Does anyone here know how to ring wax felt and fiber wads?
Its been a lot of years ago, but at one time I used both tallow as well as paraffin [like used for canning]. Melted a quantity in a shallow pan to a depth of about 1/16"~1/8" and then set the wads in it for a short time and then set them out like cookies on a sheet to dry. I used a large pair of 12" tweezers that I'd acquired from the Northwestern School of Taxidermy when they used to advertise mail order taxidermy lessons in the back of Boys Life and other outdoor magazines. I sourced the tallow from a rendering plant and it was a real PITA at the time finding an operation that would sell me a small quantity. I ended up with a couple of small aluminum tins filled with tallow by someone who took pity on me at one of the many places that I called at the time. Paraffin OTOH, is quite easily found.
You need to use care that you do not get aggressive with the heat & set the wax on fire. I also think you could as easily use a good quality of old time fiberous cup grease like Esso 'Estan 3'. I was going to try that as well, but never got around to doing it.
Use a double boiler please
Marfax (Texaco) and beeswax is what I have used
Mike
Are you fellas lubing the whole wad, or just the edges? I thought ring waxed wads just had lube on the edge.
HighWall, what are you wanting to do with the wads?
Mike
Way back when I used to get ring waxed wads from the old Alcan company. They were indeed waxed only on the edges. I believe they were waxed by a process which slowly rolled them through a shallow layer of molten wax. The wax was of course only needed where the wad contacted the bore & the Ring Waxing saved a considerable amount of weight over those totally saturated with wax.
Make card and fiber loads. In reading old material, they say, to try to use best quality, ring waxed wads.
You may want to check w/either Ballistic Products or Circle Fly, both have card & filler wads.
I've got the wads from them. Don't seem to be waxed at all.
The old ring-waxed fiber wads (Alcan, Remchester) were pretty skimpy with the wax, and cost was likely one factor. Too, the wax was hard.
Blackpowder shooters commonly use a mixture of Crisco and olive oil, or a variation thereof, and just lightly dip the whole thing. Compression upon firing should squeeze out any excess, which I think would be a good thing. If you use a plastic base wad or don't leave them on the shelf a long time, bleeding into the powder should not be a problem.
As noted above, a double boiler is a must.
I punch my own hard felt wads and dip them in equal parts of melted beeswax and tallow. I melt in a double boiler setup (an old soup can in a pan of water) and give the wads a very quick dip of about a second in the lube. The lube will soak in very quickly with just a quick dip, if you leave them in too long the lube will want to build up on the outside of the wad as well. After you do it a couple times you will get the hang of it.
The mix I use is quite stiff, and will not melt out and wet the powder unless you leave them in a very hot car for a period of time. If you want a softer lube (i.e. lower melting point) use less wax, and/or replace the tallow with a oil of some kind.
I have read from several seemingly reliable sources that a 50/50 mix of mutton tallow/beeswax was right up among the top of the heap of good black powder lubes, be it for shotgun wads, patched balls for a rifle or whatever. What kind of tallow do you use FlintFan. As I recall it was stated one of the primary reasons for the mutton tallow was it didn't go rancid as quickly as some other tallows more so than actual effectiveness.
I get my mutton tallow from Dixie Gun Works. They are very convenient because you can buy it in small quantities, 1 pint containers if I remember correctly.
The only way that I recall hearing for DIY edge-lubing wads was to roll them through a pan with a shallow layer of melted lube. If the wads are soft enough, one can stick one or more on something like a hat pin which then serves as a handle.
As I write this, another technique came to mind, for applying a small amount of lube to a cushion wad. One forms a small groove around the circumference and hand-apply softened lube into the groove. IIRC, this was done by muzzle-loading shooters who needed a modicum of lube but wanted to minimize the mess involved with handling a more fully-covered wad with each shot.
Regards,
Joel