Can someone tell me why is beeswax the only wax used in stock finishing(as a compound) and where can I get some beeswax without poking a beehive?

Thanks in advance.

Good question about the use of beeswax, can't help you with that one.

To get some, go to a craft or candle making shop, sewing store, or archery shop and in that order too in terms of priceyness.

I bought some at the local hardware store. Didn't use it on a gun, thou...

I went to the local craft store and bought a 1 lb brick of it. I then made a stock rubbing compound for my old military rifles by mixing 1 part beeswax, 1 part linseed oil, and 1 part turpentine over low heat. The paste is used to rub out fininshed stocks. The beeswax is used to provide a waterproof coating, linseed oit to oil the wood and turpentine as a dryer for the linseed oil and prevent the paste from becoming hard.

Waxes are not generally used as stock finishes, but as a protector over a good finish. I use Tree Wax (brand name), it is a mix of bees wax and carnuba.

"I then made a stock rubbing compound for my old military rifles by mixing 1 part beeswax, 1 part linseed oil, and 1 part turpentine over low heat."

Ahhhhh, Culver's stock butter!! : )

I replace the Linseed with Tung oil finish. Doesn't oooze so much on hot days.

Scot

I found Johnson's paste wax to be the very best, easiest to use stock finish and metal protector. Its cheap and not too messy. It also is an excellent release for glass bedding. I obviously did not discover this myself. Learned many of its uses at beartoothbullets.com and on this sight. $6 dollars a can and it will last for years.

I typed "why beeswax" on Yahoo search and found 18 hits and I read most of them. They are mainly about candles.

Here's why beeswax is preferred over other, say, paraffin wax :

.Beeswax melts at the highest temperature among candle making waxes.

.Beeswax is the most water repellant material found in nature.

.Beeswax is more dense.

.Beeswax contains no toxin or heavy metal(Paraffin is chemically bleached and treated).

.Beeswax smells good(a + or a - for hunting rifles?)

.Beeswax is harder in solid state.

For candles :

.Beeswax burns much cleaner, brighter, hotter, and longer than paraffin.

.Beeswax produces some sort of ion(negative ions?) that's disinfective.

.Though more expensive, beeswax is more cost-effective than paraffin.

Also an interesting side note :

To produce one pound of wax requires the bees to consume about ten pounds of honey, and they must fly 150,000 miles and visit 33 million flower blossoms!

I also found the turp/oil/beeswax recipe to be very popular.

Check with you local pharmacist. Most will be willing to order it for you. It will be beeswax USP. Extremely pure and a little goes a long way. You can then belnd it by heating with what ever you want. I have done this for myself several times. The stuff is relatively cheap when you consider how far it goes.

You can find beeswax in abundance at any of the black powder trade shows or Rendezvous.
or try www.makingcandles.net, www.logcabinshop.com, or www.mtnstatemuzzleloading.com. Last but not least check with www.nmlra.org

The only gunstock finish that used Beeswax was the Egg Yolk and Lemon juice finish of yesteryear, and it is combined in the process of finishing or refinishing stockwood....It made a nice finish to look at but was not waterproof, not durable, and it was often combined with a Linseed oil hand rubbed finished, which also is a poor finish for a using rifle...

A Red Linseed oil top finished over a fully oil modified Urathane, pore filled stock, will give it that luster of a hand rubbed finish of yesteryear and the weather resistance and durability of todays modern wonders.

None of the old finishes even compare to the modern finishes we have today, the technology of the oil modified Urathanes and polyurathanes has taken all the good factors and removed the problem factors of stock finishing...

Beeswax is good for leather sewing, can be used for finished wood and thats about it, the rest of that claimed good stuff is simply false, Beeswax has none of those qualities by "todays standards"..A good Carnuba wax is better than Beeswax.. Beeswax will become sticky in the desert heat on a wood stock. Johnson, or Treewax is better yet and I suspect there is some modified beeswax in many of our waxes, and in that form it is probably very good stuff, for its intended use and that is top coating.

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com