Anyone tried Wax treating polycotton trousers?

[Man of Tanith]

such as the Army surplus lightweight combats?
i think with summer becoming known as monsoon season this could work really well but before i invest in wax to treat them with(i'm thinking the stuff folk use on fjallraven stuff or barbour thornproof treatment) i tought i would pick the collective brains of everyone to see if they had already tried it and if so is it worth doing?

 

[treadlightly]

A word of warning. As an experiment I treated a pair of old cotton chinos with Barbour-type wax. I found they put on a lot of weight, were not waterproof because the weave of the cotton was not tight enough and could not be washed. Dirt tended to collect on the lower legs in the way it does with waterproof plastic overtrousers. It didn't matter because the trousers were old and on the way out so there was little to lose but it wasn't a success.

 

[Man of Tanith]

Thats why i asked before i did it
thanks
back to the drawing board methinks

 

[Prawnster]

I've done it on my fjallravens. The first time I gave them a coating all over. It does make your trousers a little more resistant to showers but the trade off is in comfort. It made my trousers quite stiff and not very breathable. I found it better to just put a layer of wax above the knees and on the back of my calves. It could be just me but that's where I notice water ingress first on my legs. Not having wax all over the leg resulted in the trousers being more comfortable. There's no point in keeping 100% of the rain out if your legs are going to be soaked in sweat anyway.


Sent from my phone.

 

[treadlightly]

The best I have found for warm wet weather trousers is either linen which is of course not waterproof but dries very quickly or lightweight wool which stays warm when wet and seems to deal with rain really well.

 

[Man of Tanith]

reckon ishall just suffer soggy legs then
oh well back to the drawing board

 

[Retired Member southey]

I just do knees and bum on my fjallraven trousers, the rest like lightweights drys out quickly any way, and my bum and knees are the bits that come into contact with the ground most.

 

[Man of Tanith]

i just dont want to spend the amount on a pair of fjallraven if i can get away with it

 

[Retired Member southey]

Did the same to my lightweights Sam. It works well and your legs still breath and the legs aren't reallt stiff.

 

[MikeLA]

Lightweights dry quickly anyway so looks like the best advice is either leave them and let them dry quickly with your body heat. Or put wax on the knees and bum area and see if it works better for you.

 

[Adze]

Would something like Nikwax Cotton Proof not be a better bet? Easy to test as it's a wash in.

 

[Chiseller]

I found my new ravens didn't keep water off...

But did dry quick enough considering they aren't the thinnest trouser.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

 

[Teepee]

I've seen really good results with nikwax cotton proof on polycotton Craghoppers.

Ive also put TX direct on my Craghoppers (not really made for naturals) and its worked very well.

I was paddling the kayak last night for 3 hours in heavy rain, and my polycotton peaked cap that is as waterproof as a tea bag without treating, held all water from leaking through after I'd TX'd that too.

 

[MattB]

I've Nikwaxed the lightweight (CS95) issue trousers, it works OK. Doesn't really make them waterproof, but does make them more water-resistant than they would otherwise be and doesn't seem to affect the drying time.