Recipe for Bowstring Wax?

[ZZZnature]

Does anyone process their beeswax into tubes for bowstring beeswax?

Would you share your recipe and do you pour it into push up tubes or twist up tubes?

I would like to use some of our cappings beeswax for the kids archery in the schools program and for several bow hunters in our area.

Thanks

[PuebloCO]

ZZZ,

I know this isn't the answer that you're looking for, but when I was younger, one of the fathers of a friend and fellow boy scout kept bees. He once gave me and my brother a big hunk of wax. It was not filtered or pure (best I can remember), but we used it on our strings and it worked fine. I would say just put some wax in a tube and call it good. Just my two cents.

[DeeAnna]

I googled "bowstring wax recipe". Straight beeswax works, but some people prefer a softer product. Straight beeswax does not rub into a bowstring easily without applying some heat, and it doesn't have the sticky "feel" that some people like. (I vaguely remember from shooting a reflex bow many years ago that I liked a sticky wax.)

I found one recipe that calls for beeswax, rosin, and olive oil: http://www.archers-review.com/archer...ax-for-strings Ratios of ingredients by volume: 2 parts rosin to about 1 part of bee’s wax. Adding about 1/8 part olive oil will make a softer product if desired.

Another source says, "...heating our beeswax and adding about one-quarter rosin..."

Quite a range of answers -- I guess it's all in what you like and get used to, hey?

--DeeAnna

[DeeAnna]

Okay, just found another gold mine of recipes:

2 parts beeswax to 1 part anhydrous lanolin (available from pharmacies)

4 parts beeswax to 1 part pine sap

One pound of bees wax and one wax toilet ring seal, melted together

3 parts beeswax and 1 part coco butter

50% bear grease (rendered bear fat) and 50% beeswax

Pure bees wax needs no softening, it perfect like it is

3 parts bees wax and 1 part toilet bowl wax ring. Melt them together in an aluminum pie plate over a pan of boiling water. Pour into minature cupcake pan liners and let cool.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/4zj2k8h

[ZZZnature]

Thanks to ALL OF YOU for your help and suggestions.

I have seen one tube of bowstring wax that was in a thumb type push up tube but it didn't have beeswax in it.

I have heard that beeswax makes the finest bowstring wax and since I have the beeswax wanted to turn it into a useful and helpful product that would remind people of the need for honey bees when they use it.

I have it in bars, but after seeing the thumb push tube I didn't think the younger generation would appreciate the beeswax unless it was in an "ease of use" consistency.

It's also going to be a challenge finding the plastic thumb push up tubes.

Please keep the suggestions coming and maybe it will inspire others too.

Inspiration for more bow string wax production could help remind the public and especially the youth of how useful our honey bees are.

[Daniel Wasson]

The stuff in the tubes is usually "string makers wax" and is more sticky than normal string wax. The extra sticky helps hold things together when twisting up the string. Once the string is on the bow then tension holds it together. The tacky stuff really attracts dirt and dust when used to waterproof or lubricate the string in normal use.

A small cake of regular old bees wax is all I have ever used for keeping the string on my bows waterproof, lubricated and slick. I am sure you will not have any trouble getting it sold if you chose to.

[DeeAnna]

What about a "lip balm" tube -- the kind that chap stick comes in? Or would that be too small? It's been a long time since I did any archery.

But, really, I do think the suggestion to pour the melted wax into miniature cupcake liners would be just fine, as long as your wax is fairly firm at room temp.

I'm really not sure it is all that important to fancy it up for the kids, unless the kids in your area are so jaded with their ipods, etc. I've met a few like that, and I am sure they wouldn't do archery regardless of what you put the bowstring wax in.

Most of the kids I know who would be interested in an archery program would be fine with a plain ol' cake of wax. If I were in your shoes, I'd keep the process simple and the cost low, so every kid can have a wax cake to use and can maybe even take it home after the program is over. That would help them get started if they get their own bow.

What you do for your bowhunting buddies is another issue -- but maybe a simple cake shape would work just fine for them too. Most of the guys in my husband's Whitetails Unlimited chapter are not too fussy about things like that either -- if the product is good, they'll use it.

Just my 2 cents! --DeeAnna

[Michael Bush]

I like 100% beeswax... but that's me.

[phil c]

just straight beeswax chunks to my traditional bow hunting friends. The traditional guys (longbow/recurve) want the real deal.
I have also had some rendevous buckskinner guys picking uo straight wax and using it for ball lube in their muzzleloaders and they swear by it for seasoning their cast iron cookwear.

[ZZZnature]

The tube I saw was plastic, 1 inch in diameter and 3 inches tall with a removable cap on the bottom and you use your thumb to push it upward. Would pure beeswax slide up like that?

A friend showed me a tube that Glory Bee had with a twist up in the center, but I don't know if pure beeswax would move upward. I just thought someone out there would have experience with it.

I thought putting a honey bee on the outside of a tube would imprint one of values of the honey bee to a lot of kids who would never know.

[Michael Bush]

I haven't tried putting it in a tube, but my guess is it should work. Wax shrinks as it cools, so it should pull away from the walls somewhat.

[Ray Michaud]

Spray inside the tube with candel mold release. You can get it from Betterbee