Tying wax

[flytyer48 0]

Is there anyone with a thirst for detail like me? After topping up my block of tying wax with some beeswax I thought that it would be a good idea to make my own recipe for wax exactly as I like it. Sad idea!

Melting beeswax in a baine-marie and adding silicone oil just did not end up with the same consistency of proprietry wax with beeswax added. The silicone oil did not amalgamate with the wax and the remnant wax was still harder than my main piece of shop + beeswax.My question is : does anyone know what else is in tying wax other than beeswax? Is there a resin of some sort?

 

Flytyer48

[utyer 0]

I know only one method for making wax, and it comes from James Leisenring's The art of Tying the Wet Fly. He says to melt a half pound of white turpentine resin and add one ounce of pure white beeswax. The beeswax should be chopped to small pieces. This is simmered for 15 minutes, which will melt the wax and allow it to mix with the resin. Here I quote form the book. "Now add one-half ounce of fresh lard and stir slowly while the mixture simmers just below the boiling point for another fifteen minutes. This mixture is then poured into cold water to cool. After that you need to pull it like taffy "until it has a light color and even texture."

 

Thats a good hour of work, and I have never made any. I used to mix a lot of ski wax back in the day, and I have so many different mixtures, I can get any texture and tackyness I want from all my old pieces. Overtons Wonder Wax is still my favoite commercial wax, and I am still working on the same tube I purchased at least 20 years ago. When thats gone, I will fill the tube with wax from a wax toilet seal. These wax rings are pretty tacky, and usually sell for less than $2.

[arkle 0]

There are quite a few recipes for different waxes around & there are also several people here in the U.K. & Ireland that make them. You should find further info about some of them if you use the search facility on www.ukflyfressing.proboards.com The site's founder "Tango" makes different waxes & sells them onto various dealers & via ebay.co.uk occasionally. Several of the other posters have their own mixes as well.

[BrianMyers 0]

dubbing wax - global fly fisher

 

toilet bowl ring dubbing wax

 

 

[rockworm 0]

The wax I use for traditional wet flies is beeswax, rosin and oil of cedar (10:10:1). Cut the beeswax and rosin in smallish pieces and melt together. Add the oil (I am sure many other organic oils would work fine) and mix well. Pour into small moulds and allow to cool. This wax needs to be kneaded from time to time to keep it pliable. The formula is mine and I think it might be improved by the addition of lard, maybe as a substitute for the oil.

 

BTW, I use pure beeswax on the thread prior to whipping the head. The above wax prevents the thread from sliding through the thread wraps.

 

Let us know what you come up with.

[letumgo 0]

The tying wax mentioned by utyer, is currently being made and sold by Jim Slattery (www.JimsFlyCo.com).

 

Traditional Leisenring-Keene Tying Wax

[JSzymczyk 0]

The tying wax mentioned by utyer, is currently being made and sold by Jim Slattery (www.JimsFlyCo.com).

 

Traditional Leisenring-Keene Tying Wax

 

Wow, that's one aspect of tying that I never considered doing on my own (and probably won't...)

 

Please don't forget that this stuff can be flammable, and could cause a hell of a fire if you're not careful when melting it.

[Hot Tuna 0]

What's even sadder is the price a single tube of Overton's Wonder wax goes for on Ebay....glad I have some already.

I believe there's a recipe for the wax Harry Darbee used in the book he wrote with Mac Francis,Catskill Fly Tier.

[flykid 0]

I know a recipe for tying wax that was actually originally by cobblers. It's not really a dubbing wax though but could probably be used for that. It is very sticky and must be warmed up in your hand before being applied. It is made up of beeswax, castor oil, and some sort of rosin (pine sap can be used). I have a recipe somewhere. Not sure if that's what your looking for or not. Send me a PM if you would like to try it out.

[Guest]

I know a recipe for tying wax that was actually originally by cobblers. It's not really a dubbing wax though but could probably be used for that. It is very sticky and must be warmed up in your hand before being applied. It is made up of beeswax, castor oil, and some sort of rosin (pine sap can be used). I have a recipe somewhere. Not sure if that's what your looking for or not. Send me a PM if you would like to try it out.

 

This sounds like Marvin Nolte's recipe. I have some and it works very well.

[troutguy 0]

Rosin, bee's wax and olive oil. Here is a good basic recipe I imported:

 

 

The rosin and bee’s wax both melt at very low heat and over-heating them causes the mix to darken a little. Heat the ingredients enough to thoroughly mix them, but no more. The basic mix isn’t precise because of the differences between various rosins and bee’s waxes, but should be about 2 parts rosin to 1 part, or slightly less, of bee’s wax, by volume. When melted together these ingredients will, after cooling, form a hard, “waxy”-feeling wax. It’s very sticky when in liquid form, but quite hard after it cools. At this point it’s similar to the old style “Cobbler’s Wax” that is valued by some strict traditionalists. It’s certainly a useful wax, but in this form it needs to be warmed in order to soften it so that it can be used. To make the wax usable at normal room temperature (65-75 degrees) it’s necessary to add a small amount of olive oil. Again, because of the variation in materials, there isn’t a precise amount to add. I suggest starting with about 1/8 (by volume) oil of the amount of wax used. A little more can be added at a time to bring the wax to the handling quality that suits you. Use caution when adding the oil, because just a few drops too much will cause the wax to become greasy feeling and less tacky. If you mistakenly add too much oil, you can correct the mix by adding a few more crystals of rosin to bring the tackiness level back up. If you’ve added quite a bit too much oil, it will be necessary to add small amounts of both rosin and bee’s wax to correct it.

[flytyer48 0]

Thanks guys, this is really going somewhere. What is this "rosin" stuff? Any idea where I can get it? I'm UK based

 

Flytyer48

[rockworm 0]

Rosin is purified pine resin. You can certainly find it in any good musical instrument shop, where it is sold to the players of the bowed strings (violin, viola, cello, bass fiddle,...) It is not very expensive, and you may be able to get a few used-up blocks for free. If you like doing things yourself, you can collect the resin from the tree (you can find it oozing down the trunk.) I have purified some myself: First apply heat until you can filter out the bugs and bits of bark. (I used cheesecloth.) Then heat it carefully until all the moisture has boiled off. Filter again. When it cools it is hard and brittle and the colour of maple syrup. It looks like amber. (Which is what it could become in a few thousand years given the right conditions.)