YouTube video of a presentation by James Ducker about hand wax
Kinds
- Yellow Wax: rosin, beeswax, tallow
- Brown Wax: rosin, burgundy (spruce fir) pitch, tallow
- Black Wax: rosin, tar or pine pitch, tallow
Old Recipes from The Shoe Finishers Guide (1934)
- Black Wax
- 25 pounds gum rosin
- 7½ pounds black pitch
- 5 pints rosin oil
- 1 pint heavy mineral oil
- Golden Sewing Wax
- 38 pounds pale gum rosin
- ½ gallon white rosin oil
- 3 pints heavy mineral oil
- 2½ pounds Kaolin (china clay)
- 1¾ pounds chrome yellow pigment
- Waterproof Wax for Hand Sewing
- 7 pounds gun rosin
- 5 pounds Spermaceti wax
- ½ pint mineral oil
- 2 pounds precipitated chalk
Ingredient Properties
- rosin for stickiness
- beeswax for lubrication
- pitch for stickiness, lubrication, and anti-microbial properties
- tallow for softness and binding
Personal Recipes
-
Blonde Wax
- 40 grams rosin
- 60 grams beeswax
- 1 gram tallow
- Pitch Pine Wax
- 10 grams rosin
- 10 grams beeswax
- 20 grams pitch
- ½ gram tallow
- Tar Wax
- 40 grams rosin
- 60 grams beeswax
- 10 grams tar
- 1 gram tallow