Leather waxing question

[Chainsaw]

Hi All,

Looking to get that waxy lustre onto a sheath and thinking of melting some beeswax and carnauba chunks and mixing it with some fiebings carnauba cream. Apply it by heating it all in a bain-marie and maybe brushing it or wiping it on, letting it cool/harden then a light buff. Will try it first before wrecking sheath no 3 but am I on the right track??

Cheers,

Alan

 

[Tye Possum]

Well I found this tutorial thing a while ago. This isn't actually the one I found but it has the same pictures. Maybe it can help you, if you can actually read the words...

 

[Eric_Methven]

Your best bet is to hot dip it in straight beeswax. If you brush it on, or try to pour it on, you'll get a thick white coating of wax as the wax solidifies straight onto the surface of the cold leather.

What you want is for the wax to penetrate the leather full, both to waterproof and harden it. This can only be achieved by hot dipping (you could try brushing on then sticking the sheath into the oven, but it's way too messy and the results can be unpredictable). The wax can't set on the surface of the leather when hot dipping - because the leather is submerged.

While it is submerged, it also heats the leather to the temperate of the molten wax, forcing air out of the fibre and allowing wax to penetrate from both inside and out. If you keep it submerged until all the little bubbles have stopped, then pull it out and wipe it straight away with kitchen towel to remove the excess wax, tip it as well to get the hot wax out of the inside of the sheath it'll be waxed but still hot and flexible.

At this point you should have your clingfilmed knife ready to put into the sheath and ensure the wet mould has not altered. I allow it to cool and harden at this stage (with the knife still in it). Once dry, you should have an almost bullet proof sheath and a knife that clicks gently into place.

Eric