heard others on the board say the ones near them do. So, try local beekeepers, walmart, then online would be my advice. And for the record, no paraffin wont work to replace beeswax. Paraffin adds hardness to the mix so a little can be helpful to stiffen it up, but it doesn't carry oils nearly as well as beeswax and it doesn't have any lubricity to speak of. I tried toilet bowl rings in place of beeswax with limited success (ie below 1200fps it worked). Beeswax is kinda like lead in this business, there just aint no substitute.

For 38s and 45s I use a lot of liquid alox or the old 50/50 works well for me (and Lar45 on here sells both varieties of alox.)

Wiljen

[44woody]

Yman you have a pm coming your way :castmine: 44Woody

[woody1]

Hey guys I'm a newbe here on your sight but I been reading around and like what I see. I been messing around with casting bullets,mostly 38s & 45s and I've started working on a good bullet lube. I dont have one of those fancy luber/sizers(yet), so I'm pouring & cutting. Anyway I've relized I have a very limited supply of beeswax. Where can I buy more,that wont cost me an arm and a leg. Can I use that Gulf paraffin wax they sell for canning? (Boy my wifes going to be mad about that). Let me know where you get yours please.
Also if you have any recipes that you want to share for some homemade lube I would really like to hear them. Thanks!

All I use for lubing is various versions of (FWFL) Felix Lube, a little alox and (JPW)Johnson's Paste Wax. Go up to Bullet Casting and read about Felix Lube, mayhaps also do a search of the site. If you use alox and JPW you don't even need the cookie cutter. Again, search the site, there's lots of info here. Beeswax...my wife bought mine at a local honey outlet. You know, the kind that has a sign on the road saying "HONEY for Sale." Regards, Woody

[Ohio Rusty]

I also recommend checking out the re-enacting circles. Beeswax is the main product all the re-enactors use for candles and sealing wooden eating ware as it is period correct to use. Parrafin didn't exist yet in the 18th century. Off the top of my head, I would check with Jim Jacobs (owner) at Blue Heron Mercantile http://www.frontierfolk.net/blueheronmercantile/ . Most re-enacting sutlers have blocks of beeswax that sell for only 50 cents or a dollar at most shooting rendezvous gatherings.
Ohio Rusty

[Hunter]

You can usually get a good deal on wax rigs from a plumbing supply store.

[waksupi]

Plumbing rings ain't beeswax anymore.

[Blammer]

check out your local Agricultureal extension office, they may know of a bee club around, then hit them up, usually someone has some beeswax for on the cheap....

I know our club does...

but I keep bees so I'm gonna get all I need... :D

[GW_45ACP]

Here's where I buy mine:

Jones Bee Co - 2586 W. 500 So. - SLC, Utah - Phone - 801-973-8281. Last I checked, it was about $4.25/lb.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Sadly, in some cases, more than plumbing rings have changed for the worse. BvT