Makers use many kinds of substances and mixtures referred to as “wax”, and in many different ways.
- beeswax or paraffin to lubricate awls before piercing holes
- hand wax
- edge wax
- filling wax
- wax polish
James Ducker
Presentation Slides: CO(A)DING
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Yellow Wax: rosin, beeswax, tallow
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Brown Wax: rosin, burgundy (spruce fir) pitch, tallow
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Black Wax: rosin, tar or pine pitch, tallow
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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
- Black Wax
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rosin for stickiness
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beeswax for lubrication
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pitch for stickiness, lubrication, and anti-microbial properties
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tallow for softness and binding
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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
- Blonde Wax