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haziz

Wax for Silk Thread?

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12 hours ago, Landon P said:

What is the wax used for? 

Basically, IMO, the wax increases the "grip" of the thread. Possibly the durability of the fly too. As redietz said, " It only takes about two turns of a well waxed thread to start it on the hook, and it's not going anywhere once it's started." Also it takes fewer wraps to bind materials. Fewer wraps are usually a good thing.  I hardly use head cement, so won't comment on that. Sometimes I use wax sometimes I don't. I should probably use it more for when I'm tying the small stuff.  Anyhow, while the discussion here is about soft hackles and silk thread, wax will have the same benefits for all threads, again IMO.  Tying wax for thread isn't the same as is used for dubbing usually.

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making your fly tying wax is just a personal choice. many tyers are capable diyer's

as mark above, overtons is a good choice. buy a tube brfore it goes extinct. again

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I always thought waxing thread made it a little slicker, initially, allowing you to tighten up the whip finish.  I don't typically use it except for dubbing...makes the fibers stick to the thread. I made some with beeswax and olive oil, does OK.  You can make it any consistency by adding either ingredient to your initial mix.

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57 minutes ago, Gene L said:

I always thought waxing thread made it a little slicker, initially, allowing you to tighten up the whip finish.  I don't typically use it except for dubbing...makes the fibers stick to the thread. I made some with beeswax and olive oil, does OK.  You can make it any consistency by adding either ingredient to your initial mix.

The thing is, tying wax, as opposed to dubbing wax, is mostly pine resin.  It's very sticky.

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2 hours ago, redietz said:

The thing is, tying wax, as opposed to dubbing wax, is mostly pine resin.  It's very sticky.

Made some of that, too.  Not for fly tying, though.  Rosin has to be softened as it will dry hard as a rock...like rosin for a violin bow.  Again, beeswax, rosin, olive oil.  Come to think of it, I believe that's what I made that I mentioned above.  For archery. I got rosin from a pitcher's bag (baseball.)  It was way too hard to be useful, an attempt at "Cobbler's wax." I remixed it with more, a bit too much, oil and it's now VERY sticky. It would probably work for dubbing, but it tends to transfer to my fingers when dubbing.  I put it in a push-up container. I use Overton's for dubbing, soft and works fine.

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A friend of mine just recently harvested some honey from his hives and he was going to give me a ball of wax to make 

sometyer’s  wax with but after reading the comments on this thread I’m having second thoughts.  Sounds like too much of a hassle.

Was going to make a couple of handfuls and hand it out to my tyer’s club in the fall /winter but make I’ll bring a box of doughnuts instead. 🤓

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It's kind of a hassle; you have to melt in in a container in a can in water in a double boiler.  A disposable cup-like container is good because you won't be able to clean it all out.  And the rosin, have to have a source for it and maybe pound it into small grains, although some rosin bags are already finely ground. If you have a formula it might be worth it for a lark, but I don't have a formula and don't know where one would get one.  Otherwise, it's trial and error, mostly error on my part. Too stiff and then not quite stiff enough.  Sticky...it stuck in the push-up tube, another hassle.

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Resin isn't hard to find.

https://www.amazon.com/DAddario-VR200-Natural-Rosin-Light/dp/B0002OP0WC/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=rosin+violin&qid=1596777716&sr=8-6

Might be fun to smash with a hammer

Could heat it up in a tin can from the kitchen if you don't want to ruin a pot.

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Once I started using tying wax three years ago, I use it every time.  My method for the least mess on your fingers is place a small amount on the lid of head cement bottle, this is under the lamp which softens the wax.  then I place a length of thread from the bobbin  and place it between the bottle lid and thumb.  I get very little wax on my thumb and has worked well for some time.  

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I've been making my own wax and traditional head cements for many years.  Beeswax, pine rosin and a little tallow or castor oil is all you need.  For silk thread wax, I typically use a 70% Rosin, 30% beeswax with a little bit of tallow or castor oil.  Heat the mixture up on low heat until melted then carefully pour into a silicone cupcake baking tray.   

I haven't made the stuff in a few years and gave away most of what I made. If you want to go all out, pour the molten wax into cool water, wait until it's cooled enough to touch (be really F'n careful here folks!!), then knead and pull the wax (like taffy).  Continue to pull just before it hardens up and form into small pea-sized pellets.  The small pellets are 'less prone' to snapping the silk line when waxing.  A larger block of wax can grab the thread and snap off much more easily.

If you don't want to go the DIY route, Bill Bailey (wsbailey - see post above) makes great tying waxes. 

You can get it here:

https://feathersmc.com/product/cobblers-wax/

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Thanks DrLogik! I have made many pounds of wax over the years. For the average tyer the basic 7 2 1 rosin, beeswax and castor oil formula works fine. My stuff is more complicated and required a huge amount of trial and error before having any success.

 

 

 

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