DW,

Hey, I'm not kidding. I use both, depending on whether I want to wax or just manage mine. A stick of glycerin SS works good with a little water. I know several who use it and it works. you just cut off a piece about a 1/2 in wide and use with water. I am not kidding!...TR

Tex,

Veddy interestink! What exactly does it do? Does it stiffen or just soften? I have used liquid glycerine and it's not much different than a water soluble mineral oil. The lanolin will soften, and as it air dries it stiffens just slightly so that it actually augments the Pinaud. I like to use the lanolin on the whole moustache and just wax the last half to full inch with the Pinaud. That way it looks a lot more natural.

I might have to give the saddle soap a try if it stiffens or helps the hair to take a "set." Grey hair always comes in "wilder" and more kinky than normal hair...and when you get my age and have a moustache like mine--large and with lots of grey--you can have a lot of "bad hair days." Waddie Mitchell...who had a moustache that made mine look small...told me he shaved his off (last time I saw him) for that very reason.


Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

DW,
Yes, the Glycerin does stiffen. and if you use enough of it , it will actually work to make "horns" or "handlebars"..
I know what you mean about the wild ones and the bad mustache days. You wake up having slept on one side and it is pointing forward and impossible to straighten without shampooing and starting over. I cut my horns off when I went to Sweden. I figure it would be too unmangable and I think I was right. I am starting all over now and look like a spike. It will be the end of the year before I am back to normal. And I too have shaved mine off for the same reason Waddie did. But after wearing for so long you just get used to seeing yourself with it and you look naked without. But it is hard to keep up the waxing every day or two..TR

DW & all,
Leather Life, Kalico Prod., POB 28, Milton, LA 70558. No website or email available--call 337 856 8772 to talk to DeWitt. I've usually regarded leather conditioners as pretty interchangable, but I've liked Lexol less lately, and Leather Life leads the others I'm familiar with--I presume others as good are out there that I'm unfamiliar with. It uses more stearic acid than fatty acids--ask him to explain, especially if you're good at chemistry. Lexol has about twice as much water, which I like, for dispersion & penetration. I sometimes dilute L. L. , up to half-and half, with distilled water as needed, as for spraying. It calls itself a cleaner and conditioner, which aroused my suspicions--which is it?--but it has no added cleaners or soaps. It merely refers to the fact that conditioners have a side effect of loosening dirt.
All this refers to my opinion about your question. I think lanolin would work well to make the pitch/resin handwax more useful, better than oil or tallow. Better than beeswax? I plan to try it out, & will let you know.

Shane,
No-one's had a go at your question about purifying raw resin and pitch.

I'll give it a go with my small amount of knowledge.

I've done this with grubby bee's wax and as far as I understand it is similar with resin.

Get a saucepan and half fill it with water. Support a second container (old jam tin) above the bottom of the saucepan and into this place your resin. bring water to a gentle boil and keep an eye on the resin. As the resin gets close to boiling the impurities should rise to the surface as a scum. Scoop this off. When I was doing the wax (several years ago now, so I'm digging into my memory; but it worked very well) we poured it molten into cold water, through two layers of cheese cloth catching the vast majority of junk, whereupon it further separated into clean and impure layers.

When the slab of wax was cool enough to lift out of the water, but still plyable, we were able then to scrape off this grubby layer leaving lovely clean wax, which I am still using; though comming close to the end. I'll have to do another pour in a while.

Take resonable care as in a near boiling state the resin may be susceptable to naked flame etc.

This wax was from the last batch my father-in-law took from his hives around 30 years ago and had been sitting in a bucket outside, and has dirt and wax-moth damage all through it. The above method brought it up a treat.
Hope the same is for your resin, Shane.

Cheers
Duncan

Duncan,
Thank you for the help. I will gather some resin and pitch the next time I get firewood and give your system a go. I will post the results. Thanks a million.
Shane

Shane,
All the best.

Duncan

Here's something I started doing a few months back.....sealing my wax for storage with a seal-a-meal. This keeps the moisture in the coade from evaporating.

Jake,

Great idea...Ah, the wonders of modern technology! Next thing you know we'll be designing stitch patterns and inlays and such on our computers.

BTW, thanks for the compliment on the bristle. I may not win any races with my waxed end technique but maybe the beauty contest?


Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

Jake, all...

We got to talking about using lanolin in hand wax formulas some time back (archived by now), and it sort of kept bubbling up in my brain. so the other day I dragged out some old, brittle, dessicated rosin based hand wax and remelted it with a pretty fair proportion of lanolin. Not the oil but the real gloppy, waxy stuff.

I don't have any final, time-tested results but my first impressions are that it saved the hand wax. The wax ended up smooth, satiny and very flexible (no flaking) when cold and hightly tacky when warm.

But wait!! There's more! So then, just on a wild hair, I took some pure rosin (mine is not pure white or clear...it's more than a little brown) and melted it with about 1/3 part lanolin, and 1/4 part beeswax. No pitch. Again, I was amazed! My intent was to create a white wax with no synthetic ingrediants. And, although I haven't put it to the test it yet, it actually looks and feel pretty good...in lump form and on the thread.

I know this is all pretty speculative...signifying nothing...but I'm going to keep experimenting with the lanolin. I think it may answer, especially on the Teklon.


Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

Dee-Dubb,

I remember about the lanolin. What you said made sense to me, and that's why I added it to my batch in Oct/03. You did some research and reported that lanolin is basically a wax too. But I added the lanolin oil to my recipe....didn't know they made the hard, waxy stuff.

Keep us abreast of your findings!

DW, Jake,
Lanolin is derived from sheep's wool after its been through a wool scour, this is a series of huge baths filled with boiling water etc. to wash the wool. The Lanolin floats off and is collected. There's a company here that exports the raw product where it's refined into amoung other things beauty products and make-up. I think France is one of the countries that has the technology to do the refining.
The refining removes any dirt, impurities and toxins (such as animal health products) that accumulate in the wool while it's on the sheep.
You can buy it here as a leather dressing but it's VERY greasy and goes runny in the sun or when it's warmed. I don't know what's done to it to make it waxy though.

More power to y'awl
Tom.

Tom,

I don't know what the difference is, either. I have purchased both forms, however--the near liquid form and a very stiff, waxy version. Both types I located on the internet, but I can't remember exactly where...just did a search for lanolin. While doing that search I came across a university site/paper that dealt with the various properties of lanolin and I discovered that technically it is classified as a wax. This was confirmed in the spec sheets that accompanied my orders.

It strikes me that any hand wax that is suitable for use with Teklon needs to be somewhat softer...and consequently, a bit more adhesive...than any similar mix being used for linen. Otherwise it all flakes off the slick dacron fibers the first chance it gets.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

The following are several of my sources for the thick, waxy lanolin. Both sent me Westbrook Anhydrous Lanolin Superfine.

Costec
655 First Bank Drive
Palatine, IL 60067
847.359.5713

Charkit Chemical Corp.
P.O. Box 1725
Darien, CT. 06820
203.655.3400

I don't know whether those addresses or phone numbers are still valid but those are what i have.

The following is a tentative recipe for a blond handwax I am currently using on Teklon (dacron) waxed ends. Very simple, may need adjustment of the ingredients but also very promising.

6 parts pure rock rosin
2 + parts Anhydrous Lanolin Superfine
1 part beeswax

This seems to stick to the dacron very well, is not overly soft, yet has very good "tack."

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

http://www.bootmaker.com

DW, Jake
Is the 'Rock Rosin' the same stuff bronc riders and bull riders use on their chaps saddles and bull ropes etc. I think violinists also use it on their bows too. Looks like the stuff that goes hard on the side of pine trees and such?
Thanks also for the work you guys have done on the splitting of bristles and splicing the thread on, that was OUTSTANDING!

More power to y'awl
Tom.

Tom,

I believe it is. I bought 25 lbs. of the stuff years and years ago and it looks like brownish, crystal rocks...if you know what I mean. Some of the chunks are the size of a tennis ball or maybe a bit smaller.

Thank you for the compliment. BTW, I misspoke when I described wrapping that first leg while putting on the bristle. This was a post over in the "Bristling At The Very Suggestion" subtopic. I said:

quote==============

Then I trap about 1/2 to 3/4 inch between the "legs" and take some extremely close wraps--around one leg then around both, then around the first leg again, then around both again ...etc., till I have about 3/16 to 1/4' wrapped--you can see it in the photo. Then I start wrapping the thread around just the first leg spacing the wraps progressively further apart till I'm within 2 inches of the end.

endquote==============

What I should have said was "Then, keeping tension on the thread, I start wrapping that first leg around the thread spacing the wraps progressively further apart till I'm within 2 inches of the end." It all works out the same but it's a little more difficult if you wrap the thread rather than the leg.

I'm going to go change the post now...as janitor, I have that privilege.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC


http://www.bootmaker.com

Just some follow-up and some observations on my part concerning D.W.'s "blonde" wax.

I had to increase the pine rosin to 8 parts. This may be due to some difference between our rosins--hardness, purity, etc.....I don't know. I also noticed the rosin didn't smoke near as bad the second time I melted it. One thing that's new to me on this recipe, was the directions to boil the mixture momentarily (1-2 minutes). This is to make sure the ingredients are mixed and blended together properly. But anyway, it didn't smoke hardly any the second time.

I weighed all ingredients with digital scales. So this is exact:

8 parts pine rock rosin
2 parts anhydrous lanolin superfine
1 part beeswax

Melt rosin first.
Add lanolin and beeswax.
Bring to a boil to clarify.
Pour into cold water.
Taffy pull.

The wax I'm holding in my hand is pretty darn good, in my humble opinion. And for those who might want to use colored thread, it won't mask the original color.

I think this answered one of my questions I just posted in Thread sources.

Erick Geer Wilcox

Jake,

You're good. Your hand wax recipe is spot on. I was just guessing on the proportions. My rosin comes in big (and little) chunks and I just grab a piece and then have to guess at what ration the next ingredient is to the rosin. Also my rosin is dark, so my wax comes out dark--probably some sort of impurity like pitch or turpentine or maybe just the type of tree it came from. In any case, even on white Teklon, when waxed, the thread takes on a light brown colour...not at all suitable for outsole stitching.

Anyway, next time I make up a batch I'm going to try to weigh the ingredients on a postal scale...just so it's not so hit and miss. Thanks for the good work!

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC
http://www.bootmaker.com

Dee-Dubb,

Thanks Ol'Buddy! But actually, I just followed your directions! Watch out for incoming!

My wife has dry skin, so she's into soap/hand lotion making. Last night she was making a batch, and I got to snooping into her "big box" of ingredients. Look what I found! Anhydrous lanolin! This looks just like the stuff I was sent by a good friend. Thought I would post a pic of what the stuff looks like and another source (company):



http://www.aquariusaroma-soap.com

item #: 7650 16oz ($13.50--I've seen it cheaper)

Here's another company who advertises anhydrous lanolin: http://www.glorybeefoods.com

item #: 10-03261 (1 lb for $9.25)

Here's one more:

http://www.selectoils.com/soaps/lanolin.htm

Hope this helps!

DW,I ordered some lanolin form selectoils.com. just arrived today also, I ordered some rosin from www.uglyfacerodeagear.com so I will see how this stuff cooks up Thanks to all

Joe,

Great! Does it look like the stuff Jake posted above?

The rodeo rosin may be powdered...is it? I can't say whether that's good or bad. Maybe for measuring out precise quantities, it would be good.

Try jakes recipe. He sent me a little chunk to try out. When I got it it was sealed in a plastic bag like a tiny serving of mashed bananas. When I took it out of the bag, it seemed a little greasy. I thought..."hmmm, maybe a little too much lanolin." Remember we are still experimenting with this recipe.

BUT!!! It's been out of the bag for a week now and it has mellowed and lost that greasiness, altogether. It's really tacky and very flexible. I think Jake got it near right the first time out of the gate.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC
http://www.bootmaker.com

D.W./Joe,

Yeah....can't remember if I stated this or not, but the wax has to "cure" for a while......at least 24 hours, but I'm finding continued curing with time. And believe it or not, I'm sure atmospheric conditions will have some effect on the hand wax.

I've made several batches now. Experimenting with the recipe. Folks this may take me several weeks to investigate and come up with a winner, but be patient. I'm slowly but surely putting all of them to the test (thread & sewing). Another thing to definitely keep in mind, not all of us will like the same wax. What may suit me, may not suit Al in Virginia or D.W. in Oregon. Personal preference will prevail.

Get them pots out!

Jake.DW, I cooked some up today in an old tuna can and it came out looking just like yoursl I tried it on a piece fo Teklon and it seems to do the job. The rodeo rosin was partly powdered with small chunks but that made it easier to measure. thanks again.