Bees wax paste

Bees wax and paint thinner works for me. I mixed some up last May, and the part that I didn't use then was still "pasty" the last time I checked it, two or three weeks ago.

The only "recipe" I used was trial and error: crumble the bees wax up as fine as I could, put it in a small jar, add a little paint thinner, close the jar, let it soak for a couple hours, stir it up, repeat, until all the bees wax is dissolved and the desired consistency is obtained.

I don't see why you couldn't add an oil-soluble stain to this mix. I don't see why you'd want to, either, but that's a different matter. :-)

-- Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?

Melt the beeswax in a double boiler then add mineral oil off heat. Start off with a 50/50 mix. The more oil the softer the mixture will be when it solidifies. If the mixture is too hard just remelt and add additional oil, to soft add additional wax.

I don't know about adding a stain. If I was going to give it a try I think I would just add a tablespoon of paste shoe polish to the melting wax. It is cheap enough to give it a try.

Stuart Johns>I have some bees wax and am intrested in turning it into a paste. I was told

I've used beeswax mixed with mineral oil. Didn't measure anything, chopped up the wax and added an eyball hlf the volume of oil, heated in a microwave, mixed, re heated etc til a clear solution formed,. When cooled to room temperature, it is a soft paste. I use it for treen items, baby rattles

Kip Powers Rogers, AR

Rex Haslip has a finishing article on Woodturns.com with instructions, scroll down a ways at:

have used a 50/50 paste of beeswax/walnut oil, melted together.

"recipe" for the soft stuff is simple- Beeswax, Mineral Spirits, Glass jar w/lid. Use a clean sureform-type rasp to shred the beeswax. Put the wax into the jar, add enough mineral spirits to cover, stir or shake (It's not a martini so it doesn't matter). Add wax and/or spirits as needed to get whatever consistancy you're looking for. Keep it tightly covered, add a bit of spirits if it gets too dried out.

I don't add stains to the wax, although either a powdered analine dye or oil-based pigments MIGHT work.

Another recipe that works for me is a "cooked" mixture that makes a hard wax: Warning: Watch safety when cooking oil and wax. I use an old dutch oven, welding gloves, safety goggles, and heavy leather apron for protection. This stuff CAN and HAS sputtered and spit the home-made equivilent of napalm on various body parts of them what's tried making it. Look out for flame, flashup, burns, etc. Have a first aid kit and burn kit ON HAND when trying this. Or just use a double boiler pot

1 pound beeswax (pure, not the prepared mix or parafin + beeswax) 1.5 to 2 pints Neatsfoot oil (try a leather shop) 1 cake of good boot soap (saddle soap) (about 3" dia, 3/4" tall) - Mineral Spirits

Chunk the beeswax and soap into approx 1/2" cubes. Put Neatsfoot oil into a heavy pot and warm up until small bubbles appear. Add soap & beeswax chunks slowly and stir until dissolved. Add a little mineral spirits to help soften the wax if needed- no mre than a couple of tablespoons. Keep on the fire for about 15 minutes after everything is melted and incorporated. DO NOT LET THIS BOIL.

Pour the mix into an old cookie or fruitcake tin. Allow to cool. It should be a little harder than pastewax, but not as hard as a 'stick' polish. Best guess for comparison is almost any stick deoderant. I keep an old bit of terry towel in the tin for application.

I dont't recall where I got the recipe, but the last time I made it was about 20 years ago. I still have the better part of a 2 pound tin full. It just never seems to get used up.

You've gotten some pretty good information on making a beeswax paste but what really hasn't been addressed is the use of a "stain" in this mixture. Unless you want very fine control over your paste wax mixture or you just want to know exactly what's in there for the next step, you might just want to get a commercially made mixture such as Briwax (the original or the newer ... but be aware that they use different ingredients that can affect your "stain" choice). There are several other brands of these paste waxes that would work well too. Just look around if that's the direction you want to follow.

Depending on what ingredients you put into your paste wax or what's in the commercial formulation, you'll want to be very careful as to what kind of "stain" you want to add.

For instance, if you're paste wax is a mixture of beeswax and mineral oil, you don't want to add a water-based (usually a waterborne acrylic binder)pigment stain. It won't mix well and just end up a mess, most likely. On the other hand, an oil resin pigment stain should mix well in that paste wax. It's going to be kinda grainy looking because of the solids of the pigment stain latching onto the wax. It's not terribly smooth but that might not matter for your application.

It's going to be better to use a dye stain to tint a paste wax. It's a chemical with no solids to cause the graininess. Again, you have to decide what solvent you're going to dissolve it into (water or alcohol-based for instance) depending on the rest of your paste wax ingredients.

If you want a good quality tinted paste wax, it's not just a simple matter of pouring in some Minwax stain into your paste wax. Hopefully, the above will be enough to give you some things to search on and explore.

- Andrew

Me too. This has the advantage of not being as vulnerable to waterspotting.

The commercial product "Bee's Wax," appears to my nose to be exactly this.

Thanks for all the replies. I will try those mixtures. I am new to turning wood. I got my lathe for X-mas. I have had fun learning how to use it. Thanks again.