Enough String Wax for Five Lifetimes!

[Valkyrie]

Have a few pounds of beeswax for various projects and needed a new tube of string wax. Retail stores sell it for 5-8$ a tube these days.  Now mind you, I have a leftover tube of wax but it is a tube of Bear Archery string wax thats about 1/4 tube left.  My dad bought this wax for me when I was twelve, I'm 43 now.  He died a few years ago and I cannot stand to use it up as just holding brings a lot of sentimental value.

So a toilet ring and a pound of beeswax melted, mixed and poured into the little paper condiment containers and I am filled to the gills.  Then I wanted to see if I could work up a better recipe so I added some rosen and beeswax together at a ratio of 3:1 beeswax/rosin.  Made a small batch.  It's little harder than the wax ring/beeswax mixture and more tacky.  

Seems like I have the string wax angle covered for the rest of my days, lol.  Wife thinks I'm crazy too.

[halfseminole]

I have a batch of string wax about that size too.  Made it up this summer, so I can supply my wife and I and any students I end up with.

[AkDan]

which did you prefer the rosin or the ring?

I've got a bunch of comb to melt down here soon.  Just getting ready to do the honey harvest.

[Valkyrie]

Originally posted by AkDan:
which did you prefer the rosin or the ring?

I've got a bunch of comb to melt down here soon.  Just getting ready to do the honey harvest.

Either one seems t be fine.  Tried he rosin mixture last evening and it applies well as does the other mixture.  I think as long as it keeps the string lubed and protected it works.  Not much more than that really.

[Sockrsblur]

This is interesting. I bought some string makers wax from 3R and was disappointed in how hard it was. I wanted soft and tacky. Maybe this is another project lol

[Wandering Archer]

Not to rain on your parade, but do you know what is in the toilet ring? Some years ago I contacted a ring maker and was told they are no longer made of beeswax, but I couldn't get the ingredient list.
Since then I've never considered them as a material source for anything, as I don't like using something that could be harmful to my string, skin, leather, etc.

[Rob DiStefano]

i've always used pure beeswax for waxing bowstrings.  i don't cut it or mix it with anything.  just rub the cake onto the string, then "burnish" (melt) it in with a piece of leather.  unlike most of the commercial stuff, pure wax doesn't get as sticky, stays hard and won't readily pick up dirt and junk.  

had a three lifetime supply until i started casting/lubing bullets and now i have just a lifetime supply.  so come next st judes auction i'll be scouting out another 5# of that good bug wax.      :D  

pure dark amber beeswax in the foreground, bullet lube mellow yellow (beeswax, paraffin wax, mutton tallow) in the background.
   

[Valkyrie]

Originally posted by Wandering Archer:
Not to rain on your parade, but do you know what is in the toilet ring? Some years ago I contacted a ring maker and was told they are no longer made of beeswax, but I couldn't get the ingredient list.
Since then I've never considered them as a material source for anything, as I don't like using something that could be harmful to my string, skin, leather, etc.

I am fairly certain that commercial string waxes are composed of various petro distillates, like paraffin, for instance.  

And while beeswax may be produced naturally, it remains a compound made of primarily hydrocarbons mixed with impurities introduced by the insect's habits and environment. The toilet ring wax lends a softening and sticky property to the harder beeswax which , for me and many others, is desirable.  

Unless one is using sinew or hide or some other material that is flesh based, I doubt any type of wax, toilet ring or other, would be damaging to the synthetic strings we use which are various types of polymers anyway.

[Valkyrie]

Originally posted by Sockrsblur:
This is interesting. I bought some string makers wax from 3R and was disappointed in how hard it was. I wanted soft and tacky. Maybe this is another project lol

I would imagine that 1 wax ring, one lbs of beeswax and 1/4lbs of rosin would be a good starting point for you, you can always remelt and adjust your ratios until you get what you like.  The wax ring mixture is plenty tacky without the rosin to begin with though.

[Rob DiStefano]

for me, tacky string wax is to be avoided like the plague.  i want a hard wax that can be friction melted into the string fibers that will both lubricate and not pick up dirt.  that wax is bug wax - an organic distillate of natural compounds.  it's all good, do whatever works best for ya.  :cool:

[Valkyrie]

Originally posted by Rob DiStefano:
for me, tacky string wax is to be avoided like the plague.  i want a hard wax that can be friction melted into the string fibers that will both lubricate and not pick up dirt.  that wax is bug wax - an organic distillate of natural compounds.  it's all good, do whatever works best for ya.   :cool:  

The wax I made up is less tacky than any of the commercial stuff I have used, some of that stuff is borderline axle grease. I agree on the dirt and grime too.  I have a happy medium that seems to work and enough to last me, my friends and family, or decades and I can lose some along the way also I figure.

[Sockrsblur]

Very interesting conversation guys thanks for your thoughts.
Wayne, thanks for the starting point for a receipt, that always saves time and supplies.
Rob I get your point of soft tacky wax collecting stuff in the field and I'm sure you have twisted up more strings than me, I'm new at it. But my understanding is The tacky wax only holds the bundles of string materials together while twisting a string into creation, it is not ment to lubricate. After the string is done a single piece of B-50 wrapped around the completed string in a loop fashion and pulled the entire length removes near all the soft wax from the string. So for this application I've been wanting a softer wax and can't find it yet. Making it could be a viable option...

[Wandering Archer]

Originally posted by Valkyrie:
 

Originally posted by Wandering Archer:
Not to rain on your parade, but do you know what is in the toilet ring? Some years ago I contacted a ring maker and was told they are no longer made of beeswax, but I couldn't get the ingredient list.
Since then I've never considered them as a material source for anything, as I don't like using something that could be harmful to my string, skin, leather, etc.

I am fairly certain that commercial string waxes are composed of various petro distillates, like paraffin, for instance.  

And while beeswax may be produced naturally, it remains a compound made of primarily hydrocarbons mixed with impurities introduced by the insect's habits and environment. The toilet ring wax lends a softening and sticky property to the harder beeswax which , for me and many others, is desirable.  

Unless one is using sinew or hide or some other material that is flesh based, I doubt any type of wax, toilet ring or other, would be damaging to the synthetic strings we use which are various types of polymers anyway. [/b]

well, sounds like you know a little more about this stuff than I do. That's why I don't make my own. I don't know enough about the chemistry of the string material to know what may or may not react negatively to it.

Interesting that you mixed the toilet ring with the beeswax though. Most people that I've heard of using toilet rings, use the toilet rings as a wax substitute.
If you had beeswax, why didn't you just use some oils to soften the beeswax?

[bigbadjon]

I'll agree with Rob in that I want nothing tacky on the string. Of course I stopped waxing my string years ago with no ill effects and no loss of longevity.

[Valkyrie]

Originally posted by Wandering Archer:
 

Originally posted by Valkyrie:
 

Originally posted by Wandering Archer:
Not to rain on your parade, but do you know what is in the toilet ring? Some years ago I contacted a ring maker and was told they are no longer made of beeswax, but I couldn't get the ingredient list.
Since then I've never considered them as a material source for anything, as I don't like using something that could be harmful to my string, skin, leather, etc.

I am fairly certain that commercial string waxes are composed of various petro distillates, like paraffin, for instance.  

And while beeswax may be produced naturally, it remains a compound made of primarily hydrocarbons mixed with impurities introduced by the insect's habits and environment. The toilet ring wax lends a softening and sticky property to the harder beeswax which , for me and many others, is desirable.  

Unless one is using sinew or hide or some other material that is flesh based, I doubt any type of wax, toilet ring or other, would be damaging to the synthetic strings we use which are various types of polymers anyway. [/b]

well, sounds like you know a little more about this stuff than I do. That's why I don't make my own. I don't know enough about the chemistry of the string material to know what may or may not react negatively to it.

Interesting that you mixed the toilet ring with the beeswax though. Most people that I've heard of using toilet rings, use the toilet rings as a wax substitute.
If you had beeswax, why didn't you just use some oils to soften the beeswax? [/b]

I'm no chemist by any stretch of the word. But I did think of adding some food grade mineral oil but the wax ring seems to be a tired and true recipe. Straight wax R&I g is just too soft and gooey for my likes and beeswax is too hard. The combination I mixed is a nice pliable wax that rubs in well, sticks when being applied and is cheap in quantity.

[LBR]

...the wax ring seems to be a tired and true recipe. Straight wax R&I g is just too soft and gooey for my likes and beeswax is too hard. The combination I mixed is a nice pliable wax that rubs in well, sticks when being applied and is cheap in quantity.

Ditto.  I've been using it for years and on thousands and thousands of strings.

This is string MAKER'S wax.  Tacky makes twisting easier.  I remove the excess when the string is finished.

For string MAINTENENCE, a tube of BCY's X-Wax does a great job.  Soaks into the string easily, was developed for this particular application, and a tube will last the average archer several years.