DIY greenland style wax for waterproofing stuff

[MrEd]

Ok some of you may already do this or may know of it but some of you may not know how to make greenland style wax, or if you prefer, waterproofing wax. To buy waterproofing wax its around 7 quid for a small block which is quite a lot. its easy to make so save money this way! The paraffin was £1 for 400g and the beeswax £1 for 50g and this is enough to make a lot of greenland style wax - i have a massive block now and am prob not ever going to use it all up!

All you need is paraffin wax and beeswax

weigh it out in a 90% paraffin wax to 10% beeswax ratio (or thereabouts) I used 250grams of paraffin and 25g or beeswax. so i have some left over.

Just mel the whole lot in a bain marie (google it - its a waterbath boiler a sauce oan of boiling water with a glass bowl stood in it, like when your melting chocolate), then pour it into a suitable mould - i used a flora pot lol

let it set and then its ready to use

it can be used on all kinds of cotton or polycotton clothes/bags etc.
I have treated my swede quilted trousers and my gas mask bag so far.

I love my gasmask bag its great for day trips but it is wholefully not waterproof - in fact in a massive down pour water leaked in (a lot) and the leather base meant it pooled in the bottom of the bag. To rectify this i treated it with wax as below.

Rub the wax into the material

then heat it with a haridryer to melt it onto the material

this will need to be done a number of times - i did the top flap on my bag 4 coats and the back and sides 3 coats. the material becomes noticeably stiffer and darker but it flexes up after a while and use but it isnt really that stiff tho.

1st coat

3rd coat

and this is how it repels water now

so pretty good, will have to see how it works in a prolonged downpour but im sure it will be ok, i can always add a bit more wax.

and thats it, not overly interesting, but i thought it might benefit someone. However i cant be held responsible if you get it wrong and wreck you clothes, if your really unsure buy the real thing. but this is waaaay easy to do.......

 

[maddave]

Great post. I'm sure this will save a lot of people a great deal of money

 

[Chambers]

Is this much the same as G Wax? I was told in Millets that that is also beeswax based

http://www.millets.co.uk/product/082661.html

Or can this be used on boots?

 

[MrEd]

no idea i havent tried my one on boots, i did put it on the leather of the swede gasmask bag though and it was ok. its upto you. its only beeswax and paraffin.

next time im near a millets i will have a look at that graingers stuff and figure out the ingredients maybe

 

[MrEd]

tell you what when i have been fishing tomorrow i will try it on my boots and find out

 

[Chambers]

Ive just looked on the back of the tin but no mention :-s

 

[redandshane]

Fantastic post Thank you
I will definitely be making up a batch

 

[verloc]

What an incredibly helpful and well written post. Thank you. Genuinely useful.

 

[lannyman8]

awsome MrEd great thread.

you can also dip smaller items into the liquid way and drain of job done......

 

[The Cumbrian]

Excellent post.

I used about a third of a block of Fjallraven Greenland Wax on one coating of a jacket that I've recently sold so this could be a real money saver. Are the raw materials easy to source though?

Cheers, Michael.

 

[lannyman8]

if your stuck for a local shop try ebay should be ok price depending on how much you buy ie postage.......

 

[markheolddu]

Thankyou great post

 

[MrEd]

my pleasure, as for sourcing ingredients i got the beeswax from a beekeeper but its available on ebay as is the paraffin wax or try hobby stores as the paraffin wax is just the stuff people make candles at home out of. If you cant get hold of any then i suppose pure paraffin wax candles from a hardware store would work if you grated them up to make them melt easier. you dont need much to make a big lump of it, i have a flora pot full which should last a few years i reckon!

oh and so far it doenst appear to rub off on clothes etc etc, migh be different in the height of summer i suppose but will have to wait and see!

be aware it does darken and stiffen the material, how much depends on how many coats you do.

Ed

 

[Melonfish]

i'm going to have to test this on my russian Veshmeshock backpack for sure! hell i've got two i'll see if i can do this and the barbour on the other

 

[MrEd]

hmmm ok just got back from fishing, called it a day after only catching one 4lb carp all morning since 8am lol and it was absolutely baltic and smashing it down with rain as well as very windy!



however good points

- bag remained dry inside completely even in driving rain, my non-treated bag on the other hand was soaked through totally

- water initially beeded up, and then became 'flat' and i thought it had soaked thru but the inside was dry and the water just pushed off with my finger like a sheet

- bag is now thornproof



bad points

- it was about 1 degree today and the bag was very stiff

-when the wind came out and the rain went away the surface of the bag dried and went a white ish colour in places and stiff - i put this down to over exuberance wth the wax application as i think i put to much on initially.



to improve matters im going to tumble dry the bag to even out wax after ironing it to remove excess wax.



recommendations if your using this stuff

-apply one coat or maybe 2 thin ones and see how it performs then add more if necessary as i think its a balance between applying enough to provide water resistance and to much and making it unneccesarily stiff. its easier to add more than remove as im finding out.



the other thing worth thinking about is that the bag or waxed surface will ease up and become more flexible and worn in as its used, like a barbour jacket.



overall though im quite happy but will not apply so much initially next time!



Cheers



Ed

 

[lavrentyuk]

Just made a batch. I had to use 100% paraffin wax candles as the hardware store in Lampeter doesn't sell it loose, and I have some beeswax left over from another job.

I plan on using it on my Endicotts French knapsack and a swedish snow smock I have just acquired.

Wonder if it would work on the children ?

Richard

 

[sticks65]

Was wondering about how to wax my pack and now i know,thanks for a top post.

I have the same swedish gas mask bag and a Swedish rucksack that need waxing.

 

[MrEd]

dont put to much on, jsut a couple of coats at first, i wont look like its done much but it will have been absorbed into the fibres, then go see how it is in the rain etc and put more on only if you need. its a bit of a trade off between waterproofness and stiffness tbh

 

[MrEd]

let us know how you get on with the smock etc, will be interesting! dont slather it on lol!

 

[Biker]

Really informative, thanks! I have a canvas bag that needs this treatment, now that I know it's possible "home made" I'll give it a go.

About your bag, I ran an ebay search and flsuhed this out item number: 120491333755
pretty reasonable price I thought too, free delivery in the UK, can't get much fairer than that. You could get another and have it for dry weather use too LOL!!

I saw on an Amercian bushcraft forum about this bloke who had made his own Oil cloth. I wonder if this is the same technique, just different terminology?

Thanks for this tutorial.