SL68 ...continued

[JonB]

Sounds like a plan. If you're feeling froggy, put about 10% candle paraffin in there

It's funny you mention that. Last week, I was talking with my bee keeper buddy about beeswax candles.

Let's back this up a bit.
I have beeswax from 3 different sources. A 20+lb box of fresh stuff from Randyrat(fresh as in about 5 yrs old). Another box from a seller on CB, that sold some cheap(as it was real old), from his father or other relative? that had been harvested/processed/cleaned decades ago and then stored in a barn since the 1960s. And then I got another small box(maybe 4 lbs) of beeswax candles(that I assumed was pure beeswax) that I bought at a local garage sale(for $3), a widow selling off all her husbands stuff, which turned out to be a friendly Competitor of my Bee keeper buddy.

The last batch of SL68B was made with one of those candles...because the other to large boxes were stored in a hard to access shelf in my garage.

So, last week my Bee keeper buddy and I are talking beeswax. He want's my help in building a solar beeswax melter/cleaner/strainer. Not that I am any craftsman or any thing, but he is less than a craftsman than I am, LOL. Candle making/selling came up in the conversation, as he wants to do that sooner than later he tells me, to get ready for the farmers markets. I mention to him about my box of candles and I bring up my lube making project, that will happen soon ...and he says, you know those aren't pure beeswax don't you? He said he always adds about 10% paraffin to his beeswax for making candles and he learned that from his Competitor way back when he started out keeping bees, in the early 1990s.

So there WAS a small percentage of paraffin (about 2.5% of total wax) in my last batch of SL68B, LOL.

I was gonna mention that in my post earlier today, but figured it didn't really matter, and I wasn't 100% sure, but if you ask my Buddy, he'd say he would be 100% sure, LOL.

 

[JonB]

Well, yesterday was a BIG Lube day...I may have made enough for the rest of my life?
I did 10 batches, which is 20 tunafish cans that are 3/4 full.

I had one batch flame up, right after the beeswax addition/stirring, I got a little enthusiastic and splashed some on the burner, that was scary, as I didn't have a cover handy. My quick thinking was to move the pot off the heat and hold it under the picnic table tightly to the underside, to snuff out the flames, because I had to save the batch After the flames were out, I poured it in the tunafish cans. Now, a day later, while that batch is a little darker, I actually think it has a better feel to it, if I ever make more, I may consider a flambe' finish, LOL.

The Big Lube day was about 5 hours(from setup to cleanup), once setup, a batch takes about 15 minutes.
While I'd like to make larger batches, I just don't think it's feasible, mostly due to the beeswax addition and crash cooling.

Here is the updated recipe, as I added some paraffin and reduced the castor oil.

SL68B (I'm not changing the name)
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons 90-wt GL-1 gear oil
2 tablespoons generic white petrolatum
1 tablespoon heavy mineral oil (laxative grade from pharmacy)
1 teaspoon castor oil
2 ounces fresh Ivory soap (soft, damp).

Waxes:
0.5 ounces 175º MW
0.5 ounces 185º MW
0.5 ounces 190º MW
0.7 ounces pure beeswax
0.2 ounces paraffin

Instructions:
>Melt everything except the soap and BW, I use a thick heavy wide (aluminum) 4 qt sauce pan on a gasoline camp stove.
>Then add half the soap (which should have been previously sliced into slivers, I use a kitchen scissors) Stir, it will foam up, when foam starts going down, add remaining soap,stir, and squish soap clumps.
>Stir until the mix becomes a light clear amber liquid with no gel or foam or clumps of soap remaining.
>It should be around 460F and smoking but good, I choose not to use a thermometer, it just complicates things.
>I move the pan off the heat and add the pre-melted Beeswax, stir.
>If the mix Gels up, put pan back on heat, stir until it becomes liquid. Usually this isn't the case, if it isn't, I just pour the HOT lube into tunafish cans that are sitting in a container of Ice water (or snow) to "crash cool" the lube.


My snow covered garden this beautiful 40º afternoon


Picnic table setup under my open garage door, "Crash cool"
area setup on Tailgate of my truck.


Measuring setup


Better photo of crash cool. and hammer/2x4 for busting wax chunks

 

[Barn]

I have used an earlier version of SL68B and it is a very good lube.

Seems I remember a flaming lube story from one of the big hat guys!

 

[5shot]

Sorry to resurrect this one after a year, but spring is around the corner and it is time to get some lube ready. Any good sources for the GL-1 gear oil and the microwax? I have found the wax, but you either need to buy enough for 10 lifetimes or you can buy 1 lifetimes worth and pay 3x as much for shipping as the wax. I can only find 90wt GL-1, although I haven't checked with my dad, since he has an old ford tractor.

 

[Brad]

I used some 90 wt in lube and it worked fine.
I just bought 10# of mocrowax as a lifetime suppy

 

[5shot]

Yeah...I may have to do that. I found one of those candle places that had 5 lbs. for $2.50/lb, but this shipping was $31

 

[Barn]

I found the 90 wt at NAPA auto parts and at Walmart. I only found it in gallon cans. It is listed as mineral gear oil.

 

[Brad]

Mine is NAPA brand. A gallon wasn’t horribly expensive. I have a lifetime supply of 90 wt gear oil.
Maybe I should buy some 90 wt gears?

 

[Ian]

The heavy mineral oil was only in the SL-68 recipe to temper the very hard, high-melt microwax. If you use a softer microwax then it isn't really necessary. You can get the consistency you need with heavy laxative mineral oil and Vaseline. BW-430 is what I remember Mike using for most of his lubes and it isn't as hard as 431.

 

[Brad]

I used the 90 wt oil even though I used BW 430 micro wax. Definitely not a hard wax, kinda sticky really.
Do what Ian would tell me to do. Make a batch either way and see what happens.

 

[Ian]

Oops. I thought you had the 431.

I was trying to make something like Navy wax and mix that 50/50 with soap by melted volume and soften it with about 15% Vaseline, then add castor oil at 1-2%. Problem was both the Vaseline and wax were missing so much of the hydrocarbon spectrum that I had to add a couple different oils to try and make up for it. In all that the original goal was met but kind of in a backward way.

 

[Brad]

That is what I recall. We were trying to get a spectrum of molecular weights in an era when the base oils we have are very narrow in molecular weight.
I don’t know that the 90 wt gear oil isn’t a fine replacement for mineral oil in most any lube.

 

[358156 hp]

Since we have our farmasis phamasys Pharmasist Pharmacist (!) tuned in here, there are expiration date on some of my lube making supplies, specifically heavy laxative mineral oil that I haven't even opened yet. Should I replace my expired oils before I try making something else. They remain unopened. I was planning on using them to make SL68 some time back but never got around to it. Unless of course anybody has the old Apache Blue recipe and wants to share it

 

[Brad]

I doubt it really expires as much as it oxidizes with age. Might get gummy but otherwise it is fine.

I once read that Apache Blue essentially was Blue Soft. Anyone else heard that? I did like the Apache Blue except for the can it came in. What a hassle to load in sizer.

 

[fiver]

blue soft is blue hard cut with Vaseline.
I remember Paco passed the recipe on to someone but can't remember who right now.

but.
too many things oil like that come in blue.
chevron chassis grease, marine grease, maybe a 2 stroke oil.

 

[5shot]

OK, so I'll just grab some more mineral oil from the store and order the BW 430 wax.

Also, anyone sub Sodium Stearate instead of the Ivory soap? I have quite a bit of it, but figuring out the ratio of Stearate to Ivory is a mystery to me.

 

[Brad]

I used sodium stearate a bunch. It requires far less than the Ivory soap. Using too much leads to a dry lube that is prone to crumbling.
I personally found the Ivory soap to make a better lube. Just buy a new bar and open it up so it can dry out some.

 

[Ian]

No need to let the Ivory dry out, it foams up and dissolves easily if it's damp. If dry, it needs to be powdered in a food processor. At one point we knew exactly what the equivalents were between Na Stearate and Ivory, but it escapes my memory. It should be documented in the lube quest thread somewhere . Bottom line is use it if you have it, probably 20% where 30% damp Ivory is called for, and you won't have the glycerin scum...but you won't have the glycerine or stray fats either, not that I think it makes much difference. We were striving for a recipe having easily obtainable ingredients so Ivory got the nod.

Apacheblu is supposed to be beeswax, carbon, and some kind of southern desert plant wax, Paco made a reference one time about it. As far as I know, Veral Smith is heir to the recipe.

 

[fiver]

that would be bay[berry] wax.
it's the stuff the army used for about 2-3 years back in like 1888.

 

[Ian]

The carbon is the really cool part, by the remark I read on it I figured out exactly what it was, and it wasn't black. Unfortunately I can't now recall what it was. I didn't happen to share that revelation with any of you, did I?

I'd almost say that LBT blue is flavored with Irwin line chalk.