Bees' Wax screw lube

Re: Bees' Wax screw lube

Paul Leuba

>What is a good source of beeswax?

Paul in Hunt Valley, MD

Y'know my grandpappy used...

Bri in Mtl

>...bacon fat as a lubricant. I still remember the jar next to the old gas stove that would get all the excess from the black cast iron frying pan....sigh...

Mike Heavey's tip...

Joe Pack

>Mike Heavey of Wood magazine passed on a great tip at the Columbus Woodworking Show...For about $1, buy a wax toilet bowl ring at any hardware store. Tear off a chunk and stick it in a 35mm film canister (somebody else suggested the film canister in this thread, too). It will not run when warm, and will not harden when cool. He said that was a trick from his trim carpenter days. Sounded good to me.

(For the cheapskates among us, yes, you probably could tear a chunk off a used ring, but...)

Working on the flight line at Boeing in Seattle

Don Henthorn

>in real cold weather those screws or bolts going into plastic anti loosen fittings could be helped a lot by rubbing them on the lower side of the nose. There is a little oil there that really helped.

handy alternative

bill tindal, E.TN

>In metal shops around the band saw there is usually a 1 1/2 x 8" tube of waxy stuff(blade lube?). It is great for screws. And I like the bee wax/turp mix idea if this other stuff would not be easy to get.

bar soap works, too.

Bruce, a MN Galoot

>

Re: Working on the flight line at Boeing in Seattl

Robert Hutchins

>We used to wipe the male end of fishing rods on our noses before assembling them to fish in salt water to ensure that they wouldn't lock into the female sockets of the handles. HL asked me once how my nose got so dirty in a boat.

Re: bar soap works, too. No-o-o, I don't think so

Carol from AZ

>Soap seems to attract moisture, resulting in rust on the screws. Wax doesn't have surfactants. I think that is the right word.

The bowl wax ring is a good idea. If you belong to a club, the ring can be shared with those who remember to bring an empty 35mm film container. Would also make an inexpensive but useful raffle prize for those clubs doing that sort of thing.

Re: Bees' Wax screw lube

Russ Babbitt

>You know I have to do this......BEES.

If I had a hammer...

RobV

>I remember my grandfather telling me how he drilled a hole in the bottom of his hammer and melted bees wax into it... every nail he drove and first stuck it in the bees wax... problem is that as easily as the nail goes in, it comes back out! I think in the building trade they outlawed this practice about 35 years ago or more.

Re: Mike Heavey's tip...

RobV

>I saw this tip before and it was pointed out that the toilet bowl rings are no longer make out of bees wax.

Re: Bees' Wax screw lube

Charles Self

>Any local beekeeper will sell you beeswax, usually not particularly well cleaned, but around here at something like two or three bucks a pound. Heat it (on an electric burner, at super low heat or with a double boiler), and pour it through cheesecloth to clean (mostly bees' parts, legs, etc.).

Re: Y'know my grandpappy used...

Charles Self

>Bacon fat is fine for making biscuit gravy, but there is way too much salt in most of it to make it good for lubing wood screws...or much of anything else.

Re: bar soap works, too. No-o-o, I don't think so

Charles Self

>The wax ring idea is an old, old one: adding the 35mm canister is new to me, though.

I've got pounds of beeswax around here from an article on waxes, but I've also got two or three extra toilet rings. I'd buy one and have to put off replacing the toilet for a couple days. My wife would "store" the ring. I didn't know that, so figured it got tossed accidentally, and bought another. Finally hired a plumber who brought his own ring.

At least now I know where the extra rings are stored.

Biscuit gravy?

Bri in Mtl

>Excuse my ignorance but what's biscuit gravy?

Recipe do tell?

If it tastes good then I guess it ain't good for you I suppose.

Oh me oh my oh!

Steve Antonucci

>Biscuits and gravy is probably the worst possible breakfast in the world to be introduced to, but as you have surmised, is beyond expectations in taste among men.

Here's a quick and dirty recipe:

Open some breakfast sausage and render the fat while breaking it up into little pieces. Create a roux with some flour and the fat. Pour in a cup of milk and stir until the roux is incorporated and thickens to your taste. Grind in some pepper and pour over buttermilk biscuits.

Eat and enjoy.

Steve

Re: If I had a hammer...

Barry Irby

>Years ago I hired a guy to hang doors for me. Big heavy solid core residential doors. $7 each, Wow, Cheap! Found him driving the hinge screws in with a hammer. His comment: "Hammer is for puttin' 'Em in, Screwdriver is for taken 'Em out." He actually drove them with the hammer and gave them a quarter turn with the screw driver. Thirty years later, the doors are still swinging.

Try running the screws through your hair. Might be a hold over from the days of Brilcreme.

Woodcraft sells little bars of Bee's Wax for finishing. About half the size of a stick of butter. Probably a lifetime supply for screws. A couple of bucks.

35mm Film canister & Paraffin

Joe in a Cleveland suburb

>Anybody remember when those were made out of aluminum (or whatever metal it was). I used to have a boat load of them. Wish I still had some.

For screw lube, is there anything wrong with using plain paraffin? I have a chunk handy. I sometimes drag screws across it and sometimes use it on the bottom of my hand planes or crosscut sled runners and stuff like that. Anything wrong with doing that?

Joe

Re: 35mm Film canister & Paraffin

NickB

>Nope, but the paraffin is a lot harder (and more brittle) than beeswax (or paste wax or most other screw lubes), so it has more of a tendency to fall off as the screw enters the wood. Anything that softens the paraffin/makes it stick to the screw better would make it work better.

I used to have an aluminum-topped jobsite saw as my table saw, and used paraffin to wax the top (instead of the more commonly used paste wax). The paraffin worked better in that application because the top was corrugated (I could just scuff the bar 'along the grain' of the corrugations, whereas paste wax would have mostly ended up filling the valleys of the corrugations), but it was a lot tougher to buff off the excess.

Nick

What I use...

Ellis Walentine

>... is a wax ring for a toilet. They're dirt cheap, need no softening, and one will last you a lifetime.

Ellis

Gotta ask dumb question..

Bri in Mtl

>I was hoping someone else would ask but no...they're too chicken...

I can see that the lubricant can help insert a screw but...

1. Doesn't the lubricant come right off the screw at the very beginning of insertion?

2. If No. 1 doesn't occur then doesn't lubricating the screw also make it easier to loosen after?

How it works

Lee Schierer, McKean, PA

>Beeswax is stickier than parafin and softer at room temperature. By dragging the threads across the block of wax you get some sticking on the threads. As the screw drives in these particles of wax melt due to the heat created by friction and lubricate the screw. A waxed screw will require about half the torque to drive it in as compared to an unwaxed screw in the same piece of wood. I don't think it affects the loosening because most wood screws are tapered and as soon as they start to loosen the taper makes space in the hole.

Beeswax can be obtained from Rocklers, Woodcraft and other woodworking sources. You can also get it from any local beekeeper or bee supply house. A small 1/4 pound lump will last for many years. Most reputable beekeeprs will filter the wax before they sell it so it should be clean of propolis and honey (I've never had beeparts in any of my wax). Good beeswax will be a light yellow color and will smell quite nice. Be careful heating it as it melts at low temperatures 160-180 and will scorch if heated too hot and turn dark colored. It will also burn so heat it in a double boiler arrangement for safety.

Sorry I'm out of beeswax blocks at the moment! :)

As others have mentioned, soap is hydroscopic and will draw moisture causing rust. The oils and such in soap will also absorb into the wood and make stains or create finishing problems. The same is true of oil or WD-40. A little dab of paste wax also works.

Lee

No Wonder You're Out of Wax

Robert Hutchins

>That poor bee the colonel referred to (bee's wax vs. beeswax [Yeah!] vs bees' wax) must have been working overtime to produce enough for one bar.

He Was Raising The Bar On Production, Bob

George@Colonel's Workshop-Havertown PA

>