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Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: nipperlud on October 23, 2017, 09:47:00 AM
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Someone gave me some Bees wax and I was going to melt it down and my question is can you use it on bow string?
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Yep, that's about all I use anymore.
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Well... Unless it's in a large block, and you want to make smaller blocks...?? Don't melt it down. I have a bunch of little blocks of Bee'sWax around. Just rub it up & down your string a few times, to get some on it. Then, use your thumb & index finger, to rub up&down the string. You will feel the friction getting warmer, and the wax will soften and work into the strands of your string.
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Do i need to mix it with anything or just use straight beeswax
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Straight bee's wax is too hard to get into the string.
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yes but takes some rubbing up and down string to get it coated and I have to rub it with fingers or piece of leather to warm it up so it will go into string bundles.
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I mix beeswax and pine resin, I specifically use Pinyon Pine but any will work. I will have to look at my notes but for normal string maintenance I think I do 1 part resin to 2 parts beeswax. The resin makes it tacky so it will adhere to the string longer and it smells great. Use a small piece of soft leather to rub the string and generate heat so it will absorb into the fibers.
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Use caution burnishing. Bowstring fibers are basically a high tech plastic.
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Idk, I guess maybe if you use a "high tech" string...??
Just passing along what I've been doing for the last 40 years or so.....
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I melt mine down and add a bit of neats foot oil as a softening agent.
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Not all Bees wax are made the same!
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Polyester (Dacron) has a much lower melting temperature than HMPE or HMPE blends. That's why wax that is made for Bowstring maintenance is so soft...so it will penetrate the fibers and do it's job (lubricate the strands to reduce wear).
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I soften mine with some sort of oil in a 50/50 mix with a double boiler. Mediterranean blend from costco seems to be what I have around the most often.
If you want to get fancy, you can do an oil infusion with whatever aromatic plants are in the area you hunt and use that oil. Put the leaves in a jar and fill it with oil. Set it above the fridge or somewhere modestly warm and let it steep for about 6-8 weeks. Use that oil to soften the wax. I don't know if it helps with the deer at all but I like the smell of incense cedar and enjoy the smell as I put it on my string.
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Yes 100% beeswax is very hard,I melted down a 1/2# block with a half of toilet ring wax in a double boiler.Then filled up a bunch of small paper cups for my string making and general waxing of bowstrings.
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beeswax mixed pine rosin is good stuff.
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I mixed beeswax and synthetic bow string wax 50/50. Gives it more body than the synthetic while retaining stickiness and penetrates the string better than beeswax.
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Try this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XahZ2PnszY&t=6s
forgive the crude potato humor. We harvested potatoes right before making this video and I thought that one was super funny.
Msturm
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I have a block of bees wax I bought years ago that I rub up and down my string then use my finger tips to work it in by rubbing fast, but it gets hot!. Or ill use the green tube of silicone based string wax which is really slick. I find dried pine pitch/resin to be my go-to fire starter to get the homes wood stove going when necessary.
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I made some 'fix n wax' using beeswax, Shea butter, some oil and some Pine essential oil. Can't remember exactly the details offhand, but it was from a YouTube vid. I melted it all down and poured it into some altoid tins. It's solid, but soft enough to rub into a bowstring, and I use it to coat my carbon steel knives and hawks between uses. It works great, I love the stuff. I lined the tins with wax paper,then after it hardened I popped it out, removed the wax paper and shaved enough off the sides to easily get it out to use. No rusty blades anymore and it wipes off easy when I want to use them. It's also safe to use on blades I use for food prep. I always have a tin with my gear. I've even used it on a few leather knife sheaths. How can you beat one substance that can wax a bowstring, protect your blades and treat leather?