Waxing Your Thread

[Historybuff]

Has anyone here heard of 'black wax'? Its supposidly used to wax your sewing thread for hand stitching? A mixture of bees wax and pine tar that sticks better and is more wear restant than using plain bees wax.

I've looked a number of places and havnt been able to find it at all.

[jeeperaz]

Has anyone here heard of 'black wax'? Its supposidly used to wax your sewing thread for hand stitching? A mixture of bees wax and pine tar that sticks better and is more wear restant than using plain bees wax.

I've looked a number of places and havnt been able to find it at all.

good luck finding real pine tar.

Search this website for 'rosin' and you will see plenty of discussion about hand wax.

[Aggiebraider]

Yeah and good luck actually finding pine resin. I looked for months and finally just gave up. Please let us know if you find a good source for it.

CW

[Historybuff]

I can get all the 100% pure pine resin I need just by harvesting it off the lightning struck pines on our property. Usually in the form of hardned globs laying on the ground or still stuck to the tree. The globs on the ground have to be slowly melted and strained to get all the bugs, twigs, etc... out. I use this as 'brewers pitch' for coating the inside of leather drinking jacks. Not for hot liquids. The globs still on the tree are pretty much uncontaminated and result in a relitivly good, clean resin once melted and poured into molds.

I reckon I'll just experiment with a combo of pine resin and bees wax and see if I can reach a happy medium somewhere.

Thanks for the input.

[Tree Reaper]

Pine gum would be brutal to work with around leather, I get it on my climbing ropes and gear on pine removals and it's a mess.

Even if it's just on the thread, by the time you're done I'm sure it would be everywhere.

Kevin

[Historybuff]

Thats what the bees wax is for I think, from what I can gather. The stuff I'm talking about is not liquid or even semi-solid. Its been on the groud or stuck to the tree long enough to harden into a solid.

[Tree Reaper]

Gum will become liquid again once it gets beyond the temperature it became a solid at.

If you heated it up then allowed it to cool it might work.

If you could heat it then add the wax and allowed it to cool it might be what you're looking for.

[jeeperaz]

To make hand wax, I use a similar method as found in the link below ....

http://wherearetheelves.blogspot.com/2007/06/making-code.html

Yeah and good luck actually finding pine resin. I looked for months and finally just gave up. Please let us know if you find a good source for it.

CW

http://www.usrodeosupply.com/Shop-Rodeo-Gear/Rosin

[Aggiebraider]

Thanks for the link, I had thought about bull riders rosin, but wasnt sure if it was the same stuff and where I could get it in bulk.

CW

[Historybuff]

You can get small rosin blocks at music stores, Its what violin users use to 'rosin up the bow'. The clearer the rosin the purer and more expensive.

My main problem seems to be the ratio of rosin to bees wax.

[tonyc1]

You can get small rosin blocks at music stores, Its what violin users use to 'rosin up the bow'. The clearer the rosin the purer and more expensive.

My main problem seems to be the ratio of rosin to bees wax.

It needs a certain amount of pitch as well. Jim Beaton posted a recipe for black wax some months ago. If you look up posts from "Jimsaddler" you may find the recipe that Jim posted.

Tony.

[radar67]

Pine gum would be brutal to work with around leather, I get it on my climbing ropes and gear on pine removals and it's a mess.

Even if it's just on the thread, by the time you're done I'm sure it would be everywhere.

Kevin

A little of subject, is this the same Kevin from FF?

[Tree Reaper]

Yes it is, you got me going again!

A little of subject, is this the same Kevin from FF?

[radar67]

Yes it is, you got me going again!

That's a good thing. Found a lot of good info here.

[RobDude30]

Here's a place to get brewer's pitch. A lot of folks use that mixed with beeswax for hand waxing thread.

[ChuckBurrows]

Pine gum would be brutal to work with around leather, I get it on my climbing ropes and gear on pine removals and it's a mess.

Even if it's just on the thread, by the time you're done I'm sure it would be everywhere.

Kevin

Not really - coad aka hand/hard wax comes in a variety of mixes and is a very old traditional wax used especially in shoe/boot making. Black wax is just one mix and IIRC uses asphaltum in the mix for the black color??

check here for more info on the various mixes and how to make it see http://www.thehcc.org/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi

When it got hard to find I started making my own - I regularly use a mix of the brewer's pitch or collect my own and beeswax - usually about 40/60 mix of rosin/pitch and wax.......when coad is compared to beeswax it locks the thread (linen or hemp) in place much better and also adds mildew/fungus/rot protection that beeswax alone does not

[TomE]

A friend gave me a cake of 50:50 beeswax and pine tar, and it works really well for waxing thread.  Slightly more tacky than pure beeswax to improve grip on the needles and slightly softer so it is easy to spread/burnish into the thread.  She thinks it lasts longer than plain beeswax to preserve linen thread.  Here I am using heavy polyester thread to replace the billets on a jumping saddle.  I begin and end each stitch line by passing the needle with doubled up thread through a hole 3 times (single needle backstitch) and the thread is nicely lubricated.  My new favorite wax.

To address some of the concerns raised in this thread:  The beeswax/pine tar mixture is only slightly darker than pure beeswax.  It is not at all messy to work with and easier to get a thin even coating on the thread than the pure beeswax I have used.  I found Bickmore's pine tar at my local feed store with the leather care products (it is also used as an antimicrobial for treating hoof wounds and infections) so I will be making a batch of my own.  I think she molded the wax in a muffin tin.

 

[Steelart999]

There are lots of listing for pine rosin on eBay.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2499334.m570.l1313&_nkw=pine+(resin%2C+rosin%2C+sap)&_sacat=67659

 

[Littlef]

Looks like this thread was resurrected from a decade ago.  If looking for pine tar,  if you search under boat restoration or rifle stock restoration you’ll get hits.  I have pine tar I used to when restoring an old Finnish rifle.  I Bought it years ago and I don’t remember where I ordered it from. 
https://www.pinetarworld.com/product-category/pine-tar/

 

[Aven]

Sorrell Notions has summer and winter coad.  The winter coad is soft and the summer coad is hard so it doesn't melt when using.   It's used for sewing uppers to soles.

It's also called hand wax.

Edited December 9, 2023 by Aven

[fredk]

Pine tar? or Pine Resin? Over here they are very different

Anyway, thanks. I'm about to order 500g of Pine Resin

[TomE]

30 minutes ago, fredk said:

Pine tar? or Pine Resin? Over here they are very different

Anyway, thanks. I'm about to order 500g of Pine Resin

She said pine tar, but I'll confirm that.  The Bickmore product is pine tar.

1 hour ago, Aven said:

Sorrell Notions has summer and winter coad.  The winter coad is soft and the summer coad is hard so it doesn't melt when using.   It's used for sewing uppers to soles.

It's also called hand wax.

Thanks.  Will check this out.

 

[ScottWolf]

If anyone wants to make their own, the recipe I posted for a DIY leather conditioner in the forum here will work with the addition of the Pine Rosin. Beeswax and pine rosin is also used for Food cloth wraps, so exact recipes should be easy to find on the web. Pine rosin can be bought off of Amazon. You'll have to crush it if you get the rock version prior to melting it and mixing with the beeswax or you can buy pre made blocks sold as cloth food wrap kits. Also, beeswax and pine rosin sticks are used extensively in Baseball and are tacky but doesnt discolor anything. It's often referred to as "bat wax". You just need to make sure its bat wax, as they also sell sticks that are close to pure pine tar and they will discolor thread, etc

[SUP]

Found a nifty little tool on Temu recently, for waxing thread as you use it. No idea how it will work for those of you working on larger projects, but for me, with my small projects, it works fine.

You get it with white and yellow wax and cost me less than a $1.5.

Making those little discs of wax should be simple for those who want their own mix in there. I though the container is useful.

 

[chuck123wapati]

i collected about a cup of pine sap last year to make glue as the native Americans did. They melt it and mix it with rabbit pellets. it creates a hot melt glue that they used or many things including attaching their arrow heads. I guess I should have collected more for sewing.