Hard lube to soft lube

[jschance]

I've got a couple of sticks of Rooster Red hard lube that I bought a few years ago with the intent to install a heater on my lubrisizer. I've pretty much ruled that out, so I'm wondering if there is some formula to melt this down and mix to use this as a soft lube?

Thanks.

[454PB]

Melt it down and add some mineral oil.

[jschance]

Sounds simple enough. How much should I use? When you're talking Mineral Oil, will regular baby oil work?

[felix]

yes, preferred for the smellies. ... felix

[leftiye]

jschance,
I add bullplate lube in a ratio of 6 parts Lar's Carnauba red to one part bullplate lube. This (Lar's CR) is a softer lube than Rooster Red, - I think. Might be a good starting guess. Might as well add something that will make the lube better while ye're at it (Bullplate lube is super as a lube by itself - in beeswax). Maybe add a little Carnauba, and Lanolin too!

[felix]

Only add lanolin to increase viscosity. No other time. The hotter the ambient is, the more viscosity is required. Using high temp brake grease should reduce viscosity of the present lube, and not raise it one iota. This is a guess only because these greases are polymers and may not interact as expected with other natural lube ingredients. ... felix

[Lee]

Felix, I've heard that adding lanolin will increase "stickiness" and reduce "flaking".... Could you elaborate on that, and explain what high vs. low viscosity means to us at the lubrisizer, and at the barrel??? (Hope that made sense) because I am looking for a simple lube that I can make using beeswax and candle wax and carnauba, (and lanolin??) to be sticky enough to stay in the grooves. I'd like to keep it simple, w/o adding eye of newt and others. Perhaps a couple comments on what the addition of each of the most commonly mentioned ingredients contributes to the mix would be enlightening???...............Lee;-)

[jschance]

Me, all I'm looking to do is make this stuff flow through my lubrisizer. [smilie=1: I'm cheap enough that I look at the extra sticks of stuff I can't use and wonder what I can do to make it something I can use. If I end up having to add $4.00 worth of stuff to each stick to make it usable, I can't see this being a profitable project and I'll toss 'em in the trash. :neutral:

[felix]

Lee, go to the castpics site (link at bottom of this page) and get nosey. There are lots of stuff there about what you are asking. Besides, we also have many threads on this site. Check the stickies area. ... felix

[45r]

You can pour in some lee liquid alox into a small coffee can and add your red lube and put the coffee can into a big pot of boiling water and it will melt into something like BAC lube and it can be poured into your luber or you can cut it into chunks that can be sqeezed down your luber.Don't need a lot of LLA,won't need heat if done right.I put a light bulb next to my luber when I use Carnuba red and it flows fine after the heat from the light warms the luber.I wrap aluminum foil around some cardboard and place it around the back side of the bulb to reflect heat toward the luber and not shine toward me.Been using an old lamp and 150 watt bulb and works well.I stir the mix with a long screw driver.You don't need to mix if you use the light bulb to heat your red lube.

[lmcollins]

Veral Smith recommends that you use a tablespoon of STP to make his LBT Blue Hard into LBT
Blue Soft. I have been useing Blue Angle and melting a tablespoonful of STP into it, and running it through my heated 4500 Lyman. It seems to work well. My Blue Angle is still a hard lube, but much softer. STP seems to mix easily into the melted lube and combines well. You might try a melted small amout of your hard red with STP.

[DJWright]

STP & Vasaline

[Lloyd Smale]

cut it half and half with something like javalina or felix lube

[Boerrancher]

STP & Vasaline

I use to make my own lube before I started tumble lubing. I am not going to go into how i did it, but I always used STP to make it sticky and Vaseline to give it just the right viscosity to flow through the lube sizer.

[Jon K]

jschance,

For only a couple of tubes, I wouldn't even bother trying to dilute it, I'd just use it for flux. Now if you have a whole lot of it, that's a different story.

Jon