Beeswax Cake Formula

[chouinardragon]

Hello,

Is there anyone willing to share how to make beeswax cake?

Any input would be appreciated.

Chris

[tonyc1]

Hello,

Is there anyone willing to share how to make beeswax cake?

Any input would be appreciated.

Chris

I just went to the Beekeeper a lot of years ago and bought some wax cheaply from him and then refined it to remove any impurities by heating it in a container in a pot of boiling water and then straining it through a fine strainer. I didn't think we had many bees around our house but the flyscreens in the kitchen were soon covered by hundreds of bees. I guess the aroma was very attractive to them. I poured it into the paper cake cups used in baking.

Tony.

[bruce johnson]

Chris,

I don't like straight beeswax for edges. The advantage for me is that beewax seems to burnish up darker than paraffin. I suspect that is due to being stickier and making more friction and heat. The edges seem like they are more prone to "crack" on working gear or bends in things like checkobboks and albums. Paraffin edges don't darken as much, but get slicker/shinier and have more flexibility for me. If I am doing dyed edges I usually use straight paraffin. To get the best of both worlds I mix them for undyed edges and that seems to work. I take a pyrex measuring cup and put it directly on a burner over really low heat. We.ve got one of those smooth top stoves. I stick in about half beewax and half paraffin and let it melt slowly with a fire extinguisher close by. I do it really low and slow, takes maybe 15 minutes, and haven't had a problem other than boredom. once it is all melted I pour it off into cupcake papers in a muffin pan. I am not sure why we even have supcake papers. In six years I have never seen a cupcake in this house. After a few hours when it is hard and set, Peel the paper off.

One warning. Last winter I got the idea to mix some dye into the wax mix while I was melting it. Kind of make some dyed wax like those boot and shoe guys buy. Upon cooling it separated and the dye flew over the kitchen when I peeled the paper off the first one. I put the rest of them back in the cup and slowly melted them and boiled off the dye solvent. In retrospect, a fire would have been hard to justify vs. just throwing it away and quitting while I was only a little bit behind. I did get all the solvent boiled off with slow heat, about an hour of wasted time, and constant watching. It made a nice looking dark wax. In side by side tests, nobody can tell any difference between the regular wax and the dyed wax. No difference at all, and I am adding this only to keep someone else from repeating my failed experiment.

[chouinardragon]

What I can google is beewax : rosin = 8 : 1, the higher proportion the beewax is,the harder beeswax cake is. Is it correct?

[MADMAX22]

Im with Bruce Johnson for the edges, I use usually either straight bees wax or a 50 50 split of paraffin and bees wax. This is for the edges.

I use the bees wax, rosin at about 50 50 mix with a little bit of oil mixed in during the process for waxing my thread for hand stitching. It works really good for that but not sure how well it would work for edges. Maybe the higher bees wax mix like you listed could work good for edges.

As far as hardness I think the rosin is far harder then the wax so would assume that a higher rosin amount would constitute harder cakes. However I could be wrong.

[chouinardragon]

Hello,

I tried the beeswax cake yesterday following the 6:4 of bee wax and pine rosin. But the pine rosin did not melt thoroughly and stuck on the bottom of pot.

Here's what I got this morning. I will try the edge wax tonight.

Chris

[MADMAX22]

OK Ill try to add my experience.

I have scene where they use those small camping butane fires and a metal can to melt everything but I didnt have one of those so I used the stove. It takes alot longer.

I got the rosin that came in larger chunks I have heard the finer stuff is easier to work with. The rosin seems to have a higher melting point then the bees wax. I started off with the rosin and melted that first until it was all dissolved into a runny liquid. Then I added a little pure neats foot oil and my chunks of bees wax. The bees wax then melted in with the rosin. I stirred it up a bit and then poured it into some cool water as was mentioned before in a thread. I did a small amount at a time, about enough to make a golf ball size of it. I kind of needed it and pressed it into a nice round ball. I did this with the remainder of the stuff I had made.

It mixed very well and made a pretty hard ball but it comes off onto the thread I use it for very nicely once warmed up. The thread gets very tacky and so do your fingers which is nice for pulling the needles thru to be honest.

It would probably work pretty well for edges also but I have not tried it on such. I also used about 50 50 wax and rosin with about a table spoon of oil for a two cup amount.

Hope this helps.

[Tkleather1]

I have tried to mix my own a few times, I use mine strictly for edges so I am still trying to find that magic concoction. I started with about an 80/20 beeswax/parafin and now I have wittled that down to about a 60/40. The reason I use more beeswax is the same reasons that Bruce mentioned ( I can get a darker edge or I used to but that is another story) .

well I guess I will tell the story. I used to just wet my edges with water before I rubbed them and would get a decent burnish and then add my saddle soap and or wax. Now I use a lexol and water casing solution and use that on my edges and while its still pretty wet I use my grinder motor and burnishing wheel (a hardwood) then I add my 60/40 wax and run it on the wheel again. before I add the wax I now get a very dark burnished edge and with the wax it just gets shiny but not much darker, and that does not seem to change even with straight beeswax. so I like the extra shiny edge of parafin but the softness of the beeswax.

Sorry to ramble but that is jsut how I am.

Thanks for listening

Tim Worley

TK-Leather

[chouinardragon]

Thank you guys.

I also made a beeswax cake for edging. It's much easier to melt paraffin than rosin.

Chris

[siege]

I got a huge chunk of beeswax from a local beekeeper, and needed to make it ino a size more useful. It was pretty hard, and didn't cut into pieces very well. I bought a couple of flexible plastic ice cube trays at Walmart. Spray the inside if each "hole" with cooking spray, which will act as a mold release agent. Slowly melt wax, and skim off any impurities that may rise to the top. Use a laddle to fill the ice cube trays. Let cool over night, drop out the wax cubes and store in zip lock bags.

[jimsaddler]

I got a huge chunk of beeswax from a local beekeeper, and needed to make it ino a size more useful. It was pretty hard, and didn't cut into pieces very well. I bought a couple of flexible plastic ice cube trays at Walmart. Spray the inside if each "hole" with cooking spray, which will act as a mold release agent. Slowly melt wax, and skim off any impurities that may rise to the top. Use a laddle to fill the ice cube trays. Let cool over night, drop out the wax cubes and store in zip lock bags.

Hi All

Here's my bit to chew on.

Don't adulterate Beeswax for edge finishing unless it's with a little Canubra Wax (Hard). Parafin tends to crack. good old Beeswax is a natural waterproof preservative. The main thing to remember is. Elbow Grease should be added in copious quantities if hand rubbing with a coarse canvas, Denim or Hessian Clot. Preparing your Wax. I do this regularly every 5 or 6 years. Wax comes from Beekeepers complete with all the dead Bees and bits of Honey Comb. I melt what I need over Boiling Water, usually about 2 or 3 pounds in an old Saucepan. I then pour it into small empty Tuna Cans for use for Edging or mix it with Resin and a small amount of oil for making Thread Wax for making Wax Ends. By pouring the wax into cold water and pulling it out carefully to pull as it cools until all the water has gone, then shaping it into lumps the size of Bantams eggs. This type of wax is of a yellowish Colour and is for normal work. The tins are used for Hot Waxing edges or the Wax can be released from the tin by putting it in an inch of hot Water for a minute and upending the tin when the wax starts to melt. Then use the Block to rub on the edges before burnishing.

Or for very clean Wax melt it in a big pot of Boiling Water then take the pot off the stove and let it cool. You're left with very clean Wax on the top of the Water and debris. As it cools you can ladel off clean wax into Moulds to cool. This wax is whiter in Colour and excellent for Leather and Furniture Polish also if mixed with Artists Wood Turpentine.

I hope this is of some use.

Kindest Regards.

Jim Saddler.

[Aggiebraider]

Hey Everyone,

Can someone tell me where I can get pine resin? I was able to get about 4 lbs of beeswax today and was wanting to make some cakes for waxing thread but cannot find anywhere to get more than a few ounces of pine resin. Also, about how much neatsfoot oil should I add to the mix?

Thanks,

CW

[Aggiebraider]

Nobody has any ideas?

CW

[556guy]

Nobody has any ideas?

CW

Try these guys

http://jas-townsend.com/product_info.php?products_id=373

[Aggiebraider]

Thanks, I had found them after a good while of searching, but I thought that was a bit expensive since I need about 3 lbs of it. I was hoping to find somewhere to get it cheaper. I did find a few places to get rosin that bullriders use on their bull ropes for about $7 per lb but I wasnt sure if it would work.

CW