Wax question

[flyfishwithme]

My next question was going to be about cobbler's wax.

Thank you Philip!



Vicki

Bear with me Vicki, I am on the trail of the original recipes.

[Jim Slattery]

Hi Vicki,
I strongly suggest that if you are going to "experiment" making tying wax that you do it OUTSIDE. If you have a gas BBQ grill with a side burner this is the proper place to conduct said experiments.
Tying wax is mainly Pine Rosin with a little bit of wax and a little bit of oil or lard. The ratio of the ingrediants detemines the adhesive and hardness quality of the wax.
The general rule is 8 parts rosin 1 part bee's wax 1/2 part oil or lard. The rosin and wax are melted together. Once well melted and mixed , about 15 minutes add the oil or wax for another 15 minutes . This should be done in a low heat and a low simmer. After the wax is done carefully pour mixture in a basin of water to cool it down. Once cool enough to touch start pulling it like taffy until you have a consistent color. The color of the rosin and bee's wax determine the the color of the final product.
I just made up a new batch last week.
Have fun and be safe
Jim

[GlassJet]

The general rule is 8 parts rosin 1 part bee's wax 1/2 part oil or lard.
Jim

Hi Jim,
I wonder if the coconut oil I used and the lard are performing a similar function. Similar properties if you think about it, and the low melting temperature. Bet mine smells better though!

Andrew.

[wayneb]

Hi All;

I made some "cobblers like wax" a while back consisted of the following:

2 parts dark violin rosin, 1 part bees wax, 10-15 drops olive oil. Batch was just enough to fill a lip balm container.

It worked well at coloring pale yellow silk to olive but, I was also looking to create a wax for dubbing. It was Tackier than regular Wapsi dubbing wax but a little hard.

I recently created a new batch with the following formula:

3 parts dark violin rosin, 1 part beeswax, 1 part toilet ring wax, 10-15 drops olive oil. Again batch was just big enough to fill a lip balm container.

The toilet ring wax makes for a softer/tackier wax. This batch is definetly tackier but I haven't used to yet to see how well it works.

Wayne

[flyfishwithme]

Hi all,
I have now added more material to the thread on Wax under Links/References. Courtesy of Mike Connor.
Cheers

[wayneb]

Hi Phillip;

Thanks for posting, I miss Mike's contributions.

Wayne