celticleather Report post Posted October 17, 2009 I've had an enquiry from a person whose roommate has put her leather mug through the dishwasher . . . and it now needs re-waxing! I don't use wax to seal my tankards, and I wonder if there's anyone out there (preferably, but not necessarily in the UK) who would be able/prepared to do this for her? If so, please drop me a PM with your email address, and I'll put you in touch. Thanks guys and gals! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UKRay Report post Posted October 21, 2009 Terry, I'm expecting a delivery of beeswax sometime soonish and will be glad to dip the mug if that is all it requires. I don't know enough about finishing a beeswaxed dipped item to offer more than that as I'm just about to start my learning curve. Maybe someone who knows more about finishing a dipped item can help here - what is the finishing process? How do you make something that has been dipped in beeswax look nice afterwards? Ray Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MADMAX22 Report post Posted October 21, 2009 Hey Ukray Angster has done alot of mugs and may be able to help ya out. I know he did a tutorial in the reenactment section. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
celticleather Report post Posted October 21, 2009 Ray I've taken a look at Angster's tutorial, and I see that he does actually dip the mug, and then pours melted beeswax into it, swirls it around and tips it out. This is repeated a few times and builds up a coating of wax on the inside. This is a pretty similar process to using brewer's pitch, except that I don't dip the whole mug into the pitch. It may be that this is all that's required to re-wax this girl's mug, but I can find out. If you're prepared to have a go at it, I can put you in touch. Max - Thanks for the tip about Angster's tutorial! Terry Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Angster Report post Posted October 22, 2009 Hi all. Just saw this thread. Since I do a goodly amount of leather mugs, shotglasses and such, I do have a large enough vat (crock pot) to submerge the leather items in the beeswax. This is simply a step to wax-saturate the leather to stiffen it, and help protect/waterproof the leather. The actual sealing of the leather mug/shotglass is done with a mixture of beeswax and brewer's pitch, where I'll pour the mixture into the mug, then pour it back out, while rotating the mug to get a smooth coating. With that said, there are alternatives. First, if you want to wax saturate your item, but don't want to have a 'vat' like I have, you can heat your leather in an oven set at its lowest setting (make sure it's under 200F, preferably around 170F or 75C). While your leather is warming up, melt your wax. Then you can either paint the wax onto the leather, or pour the wax in, then back out of the warm leather. The reason you warm the leather up, is it will soak up the melted wax. Then put the leather back into the oven for a minute or two. If you repeat this process several times, you'll finally see the wax 'weeping' through the other side of the leather. When this is fairly uniform, you have successfully wax-saturated the leather. Use paper towels to wipe off the excess wax and allow the leather to cool. Make sure you have plenty of precautions in place to keep the wax from coating the inside of your oven (or you'll get in trouble, and then I'll get in trouble, as my wife will know... She always knows). I put my leather on my own cookie tray (jelly roll pan, the cookie tray with the sides), lined several times with aluminum foil. I also have a large work area covered with either aluminum foil or wax paper, and a roll of paper towels handy. If you don't have or want to use the brewer's pitch, you can simply use the beeswax if you remember that the plain beeswax will be somewhat brittle, and prone to cracks. But, it's pretty simple to reseal/recoat if it's plain beeswax. To recoat, use your oven again, with the cookie tray/foil getup. Place the leather mug upside down and put into the warm oven (again, around 170F or 75C) and wait for the wax to melt out of the inside. Then wipe up the mug with paper towels as it will be sweating wax again, and then reseal after it has cooled down. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, either through the site here, or by my email: ben@legendaryleatherworks.com. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UKRay Report post Posted October 22, 2009 Hey Ukray Angster has done alot of mugs and may be able to help ya out. I know he did a tutorial in the reenactment section. Thanks, Max - and Angster! Ray Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
