Beeswax for holster finish

[bcraig]

What is the best natural thing to add to beeswax to protect a holster 

I have experience using store bought olive oil and beeswax as I have made my own mustache wax and poured it into lip balm plastic containers .

After about 6 months it starts to have a sorta rank smell to it,it’s easy to tell when you have a good sense of smell and it’s on your upper lip !

The smell on a holster would not bother me but I don’t want it to rot my holster !

Suggestions for a natural product ?

I believe that I am just going to use the beeswax by itself,non perishable ,won’t go rank .

 I am going to melt it then when it starts to go solid again dip my fingers in it and apply to the leather.

Thanks

Edited September 14, 2019 by bcraig

[chiefjason]

I use U 82 saddlers oil, but I wouldn't call it natural exactly.  For natural maybe neatsfoot oil, but the real stuff not the compound.  And I use paraffin in there if I need it to be thicker.  I get mine to a paste like consistency, think lip balm in the metal containers.  Rub that on the holster then use a heat gun to get it soaked in.  

[chuck123wapati]

I use any of the leather boot waterproofing products that have mink oil/ beeswax in them, haven't had any problems, some of my personal sheaths are 30 + years old. they darken the leather a bit.

[DuaneS]

I'd use straight Beeswax.

I have an EDC knife that I carry literally on my belt every day, I made a wet-molded and beeswaxed sheath for it 8 years ago.  It's doing just fine!

Edited September 14, 2019 by DuaneS
add some

[dikman]

If you want to soften the beeswax mix in some tallow and neatsfoot oil. Tallow doesn't go rancid.

[wizard of tragacanth]

You might want to try Sno Seal. It is "emulsified" (can't think of a better word) bee's wax... ready to use. It's pretty soft in the jar. Warm the leather, apply it and repeat if necessary.

Personally, I do not want to make my holsters softer. I want to make them firmer.

nick

 

[bcraig]

The more I have investigated the matter the more I have become convinced that using quality beeswax by itself is the route I will take.

Mink oil 
Neatsfoot oil
Lard ,tallow are all Perishable and will become Rank .Beeswax with nothing added is non perishable and will never become rank.

Any oil added to beeswax will soften the Leather and introduce bacterial breakdown to the leather to the degree that the oil penetrates the leather and then starts to go bad(perish ,go rank etc)
I do not want to add a perishable ingredient to a non perishable .

It seems as though anything added to Quality Beeswax works in spite of itself and not because it was added to the Beeswax .

The downsides I see to using beeswax are that it can be considered expensive,not easy to get quality filtered beeswax that has not had something added to it.
More difficult to apply to leather than just using liquid oil or a paste.
If leather is totally saturated in beeswax  and extremely hot temperature that would approach the melting point of beeswax then obviously the leather would be less stiff until the temp was lowered again.

For my use of protecting the stitching,and helping to preventing bacteria from getting inside the leather and to provide a high degree of water resistance plus (in my opinion)a pleasant smell,the Beeswax with nothing added to it will get my use.

[dikman]

Well, my tallow has been sitting in an unsealed container for quite a few years, stored in a shed that gets bloody hot in Summer and very cold in Winter, and hasn't gone off. I've got several concoctions I've mixed, using tallow, and likewise had no issue with deterioration. Just sayin'.

[bcraig]

46 minutes ago, dikman said:

Well, my tallow has been sitting in an unsealed container for quite a few years, stored in a shed that gets bloody hot in Summer and very cold in Winter, and hasn't gone off. I've got several concoctions I've mixed, using tallow, and likewise had no issue with deterioration. Just sayin'.

Yes ,It sounds like you are happy using it.

I like the idea of using a non perishable natural material .

Thanks for your information ,I appreciate it


 

[bcraig]

13 hours ago, DuaneS said:

I'd use straight Beeswax.

I have an EDC knife that I carry literally on my belt every day, I made a wet-molded and beeswaxed sheath for it 8 years ago.  It's doing just fine!

I am going to use the Straight Beeswax,non perishable and from what I have read there have been finds of beeswax several thousand years old that the beeswax was still fine .
Out of curiosity how often do you reapply ?

Thanks to all for your sharing of your information.

[chrisash]

With large commercial companies making leather treatment products all at quite low costs, after spending years in development of their products, I am amazed that people feel they can make solutions that are better

[jimi]

So what are you adding to your beeswax to apply it?? You need to add something to get it to a paste like consistency to apply? No?? Turps,spirit??

[bcraig]

2 hours ago, chrisash said:

With large commercial companies making leather treatment products all at quite low costs, after spending years in development of their products, I am amazed that people feel they can make solutions that are better

I wonder how much better the new products are than natures products or  if for the most part the Large companies developments are merely a way to market a new product to generate cash flow.

 

[bcraig]

50 minutes ago, jimi said:

So what are you adding to your beeswax to apply it?? You need to add something to get it to a paste like consistency to apply? No?? Turps,spirit??

I will just heat the beeswax until  it is liquid then dip either a cloth or my fingers in it and apply directly to the leather.
I will have to heat it repeatedly to do this but the time and trouble it takes to do this will be part of the fun of making a holster.
Production time means nothing to me as I will be making the holster/holsters for my own use.

Sorta like when years ago I used to enjoy making my own Indian style flatbows from trees I cut myself and arrows that I made myself from the same wood that I split out from the wood,gluing turkey feathers on without using a jig,making Flemish twist bowstrings .

I enjoy doing things myself and I am thinking that making pistol holster will be a fun hobby !

Edited September 15, 2019 by bcraig

[gary jackson]

Beeswax and parrafin oil is a great sealer I use it to deter rodents in my tackroom. Just heat it enoughto mix thoroughly lt doesn`t take much heating.

Edited September 15, 2019 by gary jackson

[jimi]

Ok bcraig, but i would not advise you stick your fingers in the liquid wax...

[bcraig]

7 minutes ago, jimi said:

Ok bcraig, but i would not advise you stick your fingers in the liquid wax...

I have gotten hot beeswax on my fingers before when making mustache wax and as the beeswax first starts to turn into liquid and it did not hurt .
I would not want to dip my fingers in extremely hot liquid beeswax
The melting point of Beeswax is about 145 F but when it just starts to get soft it is much cooler.and quickly cools off.
Then buffing it by hand will cause it to get warm again and help it penetrate.
Not a ton of difference than when you get a little melted candle wax on your finger.

But thanks for the concern though .
Probably best not to dip fingers in even warm wax

[bcraig]

jimi post got me to thinking about the temps for Beeswax as I never measured the actual temperature for beeswax.
I searched on the internet and found that Beeswax starts to get a Putty like consistency at 90 degrees F or so.
 

[jimi]

Thanks for the info bcraig, let me know how you get on with the waxing of your holster.

[bcraig]

Just now, jimi said:

Thanks for the info bcraig, let me know how you get on with the waxing of your holster.

Sure jimi
Thanks for your input as well

[chiefjason]

FYI, molding and dying the holster strips some of the moisture from the leather.  Introducing some oil is not a bad thing.  Most makers apply a light coat of something.  Either directly oiling it or I mix mine into my beeswax to accomplish the same thing.  I apply 3 coats and it's not nearly enough to soften the holster.  But it does great things for the look of the leather.  

[DuaneS]

 

 

 

 

 

3

13 hours ago, bcraig said:

I am going to use the Straight Beeswax,non perishable and from what I have read there have been finds of beeswax several thousand years old that the beeswax was still fine .
Out of curiosity how often do you reapply ?

Thanks to all for your sharing of your information.

I haven't yet, but I didn't just 'dip-it' in beeswax.  I soaked it.

[dikman]

As chiefjason pointed out, wet-molding and dyeing strips the leather and hardens it significantly, which is why most give it a coat of neatsfoot oil first, to add a bit of oil back into it. There's nothing wrong with using straight beeswax other than it needs to be warmed up to make it workable, as you said. In my experiments with various wax mixes I came across one chap who said to mix pure gum turpentine (NOT the manufactured stuff!) in with the beeswax to make it softer. Yes, it worked, but over time the turpentine tended to evaporate out and leave a black gunk in the container. Not good. I've also seen mention of using Pine oil but have no idea how effective it would be.

When you've finished your project let us know how it went.

 

[BruceEW]

On 9/15/2019 at 1:51 AM, dikman said:

Well, my tallow has been sitting in an unsealed container for quite a few years, stored in a shed that gets bloody hot in Summer and very cold in Winter, and hasn't gone off. I've got several concoctions I've mixed, using tallow, and likewise had no issue with deterioration. Just sayin'.

What method do you use to process your tallow? 

[dikman]

Pretty simple, I used an old electric slow cooker my wife was throwing out, chopped up the suet and left it in there for several hours to reduce. I poured out the liquid to cool and gave the cruzzly bits left behind to the chooks. Doesn't get much easier.

I told the butcher what I wanted to do and he gave me suitable scraps from the sheep carcasses, not quite the "pure" suet but worked fine for my needs.