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bees wax application


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Bees wax application??? How do you do it???

I've coated with beeswax extensively. Right now I have a piece that's been outside in the pouring rain for several weeks. Coated in beeswax, no rust!

I also have half a dozen dinner bells on the porch that got misted on once and rusted immediately. Coated in beeswax as well!

So what's the problem?

I heat in the forge and coat when the wax smokes lightly on the metal. After coating generously (where it's dripping off the metal,) I quench.

Is this incorrect method?

What is the success rate of linseed oil? What is the best mode of application?

Thanks!

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It could be that your dinner bells were just hot enough for most of the wax to run off during application and quenching removed even more. Dinner bells tend to be of larger dia. material and hold heat longer. I never quench after bee's wax application, I hang the item and let it cool naturally. Sometimes I heat the steel near the point of bee's wax combustion, coat with bee's wax then let it sit for a minute or two, then re-coat again while the steel is still hot enough to melt wax. Basically a double coat. For interior items, sometimes I heat the steel and add bee's wax, let it sit for about 30 seconds, then rub down with a clean shop rag. This adds just a thin coat of wax, usually not even noticeable.

Other applications I use is linseed oil mixed with bee's wax and other times automobile wax.

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finish is a real pain sometimes... ive used all kinds of finishes and they will all let the metal rust .. i current use a spray finish on items that are not used for cooking or eating . i find a spray finish ( like krylon or rustoleum crystal clear) is the best for the products i make at the production level ime at. It is a relatively tough finish and can be easily touched up! many of the items i make go into my tumbler to knock the scale off and give that smooth feel . a quick spray and into the boxes it goes ! bees wax i use sometimes on a piece if its going to be used for cooking or eating and i made it on site.. if i have a chance to get it home i will oil it at home and bake it in the oven (like cast iron) .its not perfect but i sell a lot to reinactors who want to use the item right away .. and the oil generally stops the rust problem .. not if the stuff gets soaked tho... ime working on a portable tumbler to take with me on the road (ime gone 5-6 months of the year) it is gona be just big enuf to fit a few dinner bells in . finish is one of those things everybody tries different stuff as they progress .. one of my friends has a lot of his stuff powder coated ... it adds to the cost of the product but he figures its worth it in durability . the problem i noticed is on dinner bells and such it chips where the clanger is struck. for some items where its not struck with another piece of metal this makes a nice finish (gates railings fireplace sets ect..). so i hope i gave you a few things to think about .. good luck!

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I use the linseed oil/bees wax/turpentine mix. After the piece is done and wired off I will put it over the fire to just heat it then apply the wax. If I want a more blackened finish I will heat it again and apply another coat. Of course this is all done after the piece is finished finished.

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I like to finish my pieces, then I put them over a grate I have placed over my fire with the fan off, with a bit of green coal on top for smoke. After they are heated and well blackened, I apply the beeswax and linseed oil mixed, and hang the pieces on hooks to cool. It is how I finish my day. I should sweep my floor more often, but.....

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It is kind of difficult to stop rust without going to spray paints, clear coats, epoxy, etc. I use a bees wax/turpentine mix for indoor only. That would be for finger print rust and indoor humidity change corrosion. The turpentine makes the wax mix a soft paste easier to apply and may get into pores a bit deeper but either way the wax can loose integrity over time and bad weather. If the wax smokes during application, my guess would be it is a bit hot. I think the folks using the linseed oil mix have a better idea for corrosion because I do a lot of outdoor rusty/weathered steel sculptures for the yard and after the steel is good and orange and rusted, my wife rubs pure linseed oil on them and the corrosion literally goes down next to nothing. However, after a thick application of the linseed oil once every year or so, the sculptures are smooth and brown instead of bright orange. To keep that beautiful gray/black iron look outdoors, you may need to go clear coat or keep that linseed oil/wax application periodic less lengthy intervals. Good luck. Spears.

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I never quench after applying any finish. Apply the wax or oils, then I let it cool, then rub for a long time with a rag, then apply several coats of matte finish lacquer, and still, if it gets hit, or scraped, moisture will find a way in, kinda one of those things, but quenching is out!! I've had some pretty good results applying wd-40 when warm, it's basically fish oils, they really penetrate.

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Ok thanks guys! I was wondering if may be the quenching was a no-no! I'll stop that promptly!

I use the rustolium clear coat on most everything. Wax goes on the dinnner bells because of the clanging action. Wax, being softer, will handle that better. The clear coat is very nice though I and I use it as much as possible.

What is the ratio of the wax/oil/turpentine mix?

Thanks

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You should give Penatrol a try. It is a excellent rust preventor. It is oil based you can put it on cold or warm but not hot. It is a oil based paint additive. You can find it a paint stores, good hardware stores, and Home Depot. You also can apply it right over rust for a nice patina. It seals it right in. I have used it on alot of my work and holds up well out doors. Over time you can just rub on another coat to freshen it up.

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I use spray shellac as a finish on most of my stuff. Finished finished as someone said, usually wire brushed and then as the piece drops down below black heat, I spray on a coat so that is cooks on with a very slight bubbling effect. Not sure I'd trust it as a finish for outdoor stuff (that gets boiled linseed oil at black heat) but for keychains, bottle openers and plant hooks it seems to work like a charm.

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Brian Brazeal taught me about using vegetable oil. you heat your piece just under black heat, and apply the oil with a thick towel, apply liberally and it will blacken and form a pretty tough coating. Polish up a bit with a clean rag and it gives a nice even black finish.

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I've had good luck with parafin wax, turpentine and lamp black. I don't recall the ratios but it's been a couple decades since I mixed it up. What I did was mix it's consistency was like shoe polish. I melted the wax in a double boiler, removed it from the heat, added as much soot as I had and slowly added turps till it was like chewed gum being still warm, it stiffened up to shoe polish consistency when cool.

Opening the can it smells of turpentine but not strongly. I apply it to very warm work, too warm to hold in your hand, maybe a couple hundred degrees warm, using a piece of an old washcloth and wiping it off with same. The turps make a good vapor during application and it smells pretty good with a little distance.

For some reason this is a pretty durable finish though not bullet proof, some pieces have been outdoors here in Alaska for going on three decades now, some unrusted, others rusting away happily. As I recall I got the recipe from "The Art of Blacksmithing" by Alex Bealer but it's been a long time, I could be wrong.

There are other things that work pretty well. Ever try washing grandmother's cookie sheets and getting the baked on . . .stuff off? That particular finish is a combination of fat, be it butter, shortening or lard and sugar. About 15 years or so ago Chris Ray was experimenting with putting sugar water in a quench tub with a layer of oil floating on the surface to finish some of his work. He said it worked pretty well.

For cold application I LOVE LPS3. It's a spray that has rust preventative additives to the oil/solvent vehicle that dries leaving some kind of incredibly durable wax. It's spendy stuff but it's as close to bullet proof as I know of, the stuff will even protect a banister in a high traffic area outdoors, for a few years.

Frosty the Lucky.

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Although I do use the bw/t/blso, I see by this thread that my use of Fluid Film might be a good use. I made some hinges last fall for my shop, pipes pins and welding, I sprayed them and with all the snow and then rain this spring not a lick of rust to be found. Might be a way to go also.

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I mostly keep it simple. Items that I don't plan to paint get either blso or wax, sometimes both, the wax on the second pass. I have beeswax but mostly have used parafin because the day I needed wax, that's all the hardware store had. Parafin will seal and darken iron well without any other additives.

I have been in a friend's shop and tried his mix of beeswax/turpentine/linseedoil. He puts the can near the fire to keep it liquid. I do like the scent of that in the morning, and it does a nice job of sealing and coating. I may have to mix up a batch for myself.

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Great suggestions! I'm excited about trying them!

Out of curiosity...why do you boil the linseed oil first?


Raw linseed oil will not cure off, but will stay wet for a very very long time. Traditionally the manufacturer (or the user) heated the oil to its boiling point for a period of time, and this would polymerize the oil so it would cure in a reasonable time. Modern "boiled" linseed oil has metallic dryers added to it providing the same function. Remember that these metallic driers are not fit for food contact.

Phil
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I use a mixture of boiled linseed oil, turpentine, bees wax, Johnson Paste Wax and some Japan Drier. Heat the piece to black hot and apply the mixture (which when all is combined makes a paste) and wipe off the excess. You end up with a durable rust resistant finsish that you can polish with a soft cloth when it's "cured".

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No one has mentioned the method I use so I will, I have a very large pot I mix half paraffin half bees wax and dip, after it is totally melted, (use a double boiler), then pullout after the metal is hot enough that the wax does not build up. It takes a lot of wax to use this system and it takes quite a while to get it all to temperature to use but when you are set up it is the least time consuming to do a large quantity that I know of.

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I don't know if this will help anyone but I am a trapper and wax my traps each year. I add about an inch of wax ring to about ten pounds of parrifin wax. I heat the wax to about 350 degrees F. Then I place the traps in the pot and let them sit about two minutes or so to allow the steel temp to reach the wax temp. I then remove the traps from the wax and hang to cool. These traps are set in the ground in all types of weather. Rusting will not occur until the wax is worn off from use. If not catch is made they usually will not rust even when buried.

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  • 4 years later...

By "wax ring" do you mean toilet rings? If so they're no longer almost pure bees wax, they're parafin and silicon now and not very suitable for finishing.

Frosty the Lucky.

 

Frosty, dug up this old thread....

 

I recently bought a wax toilet ring (after being told they were beeswax by some smiths) since they are cheaper than actual beeswax blocks.  Is there a way to check to see if the wax toilet ring is beeswax or the parafin + silicone?  Once, I left my block of beeswax out on the workbench and I quickly had several bees in the shop...maybe that's a valid test.  :)

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