Home made lubes.

[Diz9000]

Just started making my own homemade lube.

Just not sure what consistency I should be looking for ?

My first batch of lube was
4 parts beeswax
4 parts Trex ( veggie lard )
1 part olive oil.

The resulting lube is close to candle wax, I'm guessing this is a little on the hard size (???), so do I need to soften it up ?
Do I soften it with more Trex or more olive oil ?

Cheers

Diz

 

[coloradoclyde]

Re-melt it and add more olive oil...

Next batch add less Trex (Crisco in the US) and less beeswax

Beeswax really makes your lube stiffen...only a small amount is needed.

If you weigh each ingredient before you add it and record it you can develop a repeatable recipe.

I like a stiffer lube for use in the grease hole on my rifle....Keep in mid that temperature will affect the stiffness also....a perfect lube in winter might become too soft in the summer and vice versa....I adjust for the seasons...

 

[coloradoclyde]

I also might suggest that you split that batch and make 3 different lubes out of it with different consistencies...so you can decide which consistency you like the best for your application.. some guys like their lube almost runny....others creamy and some stiff.

 

[BrownBear]

Sounds waaay hard to me. Try rubbing some onto a patch. I like mine about the consistency of chapstick or vaseline. But that varies with air temp. My summer lube (high temp in the 70's) is 3:1 deer tallow to olive oil. My winter lube (40's down to teens) is 2:1 deer tallow to olive oil. I'm betting in hotter weather I could probably use straight deer tallow with no olive oil at all.

 

[Billnpatti]

Diz, it is all about what make you happy. If the mixture that you posted works for you, that is all that matters. Generally, you will want it a bit thinner in the winter and thicker in the summer. Your thickener is the bees wax and the thinner will be the olive oil. Adjust them according to the degree of thickness you desire. :thumbsup:

 

[hanshi]

My recipe for lube is easy: I just log onto the TOW site and check "mink oil".

 

[hawkeye2]

You could eliminate the Trex (Crisco) entirely. A mixture of beeswax and olive oil would be just as effective.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I was thinking the above as well. I have two lubes I make up. A wax style and a liquid. The wax I go for the consistency of lip balm. Not a rock in the frozen winter or runny in the hot summer. (Do you have Chapstix in the UK?) I use around 2 beeswax to 8 oil and 1 soft soap (see the link below).

The idea is that in wiping a cloth patch across the surface it fills the gaps in the weave.
http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/203261/

 

[coloradoclyde]

You could eliminate the Trex (Crisco) entirely. A mixture of beeswax and olive oil would be just as effective.

Indeed!... :thumbsup: :hatsoff:

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Another vote for Beeswax and Sweetoil (cheapest olive oil - no need for Extra Virgin). I like 2 parts olive oil, one part beeswax for a stiff grease, but I use it on mocs, and for lip balm, and lubing lock internals, as well as bullet lube. It can also serve as an emergency candle.

the Beeswax also keeps the oil or rendered fat (whichever you use) from going rancid.

LD

 

[coloradoclyde]

Another vote for Beeswax and Sweetoil (cheapest olive oil - no need for Extra Virgin). I like 2 parts olive oil, one part beeswax for a stiff grease, but I use it on mocs, and for lip balm, and lubing lock internals, as well as bullet lube. It can also serve as an emergency candle.

the Beeswax also keeps the oil or rendered fat (whichever you use) from going rancid.

LD

Wife steals it from me and uses it for hand lotion in the winter....

 

[ohio ramrod]

Another vote for Beeswax and Sweetoil (cheapest olive oil - no need for Extra Virgin). I like 2 parts olive oil, one part beeswax for a stiff grease, but I use it on mocs, and for lip balm, and lubing lock internals, as well as bullet lube. It can also serve as an emergency candle.

the Beeswax also keeps the oil or rendered fat (whichever you use) from going rancid.

LD

Wife steals it from me and uses it for hand lotion in the winter....

I use more of my mixture of 80% lard, 20%beeswax as a hand ointment more than I use it for patch lube. :idunno: :idunno:

 

[Walks with fire]

My best accuracy has always come from a spit patch but that's no good for a hunting lube. Maybe a little isopropyl mixed with spit would work in the winter. My winter lube has been Track's Mink oil for deer hunting.

I often wonder what makes spit work so well. I am a believer in the bare minimum of lube.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I often wonder what makes spit work so well.

Mucus....It contains mucus, and that stuff is slipperier than snot on a door knob..... :wink:

 

[B.Habermehl]

For shooting at the range I use simple green soap for patch lube. Just spray as many precut patches as you think you need in a Altoids tin. For hunting I use olive oil. Just enough to wet the patch through. I seat my balls and patches in my loading block dry, and then I wipe olive oil on both sides. The patch absorbs the oil nicely. I'm a firm believer in KIS, Keep It simple. I use soap as a patch lube for two reasons, one it works nicely. Two having a layer of soap under the fouling makes cleaning easier. Olive oil seems to give a modicum of rust protection to the bore as well, for hunting. BJH

 

[AZbpBurner]

For nearly all my muzzleloader shooting life, I've used an old recipe given to me in the late 60's by an old gent who had a rifle collection handed down to him through several generations. He had the recipe for patch lube in original handwriting from his great grandfather. He also still had a quantity of the original stuff made by his great grand dad: Tallow, either deer or beef + beeswax. 1 part beeswax to 3 parts tallow for winter & 1:4 for summer. I've used the stuff for many decades, but a few years ago found a better recipe (inspired by Dutch Schoulz): 1 part castor oil to 4 parts denatured alcohol. Dissolve the castor oil, then soak patches & allow the alcohol to evaporate out. The results are a dry patch that loads easily and resists fouling build-up better than anything else I've ever used.

For me, the dry lube patch is ideal, since in the 110º summer heat and in the cold winter temps, the residual castor oil absorbed into a 'dry' patch is unaffected by temperatures. Tallow, beeswax, crisco and other blends all liquefy too much in hot weather & are messy to use, even when applied sparingly to completely absorb into a patch.

 

[MC One Shot]

I often wonder what makes spit work so well.

Mucus....It contains mucus, and that stuff is slipperier than snot on a door knob..... :wink:

I ain't going to ask how you know, maybe from looking through keyholes... :rotf:

 

[nkbj]

Loob (lanolin, olive oil and beeswax) in various percentages is my go to for most everywhere that I can get it to work.

 

[Twisted_1in66]

Use Stumpkiller's link and make up some Stumpy's Moose Snot. Been using that ever since he originally posted it and it is the BEST.

I usually rub my patch material in it in a circular motion until I feel it come through to the other side (takes about 2-seconds). If I find loading a little hard on one shot, I'll just lube up the next patch a little bit more and back to shooting without wiping again.

The BEST stuff. Thanks for posting it Stumpkiller!

Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:
Dan

 

[Scota4570]

"1 part castor oil to 4 parts denatured alcohol."

Do you wring the patches out, then let them dry?

Castor oil? Like from the dirt bike or model airplane shop for use in gasoline premix? Or, the drug store type?

Thanks.