Rosin And Beeswax

[Art]

Also, give D.A. Saguto down in Colonial Williamsburg a call, he has forgotten more about shoemaking history than the rest of us know. He probably has all of the possible texts on the subject.

Art

[ChuckBurrows]

A good discussion on coad by several shoemakers........

http://www.thehcc.org/discus/messages/4/1028.html

Pitch is the key though, proper black pitch, not the rosin places like Jas Townsend sell as 'pitch'.

Sorry to disagree but coad can be made either in light or black since at least the 1500's - for instance commercial coad makers such as Sellari's made/make both light and dark). Many recipes inlcude both pitch and rosin - BTW for black pitch use asphaltum - it's a documented ingredient in period coads and is a type of pitch.

As for the Townsend pitch - I have uses it on and off for close to 40 years and it works for making a good sewing wax. Nowadays I collect my own pitch and rosin from local pines. There are also plenty of other source for all types of rosin and pitch - do a search on line for violin varnish for one - they use various rosins and pitche in the making of the varnish.

As for oil or tallow added - I used to use it but quit after having some problems and if you read the whole article linked above you will find others that also quit using it.

And finally I also quit doing the taffy pull thing years ago as well - I now just "cook' the wax and pithc/rosin together and our it into small containers - after 10 years no muss or fuss albeit I do NOT make mine as sticky as often used/needed for making shoes so for stickier wax doing th etaffy pull maybe necessary to keep it more malleable.

and another article on making coad with a recipe by D. A. Saguto cordwainer at Williamsburg

Recipe 2 from D.A.Saguto, Cordwainer at Colonial Williamsburg, and is based on a recipe given in Rees (1813).

To start off: One part rosin, two parts the softest pure pine-pitch . you can find [Rausche Naval Stores in New Orleans sells two hardnesses #112 & #113 I think, both pretty hard for my taste, and North Sea and Baltic Co., in Leeds, UK, sells a really nice soft Swedish pitch, which I prefer, but that only comes in 25 lb. drums, but maybe you'll want to use it for pitching your boat too]. Don't make more than maybe a pound of wax, total, at a time, because if you ruin it, you've lost expensive ingredients and you will ruin some at first. In full-time use, in a shop of three hand-sewn shoemakers working 5 days a week, we go through maybe one nearly golf ball-sized ball of wax per month per person. In summer, in an un air-conditioned shop, I add tallow because it requiresso little to get it the wax ductile. In winter I sometimes substitute beeswax, working in an unheated shop, because if I added enough tallow to get the texture right under these conditions, the wax easily turns to a black tar-like mass that won't stick [i.e., ruined]. Winter shoemaking is a big problem because of the wax, and 18th c. accounts suggest that it was a problem then too. If you're working in a heated, 20th c. shop, I'd try to get it to work for you with the "correct" tallow rather than beeswax if at all possible. Go easy though, like the old Brillcreme ads: "a little dab'll do ya--a big goob'll goo ya". Carefully melt the pitch and rosin together to a liquid state, butdo not allow them to boil or simmer [this cooks-out some naturally occurring oils and makes it even more brittle]. Do not let it get so hot that it begins to smoke, as this in approaching flash-point! When the pitch and rosin are liquid, add a little lump of tallow and stir it well to mix everything. Pour your ladle of wax into a bucket of water. Splash the water on top of the molten mass so it sinks. Then carefully with your hands UNDER WATER [to avoid burns] press it out flat and work it for just a few moments to get it just cool enough to lift out of the water--about the consistency of old Silly Putty. There's still a molten core inside that will melt its way out and burn you badly, so be very careful. Keep your hands wet with water. You should be able to work the wax like salt water taffy at this point, by rolling it out into a long "cigar" and then pulling it like taffy. Fold it up and pull it again, and again as quickly as you can before it cools completely. The wax should 1) be soft enough at this point to support itself as you pull it out into a long string without breaking or snapping, and 2) the pulling should bleach the pitch and turn it all a golden amber color. If it keeps snapping when you try to pull it, re-melt and add more tallow and pitch. If it stays black, won't bleach, and is still really soft after, say, 5 minutes of taffy-pulling, there's too much tallow in it. Re-melt and add a bit more rosin and pitch in proportion. After you get it working nearly properly, roll it into balls and wrap with paper, and let it sit to cool completely for a few hours. To test, make a thread and wax it, and try a stitch or two. If the wax flakes off the thread or won't stick to it, it's time to re-melt and add bit more pitch, and maybe a bit less tallow [too generous with the tallow at this point and you'll completely loose the stickiness and turn it black=throw it out and start over]. The waxed thread should be a medium amber/burgundy color, and feeling tacky like half-dried varnish. The thread, once waxed, should be slightly stiff. You've really got to play with it until you get the result where you like it.

In use, historically, some shoemakers had to store their balls of wax in a little dish of water, or in the shop tub, to keep them from melting and sticking to the bench, which tells me that it was preferred softer/stickier rather than harder/cleaner. Also, many old 17th, 18th and 19th c. shoe tools are encrusted with the stuff thick as fudge icing, and I know my hands at the end of the day are pretty soiled with it. It's not "clean" stuff. The tendency in the beginning is to make it too hard because it feels so messy otherwise. When ready for use it should be about as soft as a cake of raw beeswax, so you can easily dig your thumbnail into the ball, and when you rub it onto your thread, it should readily friction-melt and accumulate heavily on the thread with just a few passes. After you wax your threads merely "skeined-up" [strands side by side, but as of yet un-twisted into "the thread"], then twist them to get the wax coating the cordage, then wax the outsides again and rub the thread briskly with a folded scrap of uppers leather to further melt the wax into the thread and smooth the surface. When stitching, if you notice little piles of wax "dust" building-up at each stitch hole, but the thread otherwise seems to be holding its wax, you're very close, but still a wee bit too hard. Little blobs of soft wax "balling-up" at each hole is okay. Some wax is drained from the thread as its full length passes through each hole. This excess is melted into the leather surrounding each stitch and makes the seam firmer, but this constant drain means you need to re-wax your thread if it's a long one, maybe every few inches to keep it "full". If the warmth of your hands melts the wax while handling the thread to the point wax peels off the thread in great sticky swaths and sticks to you, you're a wee bit too soft. While stitching you must pluck your threads through the holes smartly, for if the wax it working right, when you linger too long in mid-stitch, the thread will cool and seize-up cementing itself in place, and you will have to carefully withdraw your threads, re-pierce the hole, and try again. If you try and force it, especially if you tug on the bristles here, you'll break your bristles every time. Remember, shoemakers' wax is a protective coating and adhesive for the thread and seam. It actually makes it harder to sewn, not easier. Only careful fiddling will get the texture just right, and every supplier's pine pitch is different, [rosin and tallow are the only near consistent ingredients here]. When you get the mix that works for you with the pitch you've chosen to use, write down the quantities exactly, like a chemistry experiment, so you will be ahead of the game next time when you need to make another batch.

[ChuckBurrows]

One 1800's period description of black pitch....

Pitch (Websters 1828 Dictionary)

A thick tenacious substance, the juice of the species of pine or fir called abies picea, obtained by incision from the bark of the tree. When melted and pressed into bags of cloth, it is received into barrels. This is white or Burgundy pitch; by mixture with lampblack it is converted into black pitch. When kept long in fusion with vinegar, it becomes dry and brown, and forms colophony. The smoke of pitch condensed forms lampblack.

[amuckart]

A good discussion on coad by several shoemakers........

http://www.thehcc.or...ges/4/1028.html

I second that recommendation. That's where I got started. I've been reading and participating in it for a few years now and it's still the best compendium of information out there.

Sorry to disagree but coad can be made either in light or black since at least the 1500's - for instance commercial coad makers such as Sellari's made/make both light and dark). Many recipes inlcude both pitch and rosin - BTW for black pitch use asphaltum - it's a documented ingredient in period coads and is a type of pitch.

Do you have references for white code, or ingredients pre-18th Century? I've looked into this quite a bit, as have people like Marc Carlson, and to my knowledge there is just no surviving evidence for the content of medieval shoemaking waxes. If you know of some I'd be really interested in seeing it, especially if you can document the use of asphaltum in them!

I'm familiar with the CW-era and 18th century recipes, including the ones for masheen/white wax, but extrapolating backwards to medieval/renaissance techniques from the 18th century doesn't work.

I don't get the link between Sellari's wax and the content of medieval code, am I missing something?

The trick with adding things like tallow is to add them in tiny quantities. I take single shavings off of a cake of tallow and add one, pour, pull, set and test then re-melt if required.

With reference to the recipes of Al's you quote, be aware that Rausch Naval Yards burned down and you can't get pitch from there any more. Colonial Williamsburg ended up importing some from China at vast cost since you apparently can't even get it from Sweden any more, which is a pretty sad state of affairs.

Edited August 3, 2011 by amuckart

[amuckart]

Hi Art,

Thanks for the later references, I tend to focus so much on pre-1600 stuff that's what I default to when I hear "historical reenactment". NZ doesn't have a big CW reenactment scene

Give John D. Devlin 1839 & 40 a read on wax-making.

There are also formulae in Standage, "The Leather Worker's Manual" 3rd Edition London: Scott, Greenwood & Son, 1920. (1st ed. 1899) but this is maybe too late for a CW reference?

Do you have a copy, and if so can you quote it here?

Thanks.

[amuckart]

Rees also has things to say on the topic:

http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/histshoe/Rees/rees3.htm

[Art]

I Al,

I couldn't find it, hence no page references. I have the Library of Congress at my disposal, I know it's there. I'm out of town for a couple of weeks or so, I'll do more research the next time I am there. Then again D.A. can probably quote you off the top of his head. For the pre-1600 stuff, could anyone but clergy and nobles ever read? I wouldn't think a shoemaker could read a book, although he might be able to cover it.

Art

Hi Art,

Thanks for the later references, I tend to focus so much on pre-1600 stuff that's what I default to when I hear "historical reenactment". NZ doesn't have a big CW reenactment scene

Do you have a copy, and if so can you quote it here?

Thanks.