"Natural" lube

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
We are awful, esp. this time of year with so many of us snowed in (more or less). I'll try to steer things in the general direction of the original course set by Don. Here goes.......

About 5-6 years ago I learned a valuable lesson about the "Africanized honey bees" that have taken up residence in our desert areas. Buckshot, Gopher Slayer, Larry, and I were shooting castings at steel swinger targets set against the berm formed by the old roadbed of the Kaiser Mine RR near its summit along Red Cloud Road south of I-10. All was going well for 25-30 minutes, then the breeze shifted direction like it does in the desert. We were set upon by a small swarm of these insects, and they were none too pleased with us and our beeswax smoke. We stopped shooting, and they left after a minute or two. Shooting re-started, and back they came again, even more torqued off. We stopped again--they left again. This is what we called a CLUE at my old jobsite, so we moved down Red Cloud Road a mile or so south--reset targets--and remained unmolested for the rest of the day. All of us were shooting some form of 50/50 BW/Alox lube on our castings.
 

Mitty38

Well-Known Member
Funny you guys should mention bacon. My patch lube for the flint lock is basically bacon grease and beeswax.
Works real well.
Accept after a days shooting you crave a BLT. L O L
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
yep bee's love bees wax.
my uncle used to follow the wild bee's back to their hive to get the honey.
he would draw in the initial bees with some melted wax, then switch to honey for the follow up back to the hive.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
i ain't got no good bee poems.
i don't got no butterfly poems either,,,, but, butterfly wings are more than just pretty thing to look at.
 

Ian

Notorious member
"Where the be sucks, there suck I, in a cowslip's bell, I lie"...the remainder illegible. Something from the Bard, of course. Dad painted that on one if the hive supers when I was a kid. Years later I found it thankfully face up because termites had eaten the back.

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Anyway, my misadventures with Afro-bees, fire ants, and ground hornets are many and none good, as are most things invading from south of the border like Huesache and cheap tequila. I learned my lesson about bees and wax when I made a tree balm for pruned oaks out of beeswax and Vaseline: Honeybees came and harvested every speck of it within a day.
 

Michael

Active Member. Uh/What
My wife's best friend's husband, before we moved is a bee guy and has done research with the bee lab at the Univ of AZ, and the USDA (He does bees like many of us cast, probably more so). Removal or relocation first, then XXX if the queen and/or drones are aggressive, hence the hive will be as well. If you see a swarm in a tree, relax, and move on. They are all loaded and weighed down with honey and not looking for a fight, unless we are stupid enough to provoke one, they are just moving house. Unfortunately they could use a bit more patience so don't make them mad, light clothes during the day, dark a night. If find yourself in the midst of them and you feel a some of them "bump" you, time to leave ...now..... You've just been tagged/marked, hang around much longer and it is not going to well for you. Trust me, I know....
Whether we like the "Afro-bees" or not, they are stronger, hardier and far more disease resistant than their European cousins. Handling intelligently with and care will prevent most problems. Accidentally disturbing/damaging a hive, unfortunately it's SHTF, similar to rattlesnakes, and grizzly sows with cubs and skunks.