On Fri, 19 Jul 2019 10:04:36 -0400, Radey Shouman
wrote:

Frank Krygowski writes:

On Thursday, July 18, 2019 at 9:09:12 PM UTC-4, John B. wrote:


I do something similar. When I initially decided to go with the wax
lube I went to a "candle store" where they sell mainly candles for
church or temple affairs but also sell wax and candle wicks and so on
for those that want to do it themselves. Anyway, they had both
paraffin and bee's wax so I bought the paraffin and a little bee's wax
(it is bloody expensive ) thinking that the bee's wax would make the
paraffin a bit more flexible, it didn't, or I didn't use enough, so I
added some light viscosity synthetic grease and that has worked real
well.

I don't start out on a ride if it is raining but I've been caught a
number of times in some pretty good showers and as far as I can see it
has never washed the wax airway and I've never seen a spot of rust on
the chain.... but to be honest I never saw any rust when I was using
spray lube on the chain either :-)

+1 except my bees' wax is still unused. I bought it on a whim and haven't used
it for anything.

Bees' wax melts at a considerably higher temperature than paraffin wax,
not an advantage for chain wax (or kink). It also burns cleaner and
smells nicer when burning, not an advantage either. It's better for
waxing thread than paraffin, which is why I have some.

According to the Wikki paraffin wax melts at 115 - 154 Degrees (F)
while bee's wax melts at 145 - 147 degrees (F) :-)

I suggest that the waxing of thread using bees wax is "normal" simply
because it has been used for hundreds of years while paraffin wax was
"discovered" less than 200 years ago.

I might add that I have used paraffin wax to wax thread when sewing
sails and it worked perfectly well although it does seem to make the
thread stiffer but still very usable although my feeling is that bee's
wax is perhaps the better solution.

Although, of course the reason to wax thread is because it acts as a
lubricant to allow sewing heavier cloth easier.

I normally don't start a ride if it's waiting; but recently, as we
rolled our bikes out
the door to fetch groceries, it started sprinkling. We stopped for a moment,
then said "Oh, what the heck" and rode to the store. I was a little proud of us.

- Frank Krygowski

--
cheers,

John B.