Simply curious??

[qajaq59]

There are thousands of recipes in the web for black powder and smokless lubes. And I'd say that 99% of them use beeswax, mixed with one or more other things. Is there a scientific reason for using beeswax? Such as it wont contaminate the powder? Or did they just readily have it available in the old days, so all the recipes went that route because of tradition?

[littlejack]

Q:
The beeswax is only the carrier of the other parts of the recipe. The beeswax they say, has no lubrication qualities to speak of. Without the beeswax or a similar carrier to mix with, it would be hard to keep the lube on the boolit.
Jack

[cajun shooter]

One of the best reasons that I have ever heard has to do with honey. The beeswax has been exposed to the honey and has some of it's properties such as shelf life. They say that the honey found in tombs in Egypt is still edible and still has it's anti-bodies. I do know that for the last few years that I have made my own lube that as soon as the BW's melts I am surrounded by bees. It is one of the best carriers that we have that is a natural product.

[geargnasher]

Beewax has some unique properties well suited to boolit lube. It has a micro-crystalline structure, meaning that on a microscopic level it isn't solid, but is more like a sponge. The spaces between the "crystals" is what holds the oils we add that do the real lubricating. Beeswax can "soak up" a very large quantity of oil before it becomes saturated, making it an ideal carrier for our lubes, where it basically functions as a viscocity modifier.

The synthetic counterparts are mostly petroleum-based, which play hoc with black powder fouling, and only a few are imbued with a micro-crystalline structure. The rest, like regular paraffin wax, have a macro structure not well suited as a lube carrier.

Soy "wax" is another good base, but not having any sort of micro-structure (it is oil thickened by hydrogen bombardment), is best blended with other hydrogenated oil like Crisco to make lube.

I know there are some other unique properties of beeswax that I'm forgetting at the moment, some one else will chime in I hope.

[Recluse]

I know there are some other unique properties of beeswax that I'm forgetting at the moment, some one else will chime in I hope.

You guys are all pikers. Man you disappoint me.

OK qajak, pay attention. . . :)

Certain sacrifices in nature have to be made in order for us to acquire the specific materials we need in order to smelt lead, turn it into wheel weights which we can then steal off of government-owned vehicles and melt down to turn into boolits.

The smelting of lead and making ingots is pretty straightforward. Some might even say there is a little bit of science in it. Likewise, as you melt the alloy and begin pouring it into boolit molds, again, science--and it pains me to say it--kinda rules the day.

But lubing.

Lubing is another story.

This is where you'll find more mysticism than a dozen Harry Potters who are all tripping on LSD.

Beeswax is revered because it comes from bees and bees fly through the air. Boolits fly through the air. Your mom and dad taught you about "the birds and bees" so we know emphatically that because both bees and boolits fly through the air and bees are associated with birds and together they encompass "The Talk" most of us got about the glory of getting, ahem, "unclothed" and doing, ahem, "the wild thing," we can absolutely conclude that bees are good.

And from bees come beeswax.

Beeswax is good because it will hold the other mystical goop we throw in our lubes. Those of us who are highly successful and revered and legendary in this cast boolit stuff normally do our lube-making around midnight on the night of a new moon, which is to say, no moon, which is to say it's damned dark outside so the neighbors have a more difficult time seeing you dancing and chatting nekkid around the hot plate that you use to melt your beeswax and other mystical lube ingredients.

You do this outside because if you do it inside, SWMBO will assure you that "The Talk" you got when going through puberty about getting unclothed will never, ever happen again should you ever, ever foul her kitchen with the stench of boolit lube.

So, you do it outside. At night. During a new moon.

Doesn't matter what all else you toss in the lube, just so long as beeswax is at the base because bees are good and I've already explained why.

And that's all you need to know.

Let's see the egghead science freaks around here try and refute THAT. HA!

:coffee:

[alamogunr]

Makes sense to me![smilie=l:

[rullywowr]

Clear as mud! (Think I will add a little STP and lanolin to my batch now)...

[wistlepig1]

Now I turely understand ALL there is to know about bullit lubes, Thanks Recluse[smilie=w::bigsmyl2:

[waksupi]

:cbpour::veryconfu:groner:

[missionary5155]

Good morning
Hey Recluse... you -uns up there are getting a bit to far from them pony riders... you forgot the waving of feathers in the midst of cedar scrub smoke and at least one coyotee howling away... It all works far better if you are located on Stagecoach Road not to far from Comanche Gap .
My personal opinion is rather simple.. consider the source.. God gave it to us as is.

[qajaq59]

Oh yeah, now it's perfectly clear....... :veryconfu

Qajaq :bigsmyl2:

[Hammer]

I love this forum!!!!

[Hammer]

Nother question:

If Beeswax is a naturally occuring Micro-crystaline structure, how does it compare in use to the "refinery" micro-chrystaline wax we also can purchase? Are they comparable and/or substituable with similar expected outcomes?

Thanks

[alamogunr]

Nother question:

If Beeswax is a naturally occuring Micro-crystaline structure, how does it compare in use to the "refinery" micro-chrystaline wax we also can purchase? Are they comparable and/or substituable with similar expected outcomes?

Thanks

Another question along this line: I posted in another thread that information I was given indicated that Alox 350 plus some small quantity of micro-crystalline wax, referred to above as "refinery", would approximate Alox 2138F. If beeswax is a micro-crystalline wax, why would more be needed.

I'm not a chemist and don't know anything about lubes except what I read on this forum. If I decide to mix some NRA lube from Alox 350 plus Beeswax, will the addition of micro-crystalline wax change anything? Will I have an effective lube if I leave the micro-crystalline wax out?

John
W.TN

[geargnasher]

Another question along this line: I posted in another thread that information I was given indicated that Alox 350 plus some small quantity of micro-crystalline wax, referred to above as "refinery", would approximate Alox 2138F. If beeswax is a micro-crystalline wax, why would more be needed.

I'm not a chemist and don't know anything about lubes except what I read on this forum. If I decide to mix some NRA lube from Alox 350 plus Beeswax, will the addition of micro-crystalline wax change anything? Will I have an effective lube if I leave the micro-crystalline wax out?

John
W.TN

Depends on what you're trying to achieve with the lube. MC wax might lower the melting point some.

Gear

[geargnasher]

Recluse, I see they Peyote hasn't quite worn off yet from your last tumble-lube experiment :kidding:

Gear

[ricksplace]

Recluse, I see they Peyote hasn't quite worn off yet from your last tumble-lube experiment :kidding:

Gear

So THAT's what I've been missing...

[qajaq59]

If the wind is right, and you mix the Peyote in with your lube, you can get the whole firing line in a good mood. :kidding: