[Equinox]

So on the wax , thoughts i do have overtons and agree with everything said on it , i have gotton in a mess with it on fingers and then i felt like i was tared and featherd lol
has anyone have experience with plain old natural bee wax , i have a local source near me and i was thinking of getting some for my waxing needs ? Its all natural ,simple Bees- wax. ?
Thanks
David

Yup.I know what your experiencing David. I found when playing with my "cooking" that the resin I put in was necessary for the end product to be sticky. The greater the ratio of beeswax ,the softer the result became and yes had a tendency to melt once in contact with skin. I would imagine that 100 percent beeswax would be almost useless for most of my needs because it would "melt".
The results of my fun experiment left me with a great sticky tying wax that does make things easier and doesn't melt , however any TYING wax available on the market (which most likely has resin in it) should suffice ,and thereby create circumstances that necessitate the tier to simply improve ones methods for delicate procedures.
Steve

 

[Equinox]

Steve,
Two quick questions. I assume you melt the wax and rosin in the in can, correct? Also, are the ratios you give in terms of weight? Thanks.

Yes the wax and resin is measured in the same small containers or measuring spoons used for baking. So a ratio of say 4:6 resin to wax would be achieved by using a table spoon measure and measuring 4 spoonfuls of resin then 6 of bees wax. Remember that to make a full ice cube tray full of pucks (finished product) one would have to multiply each component amount to achieve the volume necessary to fill the tray. A double boiler situation is then arranged by bringing enough water to a soft boil in a standard sauce pan ,then once simmering the tin can is immersed in the water with the desired ratio of components in the can. If there is to much water or too little volume of components the can will have a tendency to float. So the right volume of boiling water will have to be ascertained .Stir with a wooden meat skewer until the concoction is mixed and melted. Then pour this VERY HOT liquid into the mold. I bought from a dollar store ice cube containers that had flexible plastic bottoms as a mold, that made it very easy to push the hardened "puck" out of the container. If making number of batches one can speed up the hardening process by immersing the ice cube container (full of the hot components) in a pan of cold water and ice cubes.
There is decent YouTube videos detailing the same procedure..
Hope this helps
Steve

 

[debarb]

Excellent. Thank you.

 

[Airborne 82nd]

Yup.I know what your experiencing David. I found when playing with my "cooking" that the resin I put in was necessary for the end product to be sticky. The greater the ratio of beeswax ,the softer the result became and yes had a tendency to melt once in contact with skin. I would imagine that 100 percent beeswax would be almost useless for most of my needs because it would "melt".
The results of my fun experiment left me with a great sticky tying wax that does make things easier and doesn't melt , however any TYING wax available on the market (which most likely has resin in it) should suffice ,and thereby create circumstances that necessitate the tier to simply improve ones methods for delicate procedures.
Steve

Thank you 👍🏻
David

 

[fairbanks1957]

Interesting topic. I have to admit that I have a tendency to try any kind of wax that comes along. Like many of us, my long term favorite is Overton's. I have recently tried "Marvel Wax" from "The Silver Trout," Fayston Vermont. This is a great product and well worth a try, no financial interest, just a happy customer. I have also tried their nickel silver ferrule lube and line dressing, all good stuff.

 

[Flyfish@mt]

Dumb question here, but I just started using the type of tying wax pictured below that I bought from one of the online shops.

Do you heat this up at all before use? Or just keep at your tying desk and run along your thread as is?

View attachment 414583

Use just as is.

 

[rlporter507]

If you want authentic tying wax to the old recipes, Eric at Gunpowder custom has 5 tying waxes and a dubbing wax.

 

[wsbailey]

I make wax the old way and I seriously doubt anyone else is except perhaps for their own use. It’s time consuming in the extreme and to be honest the game is hardly worth the candle.

 

[bwodun]

I make wax the old way and I seriously doubt anyone else is except perhaps for their own use. It’s time consuming in the extreme and to be honest the game is hardly worth the candle.

And I love your cobblers wax, going on 6yrs with the blob that sits on my bench 😁

 

[wsbailey]

Thanks! It takes three days just to boil down the pine tar to make pitch

 

[flytie09]

I’ve ventured down the wax rabbit hole recently. I’m far from an expert, but will highlight my journey.

I have the original tube of Wapsi tying wax in the orange tube that I bought 35 years ago. Fine for general use like dubbing loops and slippery dubbings….. but spit worked good too so I used it sporadically.

When I expanded my tying 8 years or so ago, I started tying flies where bad things tend to happen around the head like hairwings and featherwings. Stuff rolling out of place, slippery hairs, funky shaped feathers, blown apart wings, avalanching heads and I started reading more. This led me towards Overtons Wonderwax.

Overton’s is great. It’s sticky and did a good job and along with improved techniques and using better stronger thread…. led to neater steps, cleaner and stronger heads, nicer flies and less stressful tying. But….. it didn’t do certain things I was looking for. On complex heads with a lot of stuff like underwings, and sides and cheeks and toppings I just felt certain steps at the end weren’t cured with Overton’s. I still leaned on superglue and stronger threads. It worked….but to a point.

If you’ve been tying long enough and watched enough tying YouTube videos….. you’ve seen Davie McPhail. That gob of hard wax he kept on his hand. I would come to learn it’s Veniard’s wax. He went to it like a pitcher to the rosin bag. He didn’t use Overton’s. Why? So this led me reading about the harder “cake” waxes. Bees wax, cobblers wax, secret recipes….. what’s the dilly yo. So I decided recently to purchase some. I bought some Semperfli cobbler’s wax.

My experience is limited with it in the past month or so…..but my initial observations is the grip one can achieve with this stuff far outperforms Overton’s. It doesn’t goop up your fingers. So I’ll be experimenting with it more. For now….. Semperfli do or die cobbler wax, Nanosilk thread, Cellire tying cement and let the fun begin.

Fly tying is hard enough. Who would have thunk thread, scissors, cements, wax, material prep, steaming, and all of the fiddly little things here and there one would obsess over. We’re a nutty breed for sure that this type stuff relaxes us.

If you want to do things well….. you owe it to yourself and your tying, to experiment and try different things. You just might find something that works better.

Happy tying Speypagers……

 

[The Duck]

I’ve ventured down the wax rabbit hole recently. I’m far from an expert, but will highlight my journey.

I have the original tube of Wapsi tying wax in the orange tube that I bought 35 years ago. Fine for general use like dubbing loops and slippery dubbings….. but spit worked good too so I used it sporadically.

When I expanded my tying 8 years or so ago, I started tying flies where bad things tend to happen around the head like hairwings and featherwings. Stuff rolling out of place, slippery hairs, funky shaped feathers, blown apart wings, avalanching heads and I started reading more. This led me towards Overtons Wonderwax.

Overton’s is great. It’s sticky and did a good job and along with improved techniques and using better stronger thread…. led to neater steps, cleaner and stronger heads, nicer flies and less stressful tying. But….. it didn’t do certain things I was looking for. On complex heads with a lot of stuff like underwings, and sides and cheeks and toppings I just felt certain steps at the end weren’t cured with Overton’s. I still leaned on superglue and stronger threads. It worked….but to a point.

If you’ve been tying long enough and watched enough tying YouTube videos….. you’ve seen Davie McPhail. That gob of hard wax he kept on his hand. I would come to learn it’s Veniard’s wax. He went to it like a pitcher to the rosin bag. He didn’t use Overton’s. Why? So this led me reading about the harder “cake” waxes. Bees wax, cobblers wax, secret recipes….. what’s the dilly yo. So I decided recently to purchase some. I bought some Semperfli cobbler’s wax.

My experience is limited with it in the past month or so…..but my initial observations is the grip one can achieve with this stuff far outperforms Overton’s. It doesn’t goop up your fingers. So I’ll be experimenting with it more. For now….. Semperfli do or die cobbler wax, Nanosilk thread, Cellire tying cement and let the fun begin.

Fly tying is hard enough. Who would have thunk thread, scissors, cements, wax, material prep, steaming, and all of the fiddly little things here and there one would obsess over. We’re a nutty breed for sure that this type stuff relaxes us.

If you want to do things well….. you owe it to yourself and your tying, to experiment and try different things. You just might find something that works better.

Happy tying Speypagers……

This is an exceptionally helpful addition to this important thread.
Anyone travelling on the wonderful journey of fly tying, who might be reviewing this thread in the hope of gaining insight regarding the use of wax would do well to read @flytie09 's post again.

Well said Mike