First batch of Soap Lube

[gman]

made a batch today following a recipe with instructions that Ian was kind enough to send. Trying not to scorch the beeswax I added it last and had it melted prior to pouring in. Once the heat was raised and the soap melted the mixture looked clear with no signs of soap bits and no foam. I reduced the heat and added the melted beeswax and quickly stirred to mix in the beeswax and poured into containers to cool. I now have foam on top of the lube. Since it has cooled enough to touch I got a small sample and smeared it between my fingers. Feels and looks like lube. Same color. Did stirring before pouring just introduce air? Pictures are right after pouring and at cooling.

 

[JonB]

I don't think that bit of foam is a concern...the rest looks right to me.

 

[Ian]

That's the stuff, good job! Ignore the foam, it hurts nothing. For some reason when beeswax is added to the recipe it does that a little. I scrape off the cooled foam bits and discard just because I don't want little patches of unknown concentration stuff in the mix.

Let it sit overnight before making a judgement call of its firmness, it will be very firm initially but in 24 hours will soften somewhat. The consistency will be very smooth, I can tell from the way it was fully liquid that it gelled nicely. You should be able to "finger lube" with it no problem, just get a bean-sized glob on your fingertip and rake across the lube groove lengthwise with the bullet to back in in there. Rotate and smear, rotate and smear, etc. all the way around and then push it through a Lee sizer. To put it in a lubesizer after you're sure you like it and want to use it, just cut into strips and poke it into the reservoir. Remember, it won't boil out and it won't melt out without injuring paint and metal temper, so once it's in a sizer the only way to get it out is manually.

 

[gman]

Appreciate the help Ian! I have officially gone down the black hole.

 

[fiver]

the bees-wax will make it foam like that because it contains about 3-4% moisture.
even anhydrous mixes [like lanolin] contain a water content.
the higher heat releases it where a lower 170 melt point won't.

 

[Ian]

Here's the recipe I gave Gman, he gets to be the guinea pig . Barn, Jon, and I have danced all around this, it's basically the SL-71 lube plus beeswax. I've tried it without beeswax (just paraffin and microwax in SL-71) and Barn made several versions essentially the same way also with beeswax and reported mostly favorable results compared to 666+1. Jon brought beeswax back to the SL-series. I'm going to call it SL-71B.

Equal parts by weight:
Wax from taper candles (relatively high melt-point paraffin plus Vybar 103 so they don't slump)
Filtered beeswax
High-temperature microcrystalline wax
Vaseline
Vaseline, again
Fresh, damp Ivory soap straight from the wrapper

2% of the above combined weight or volume castor bean oil from the pharmacy.

You get microwax for hot weather handling, high pressure, long barrels, and to resist heat fade. Some tough paraffin to overcome the cold-start drag in cold weather, plus bridge the melt point gap between Vaseline and beeswax, and also to help the lube get liquid faster in the barrel and eliminate some of the sticky problems of the MW hanging on to the bullets too long. And of course beeswax for the magic it provides. The soap, Vaseline, and Castor are in well-proven proportions and have been tested a zillion times in the basic SL recipes in these proportions.

 

[gman]

Finger lubed and sized some bullets today for loading and shooting my next week off. This stuff is very smooth and no greasy feel once you wipe off your fingers. I'm going to try it out in a 35 Remington, 45-70 and some 45 Colt. At least to start.

 

[Will]

You all are really tempting me with these new soap lubes. So far I have been content with 666-1 lube but always wonder if there's better lube to suit my needs out there.

 

[Ian]

There probably is, but that depends on your needs.

 

[Grump]

Are all the ingredient quantities in SL-71 the same in the B version, just the addition of the beeswax? My arithmetic says the percentages will change and the batch size would increase by the amount of beeswax.

I just love how going generous on the chocolate chips yields a few more cookies in the batch. Same math involved there.

 

[fiver]

the recipe is based on proportions instead of weights.
this allows you to make smaller or larger amounts and still have the same basic recipe throughout the whole spectrum.
mixing the waxes first gives you a single base 'weight' [liquid volume] to use for the modifiers and oil proportions.

 

[Barn]

I made a batch over a week ago. It was a little softer and stickier than I was expecting. I have used it a couple of times in the .30/30's. Mighty fine lube.

 

[Ian]

Delete half of the second helping of Vaseline to make it more firm. Very small adjustments to the liquid-ish portions make big differences to the final product. A lot of the final outcome depends on individual cooking timing and techniques, everyone ultimately has to work this out for themselves.

 

[gman]

Mine is pretty firm until you work it. Either finger lubing or through a lube sizer. I just let my lubed bullets sit for a few days and they firm back up. It has worked for me. It wipes up easy and does not leave a greasy film.

 

[Ian]

It wipes up easy and does not leave a greasy film.

Reading back through this thread that comment popped out at me. Being able to wipe the lube off your fingers with a dry rag and not feel a film behind turns out to be one of the gold standard tests of a lube that will be transparent to accuracy. Felix mentioned that to me many years ago and I've found it spot-on. The lubes that tend to leave an oily feel on your fingers, or gritty and tacky like rosin, don't seem to work as well as those that simply disappear.