Thining Bees wax with Olive Oil

[twotrees]

The "Wonder Wads" you buy are lubed with bees wax thinned with olive oil. But How much Olive oil ped Lb of bees wax?

I need some over powder wads for both my 36 New Police and for my wife's 38-55 BPCR. I just got done punching out 200+ 380 felt wads, now I need to lube them.


Wife is a shooter so she will not mind me using the microwave or a double pan on the stove to melt this mixture, as long as her rifle goes Bang and hits the target. She will be using the 36 also.

I have an 1970's Navy Arms Remington 44 copy. The frame to cylinder allingment isn't the greatest, but for the tight side fouling up quick, it seems to shoot OK.

I'll be shooting a BPCR also but in 45-70, it uses the same wads as the 44 cap and ball, so those wads need lubed too.

I guess I could just add some oil to the melted bees wax ans try a few, but if anyone has done this it would be a great help.

TwoTrees

[TCLouis]

5:4 Beeswax to olive oil.
I use it for conicals, and plan to use it on patches when I get back to shootin RBs. Hopefully it will not dry out over a days shooting like TC "Wonder Lube".

For wads one might try a tad more oil.

[Underclocked]

5:4 weight or volume?

[Rattus58]

wouldn't it have to be by volume?

Just curios... :)

Aloha... :cool:

[Curly James]

The stuff I have been using is 50% beeswax, 40% olive oil, and 10% Ballistol. I have left the Ballistol out and it still worked fine mixed 50/50. if you make your own wads simply put them in a dish and either microwave them with a chunk of lube or pour melted lube on until they "look right" to you. One of the si9mplest and best blackpowder lubes I have used. CJ.

[TCLouis]

by volume, but wonder if ratio is real critical, as long as it is workable.

My batch is a firm solid that softens as I work it into the lube grooves of Maxi-ball, or REAL boolit.

Not sure of Specific Gravity for either oil or wax so have no idea what that ratio looks like by weight.

I always wonder what all of the ingredients are in Wonder Lube and Bore Butter. One, the smell makes me think of the old wax lips, and so it makes me curious just what is in their concoction.

[wonderwolf]

I've got a bunch of pure bees wax at home...I would'nt mind working up a batch of this stuff to try on Paper patched bullets......or is this something thats just for front stuffers?

[mazo kid]

I can't see why it wouldn't work if you dip the patched boolit in the melted lube. It works in my BPCR guns under the boolit.

[wonderwolf]

Why Olive oil? could anything else be substituted?

[ktw]

Why Olive oil? could anything else be substituted?

- it is not petroleum based, which is important when used in conjunction with black powder.
- it is 'historically accurate' and easier to get than Sperm Whale Oil
- it has a long shelf life at room temperature.

-ktw

[wonderwolf]

- it is not petroleum based, which is important when used in conjunction with black powder.
- it is 'historically accurate' and easier to get than Sperm Whale Oil
- it has a long shelf life at room temperature.

-ktw

Things really gunk up with petroleum based products?

[ktw]

Things really gunk up with petroleum based products?

Blackpowder burned in the prescense of petroleum based oils is supposed to produce a tar like substance that is difficult to clean. I have always heeded that warning. I have never tried it myself.

You are welcome to give it a try. If you do, report back to us with your results. :wink:

-ktw

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Can someone give me a bona fide reference to track down the use of olive oil in BPC or M/L? I always sought the old ways yet have NEVER seen a verifiable reference to the use of OO. I don't speak Italian or Greek though. I'm serious. Not even in BP schuetzen documents have I seen a reference. BvT

[yeahbub]

WonderWolf,

Yup, sure does!!! At leat with petroleum oils. With my first C&B revolver, I ran out of Blue & Gray lube-in-a-tube and substituted SAE 30W50. (Hey, it was handy, and they told me I needed to use something to prevent chainfires.) In fifteen shots accuracy was so bad I missed the rusty 5 gal bucket I was shooting at from 10 feet away. The fouling was a combination of lead and what looked like anthracite coal caked up in the bore, and I couldn't get a patch jag through there. The rifling was no longer visible. Fortunately, I was with some Sons of Confederate Veterans members and they took pity on me. Soaking the barrel in water for 15 minutes and generous applications of Windex and a bore brush got the mess out of there. Something that really impressed me was how hard the foluing was amid jibes about how the pilgrim ". . . musta poured concrete down his barrel." Another kind soul shared his Crisco with me. That was a lesson I haven't forgotten. Waxes, even petroleum waxes seem not to have this characteristic. An example is Ballistol, commonly used as a patch lube, which is a liquified petroleum wax.

[ktw]

Can someone give me a bona fide reference to track down the use of olive oil in BPC or M/L?

I think is was more commonly referred to as "Sweet Oil" back in the day. You might try searching on that.

-ktw

[wonderwolf]

I guess what I was trying to get at was regular cooking oil would not work then

[ktw]

I guess what I was trying to get at was regular cooking oil would not work then

No one is going to know until someone tries it and sends in a report. :wink:

I think what you want to look for in a substitute is the ability to stand up to high heat without breaking down. Olive oil is one of the vegetable oils that will. So is peanut oil. There are probably others. Frankly, olive oil is not that hard to find in most grocery stores.

-ktw

[Maven]

wonderwolf, One of the virtues of olive oil is its high flash point, which would lend itself to making BP lube. However, other cooking oils, e.g., peanut oil, vegetable oil, canola oil, share that property and could be used as well and at a lower cost per oz. I suppose you could use the same 5:4 ratio with say olive oil v. peanut oil v. market brand vegetable oil, etc. Your target & bbl. [fouling] will point you in the right direction.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Yes it is true that OO was called Sweet oil. I knew that. Mom put a drop in kid's ears to help get the ear wax out. I like it now for Italian cooking. I looked the first ten pages of google results for that sweet oil search which reveal nothing related to shooting. I thought someone might have a specific reference to the historic use of OO in BPC or M/L. I have personally seen years of western fur trade post goods listings, later pioneer store listings, earlier first settler and pre-revolutionary war household goods inventories, G. Washington's lists of purchases, historical shooting accounts, buffalo hunter lists of shooting supplies, and related. NO OLIVE OIL! Still looking for a specific period reference if someone has something concrete. Any help would be appreciated. BvT

[waksupi]

As far as I know, T/C may have been the originator. Never heard any reference to it in anything I've read over the years. I imagine whale oil would have been the substitute.

[wonderwolf]

So why do some people use petroleum jelly as a mix with beeswax?

[Rattus58]

The same reason some prefer KY Jelly. :D

I've never heard of Petroleum Jelly, but lard, oils, soaps, and waxes have all been used... what works best has to be tried.

Aloha... :cool:

[wonderwolf]

The same reason some prefer KY Jelly. :D

I've never heard of Petroleum Jelly, but lard, oils, soaps, and waxes have all been used... what works best has to be tried.

Aloha... :cool:

I plan on mixing up some when I get home using olive oil. I'm thinking I want something that I can apply to paper patched bullets and also use to cut a grease cookie out of if needed. Though I admit I have not reached that point in my shooting experiments just yet. I'm thinking that anything thin enough to apply to a paper patch cold is going to be too thin to use as a grease cookie.

[twotrees]

I ended up with a mix of 50-50 new bees wax and Olive Oil + a dash of Murphies oil soap. It mixed well .

I soaked 250+ .390 felt patches and 100 .460 patches.

Too much lube.

Spread them out on a double layer of heavy paper towel and microwaved them for 60 sec. Pulled the glass tray out and pressed another paper towel over the top.

That got the excess out and got the right feel to them.

Started loading them and noticed that the heat from my fingers will make them soft. They might be good in colder weather, but not if it gets too hot.

For front stuffers they would work fine, about the same as the Old can of patch lube I've had for years.

Now to see if they shoot.

Good Shooting,

TwoTrees

[DLCTEX]

I guess if you want to use what the real old timers used for lube you'll have to go with lard or tallow soaked leather or rawhide patching on round balls, and lard for mini-ball lube. DALE

[PatMarlin]

I ended up with a mix of 50-50 new bees wax and Olive Oil + a dash of Murphies oil soap. It mixed well .

I soaked 250+ .390 felt patches and 100 .460 patches.

Too much lube.


TwoTrees

Too mucha oil. Scale it back to bout 20 percent and try it in small batches til you get it right.

I bet once you dip a patch in warm lube, it will come out just right when you have the right mix once it sets up.

[TCLouis]

chill dude

No one ever said there was any historical reference to that recipe. I think I said, "it worked".

Heck, do a history search for DOALL "Tool Saver", It works great for conicals and maybe patches.

History on that lube is likely to go back oh God, at least one sentence, but it still works.

Liquid dish detergent and water make one of the best BP cleaners and I seriously doubt one would find any reference to any mountain men or buffalo shooters used it.

IF I cared what was historical, I would bet any rendered fat had been used, and BEAR was probably high on the list. I know it does wonders with leather.

[PatMarlin]

Uh oh here we go again.. :groner:

[Underclocked]

I've got a little bit of that DoALL Tool Saver. Think I'll throw it in my lube pot... I've lost track of what's in there anyway. :)

[wonderwolf]

its not lube anymore its a community stew :Fire:

[**oneshot**]

I use a 50/50 blend of beeswax and oliveoil for my wads. The best and easiest way I found to get the mix into the wads is to:

Lay the sheet of material on a clean surface. I use freezer paper.
melt the lube and spread it on the material sheet with a spackle knife (I use a large one) repeat on the back of the material.
Let it cool and cut out your wads.