Anyone make their own carnauba wax?

[borges1]

I make a many finishes for wood projects of various recipes from soap to beeswax. From our bees i do a very simple beeswax/mineral oil finish that i use on cutting boards, but mostly my use is as a screw lube/drawer lube. I only use the hombebrew beeswax finish as gifts to customers with the company info on it in little tins, and for the gift cutting boards (i don't sell them). All my real finishes are heavy duty, but i like the homegrown beeswax one. Varying ratios can give different results depending on what you are after. My best tip for making your own wax finishes like this is to buy a cheap electric teapot or crock pot to make it in since it the dissolved wax is impossible to clean. It is also much much much easier than using a double pot or boiler. You can just melt as much of your big beeswax chunk as you want with the electic pot - that stuff is tough to cut. If you do different finishes i'd probably buy one for each. For doling out the melted finish to smaller containers i also have a single use baster to fill tins. I also had a source for premium natural products including old fashioned turpentine, but i'd have to search for it if your interested. It was very pricey.

 

[WobblyHand]

Thanks @Karl A and @borges1 a wealth of information. I'm not sure how I'd acquire that fancy solvent, but the techniques are quite important to know. In the old days, one could set up an account with these places and buy chemicals and solvents, don't know how it works now. But that was nearly 50 years ago!

I'm not sure of the authenticity of my turpentine, but it's probably good enough to try. I have a hot plate to use so I can avoid an open flame. Still working on acquiring some throw away pots for this silly dream of mine. I found the recipe I posted online, but I also have a chemical formulary book from my grandfather.

He used to make all sorts of stuff to sell in his hardware store he owned in the 1930's including paint, tire patch kits, stove black, and white wall paint, the kind for tires. Unfortunately, his book uses antiquated names for materials making it interesting to figure out the modern equivalent. Some of the stuff is now not available, or been found to be extremely hazardous. It's a good read though.

 

[homebrewed]

Thanks @Karl A and @borges1 a wealth of information. I'm not sure how I'd acquire that fancy solvent, but the techniques are quite important to know. In the old days, one could set up an account with these places and buy chemicals and solvents, don't know how it works now. But that was nearly 50 years ago!

I'm not sure of the authenticity of my turpentine, but it's probably good enough to try. I have a hot plate to use so I can avoid an open flame. Still working on acquiring some throw away pots for this silly dream of mine. I found the recipe I posted online, but I also have a chemical formulary book from my grandfather.

He used to make all sorts of stuff to sell in his hardware store he owned in the 1930's including paint, tire patch kits, stove black, and white wall paint, the kind for tires. Unfortunately, his book uses antiquated names for materials making it interesting to figure out the modern equivalent. Some of the stuff is now not available, or been found to be extremely hazardous. It's a good read though.

I have an interesting formulary book as well. It's called the "Scientific American Cyclopedia of Formulas". Printed on very thin paper, at first glance it looks like a bible. It has formulas for just about everything under the sun -- many of which contain stuff that would get you arrested if you tried to sell the products today!

The book came out of a college library that was purging their collection of long-obsolete technical books. I also scored a 3-volume set that has some historical interest.

 

[Karl A]

"I'm not sure how I'd acquire that fancy solvent, but the techniques are quite important to know." - WobblyHand

I like having access to Isopar C, Isopar G, Isopar M, and Isopar V through my job. My employer buys them by the 55-gallon drum.

Isopars are a product of Exxon-Mobil. They are isoparaffins of different volatilities, C being the highest and V being the lowest. C is similar to white gas, and V is basically a light (low-viscosity) hydraulic fluid without any additives.

Isopars are very low in aromatic compounds, such as toluene and xylenes, which makes them low odor and less hazardous. They are used in cosmetics. I expect that they are in shoe polish.

In my carnauba wax paste, Isopar G evaporates first, leaving a coating of wax + Isopar M that is soft and can be buffed to a shine. With additional time, the Isopar M all evaporates, leaving a hard wax coating.

Solvent-based finishes usually include a "tail solvent", which evaporates slowly.

It seems likely to me that pine turpentine contains some slower evaporating terpenes that act as a tail solvent.

 

[Karl A]

"I have a hot plate to use so I can avoid an open flame. Still working on acquiring some throw away pots for this silly dream of mine." - WobblyHand

If I was going to make a wax paste using my available containers and pots, I would use a canning jar + lid for making, storing, and using the wax paste; and a double boiler or a small pot of water with something in the pot to keep the jar off the stove-heated bottom.

At work, I used a wide-mouth glass jar with a plastic, screw-top lid that includes a gasket. There was no clean-up work.

 

[WobblyHand]

"I have a hot plate to use so I can avoid an open flame. Still working on acquiring some throw away pots for this silly dream of mine." - WobblyHand

If I was going to make a wax paste using my available containers and pots, I would use a canning jar + lid for making, storing, and using the wax paste; and a double boiler or a small pot of water with something in the pot to keep the jar off the stove-heated bottom.

At work, I used a wide-mouth glass jar with a plastic, screw-top lid that includes a gasket. There was no clean up work.

I do have some small canning jars I could use. This first batch will be quite small, I'd hate to mess up a lot of material. Basically, I have no idea what I'm doing, I just have a recipe and a desire to try it, without burning down my house...

My grandfather made stuff on their kerosene kitchen stove...

 

[Karl A]

"I found some turpentine at the paint store. It wasn't that expensive. Hmm, it was $8.95/quart." - WobblyHand

I expect that at $8.95/quart, the turpentine is mineral turpentine. I expect that pine turpentine costs significantly more.

Being that you purchased the turpentine at a paint store, perhaps it includes a less volatile fraction that acts as a tail solvent.

 

[WobblyHand]

"I found some turpentine at the paint store. It wasn't that expensive. Hmm, it was $8.95/quart." - WobblyHand

I expect that at $8.95/quart, the turpentine is mineral turpentine. I expect that pine turpentine costs significantly more.

Being that you purchased the turpentine at a paint store, perhaps it includes a less volatile fraction that acts as a tail solvent.

Not sure what it is, haven't opened it yet. I think it was old stock they had. The newer "turpentine", well, I wasn't sure it was actually pine turpentine. So I took a chance on the older looking can.

The "fancy turpentine" I saw online is a lot more expensive. Whether that's expensive because they see a sucker, or expensive because it's the real deal, I just don't know.

 

[Karl A]

"... I found the recipe I posted online, but I also have a chemical formulary book from my grandfather.

He used to make all sorts of stuff to sell in his hardware store he owned in the 1930's including paint, tire patch kits, stove black, and white wall paint, the kind for tires. ..." - WobblyHand

We humans can be quite driven to do the things that we saw our elders doing. I have been reflecting about how much I do and what makes me happy parallels what my parents and grandparents did when I was a boy.

 

[WobblyHand]

"... I found the recipe I posted online, but I also have a chemical formulary book from my grandfather.

He used to make all sorts of stuff to sell in his hardware store he owned in the 1930's including paint, tire patch kits, stove black, and white wall paint, the kind for tires. ..." - WobblyHand

We humans can be quite driven to do the things that we saw our elders doing. I have been reflecting about how much I do and what makes me happy parallels what my parents and grandparents did when I was a boy.

Kind of irrational, but it's a powerful pull. The carnauba wax came from my grandfather. I'd like to turn the raw wax into something useful, if I can. As it stands, it's just this really hard solid wax.