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Beeswax treated fabric

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SgtErv

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I know that some folks on here treat their leather with a tallow/beeswax mixture to help protect it, and it helps with water resistance as well.

While there are a bunch of ways to "waterproof" fabric, from oilcloth to paint, I chose to go with straight beeswax on a couple of little cloth bags. I just didn't want to fool with linseed oil/turpentine when the weather is as unpredictable as it has been. I have a bunch of beeswax on hand.

So, I shaved off little bits of beeswax onto the fabric, covering it, then placed it in on a foil covered sheet in the oven at 150 degrees. The result was a fabric impregnated with wax. It's a little stiff but once you work it in it's not too bad. Water rolls right off it. It's a few shades darker than it started out

Another method would be to melt the wax and brush it in - probably the historical way - and it works pretty well, you just have to dig into it a bit.

I'd venture to say it would work with a knapsack, too.

Figured I'd share. It's probably not a shocker to most on the forum but in case anyone doesn't want to mess with linseed oil, here's another method.
 
My wife has made a few cloth food wraps to use for cheese and other foods in the refrigerator. She used plain cotton and melted pure bees wax into the cloth in a flat pan in the oven. They could also be used to wrap food to carry in a day bag etc. She couldn't remember what the temperature was, but I would think it would be 200 degrees or less. I'm not sure what the melting point for bees wax would be.
 
I think it's 140. I went a little higher with good results.

Food was a thought for usage. I did the same with a small deerskin pouch for tobacco
 
I treated the pillow-ticking lining of a leather possibles bag I made with beeswax, but when I mentioned it in a post here several years ago, the HC crowd jumped on me saying there was no evidence anyone ever treated fabric with beeswax 200 years ago. I wonder if there is a mention of this in primary documents of the period, as it sure makes sense. Don't know if this is one of those "Well they could have" things.
 
Maybe linseed oil would be more HC?

Is it still flammable after it dries?
 
I have only one reference to cloth being waxed, and it doesn't say what wax was used.

The Pennsylvania Gazette
December 11, 1766

"RUN away.... had on, and took with him....two pair of leather breeches, old light grey stockings, a black crape neckcloth, old shoes, a pair of pumps, with square buckles, four shirts, a waxed linen wallet, and several smith’s tools to shoe horses."

I used beeswax to treat my haversack 20+ years ago, it has been used hard and often, shows very little sign of wear, is flexible enough, has never required retreating. I melted the wax and painted it on, then melted it again on the cloth to even it out. It has never cracked, but if it does repair is simple, just hold it close to your campfire and it melts, flows and seals. I like it. HC? Can't say.

Nothing in it has ever gotten wet.







Spence
 
Just an FYI about using beeswax. If you are shaving it and heating it in an oven, try using a blow-dryer or heat-gun on it instead.

I had a Barbour jacket for years, which was a waxed-cotton jacket. Needed to reproof it once a year to keep it in top condition. I melted their wax concoction (beeswax was the primary ingredient) in a double boiler - OK, I really put it in a larger can of water and heated it on the stove - and then used one of those cheap foam brushes to paint the jacket. It dried quickly and usually unevenly. After it was dry, I hung it on a hanger and used my wife's blow-drier to re-melt any surface wax. You could see the stuff melt and be absorbed into the cloth. It absorbed nice and evenly into the fabric. So blow-drier or heat gun will give you a great finish.

When Barbour used to come out to the Orvis San Francisco store each year, they would offer the service for free (usually $35). They would bring a heat-table with them to keep lay the jacket out on and keep it heated while they painted on the wax. Heat was key to the absorption and a nice even finish.

My home method, applied carefully, would result in just as good a job, but was a lot more labor and could get pretty messy. Since I worked at Orvis at the time, I would just make sure I got my jacket to them early on the first day they were there and then do spot treatments as needed between their visits.

If I got dry spots from heavy use over the year (like inside of the elbow), I would just apply some wax to the dry spot and go over it with the blow-drier to soak it in. The dry spots were easy to see because they were lighter in color than the surrounding fabric.

So give the blow-drier or heat-gun a try next time you need to absorb some wax into fabric. Works like a charm!

Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:
Dan
 
Cerecloth:

noun, plural cerecloths
[seer-klawth z, -kloth z, -klawths, -kloths]

1.

cloth coated or impregnated with wax so as to be waterproof, formerly used for wrapping the dead, for bandages, etc.


2.

a piece of such cloth.

LD
 
Seems this stuff has been around for millennia??

So Its use in colonial America is justifiably assured - for a multiple of uses including food preservation??

One of those so common items, that those who deny its use for multiple purposes are merely exhibiting their ignorance??
 
Well I wouldn't walk around in a coat made of the stuff, eh? :haha:

Could be just right for packaging hard cheese, or bacon. Maybe a small cinch sack of raisins? The stuff is flammable so be careful.

I made a tube shaped shack, closed at both ends with a slit opening in the middle, like a market wallet, but only as wide as my shoulders. I had seen a video-outtake by John Curry where he opens his tumpline pack and his kettle rolls away, so I thought a container would keep all my stuff from doing that. It holds my extra mocs, my kettle, my sewing kit, first aid kit, fire kit, and such. I then waxed it, to make it water proof.

LD
 
Short Arm said:
350 for 3 minutes for for me.And never a gas oven.Don't ask it was ugly. :doh:


I tried my hand at some jack ware, that I turned out being dissatisfied with. However I learned some skills with it. So my next project was some rum flask about four oz in size. Lit my brazier and set some bees wax to melt. I got a little to hot. To seal the inside I poured the melted wax in swished it around then emptied. Poured both at once, picked them up to swish and empty and they both wrinkled and collapsed in my hand, just a few seconds before my hands said this is a little hotter then we want to hold and turned them loose of their own volition :redface: :rotf:
 
Beeswax should be melted over low heat (~180F is the melting point), as if too hot, will cook the leather rendering it brittle and useless.

I've made jackware with great success though there was at least one time where I was distracted and allowed the leather to get too hot. Had to replace the bottom in one of the leather canteens I made...
 
BillinOregon said:
Spence, thanks for that citation. I won't be so reluctant to use beeswax in the future.
A lot of it was around in 18th century.

THE VIRGINIA GAZETTE
Date: November 24, 1738
November 22. Sloop Molly, of Virginia, Thomas Wilson, Master, for Madeira, with 2014 Bushels of Wheat , 230 Bushels of Corn , 107 Bushels of Bonavest , 2 Hogsheads and 2 Barrels of Bees Wax , 4 Barrels of Flour, and 400 Hogshead Staves .

THE VIRGINIA GAZETTE
Date: July 20, 1739
July 18. Sloop Thomas and Tryal, of North Carolina, John Nelson, Master, from North-Carolina, with 146 Barrels of Tar, 12 Barrels of Turpentine, 4 Barrels of Rice, 60 Barrels of Pork, 2 Barrels of Whale Oyl, 1 Barrels of Tallow, 1000 lbs. of Bees Wax, and Myrtle Wax, 50 lbs. of raw and drest Deer Skins, 50 lbs. of Hides, a Small parcel of Furs, a Bag of Feathers, 150 lbs. of Butter and Cheese, 45 pair of Mill-Stones, 20 Bushels of Pease, and 2 Barrels of Beef .

Spence
 
Spence, the mention of myrtle wax sent me searching for how it is extracted from the berries of bayberries aka wax myrtles. We don't have them naturally in the Northwest, but the "vegetable tallow" yielded by boiling the berries was apparently a sought-after candle-making material, and became a key ingredient in many bullet lube recipes in the schuetzen era. Neat stuff.
Erv, sorry for the hijack.
 
Wish I could still fit in my Barbour (got it in 1987) or buy a new one. Wore that Beaufort jacket everywhere. Was a prized possession for many years.

Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:
Dan
 
No problem Bill. I rather enjoy where these threads drift to most times. I always learn a lot

Nice pull on the sources Spence, as usual!
 
That's a trueism. My first project was a canteen, And it worked well waxed it in the oven. It just looked bad. My second project was the flask. They looked fine till I cooked it :nono: Havent tried a third project yet, but have some leather in the closet.
Might try something when my wife is on a visit to one of our kids in the house where my temp control will be a litter easier.
 

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