Liquid Waxes

Well I have read a few labels on various liquid waxes and the are a few ways to go about it. Emulsions are one way, another way would be a mixture of powder carnauba and mineral spirits with some sort of oil as a lubricant. I have not seen anything posted on such an experiment so this one will definately be by scratch. I think that it is flashing more than disolving when it comes to liquid waxes, but I am no chemists and it is just a guess.

Hard Waxes

A few samples of homebrew were sent out to a couple of people so I can get some unbiased opinions. Just seeing how usable a homemade wax really is. What I sent out would be considered a soft wax to me. I will be brewing up a hard wax off off of this recipe
7g bees wax
7g carnauba
3g Candellilia wax
10 ml of turpentine
25 ml of linseed oil
8g of coconut oil
This recipe actually yields a half decent wax.
Also on the agenda is a liquid wax, which I have no real idea where to start.

First recipe. The good. A little on the hard side and a little tough to get off, but a decent go.
7g carnauba
3g bees wax
3g candellila wax
15 ml of trupentine
3g of coconut oil
20 ml on linseed oil

Second Recipe, the uglyOK this one went to the extreme and was not usable but it may help to show the limts that a wax has. Too much oil and solvent created a mushy useless mixture
7g Carnauba
3g bees
3g Candellila
40 ml mineral spirts
40 ml linseed oil
5g coconut

Batch 15 will be mixed tonight, a slight variation from 14. If it works, I don't see why it wouldn't, 3 pots will go out to various parts of the globe for opinions. It is a bit oily but would be comparable to those that need to sweat a little and buff to a final gloss. Ease of use is pretty good, and appearance and slickness are good. I let the first sit for ten miutes or so allowing the solvent to flash off. I must say its been fun and I think I accomplished the main goal, make a useable, decent looking wax at home. Thanks to Ben for the thread that started the trend. Cheers

This is Batch 14, better beading and a good shine to it. Maybe a little more solvent needed.

[IMG]http://i35.tinypic.com/maxtom.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/e9vk00.jpg[/IMG]


So far the folowing ingredients have been used
Mineral Spirits
Coconut oil
Pumpkin Seed oil
linseed oil
mango butter
carnauba wax, 2 forms
bees wax
candellilia wax

i think I will take a break and do more testing before moving on.

Well I just picked my truck up from the bodyshop, I have one more home brew to do tonight and testing will likely be Friday, with pics of course. . The beading of the last mix was better than the Batch 4 sample, which up until now was the winner. I have increased the carnauba and decreased the beeswax, the removal is easier now, too sticky with the other batch.

Last batch using pumpkin oil and mango butter came out pretty good. I fiddle with it a little taoday and should see the results tomorrow. We're making progress, bit by bit. The texture is becoming more to my liking. Another interesting point is if you mix the composition when it is semi hard it yields a soft wax. no mixing give you a harder wax, pretty cool. I am sure there are infinite ways to mix and make a wax, infinite more ways to process it, but I am confident I can get a wax that works quite well. It won't be a competitior in the market, but it will be hand made with love by me.

Well batch 12 was a dud, too much oil and solvent, came out as slop, so I have found an upper limit to the mix. A few arrivals came today, pumpkin seed oil, grape seed oil and mango butter. I like the feel of the pumpkin seed oil, very slick feeling, I will definitely add it to the next batch. I will take what I have so far and start some real testing on it. I can then take the top dogs and add some of the new ingredients into the mix. So far the failure rate is about 75%, that are either too hard to work with or too oily and unusable.

OK I am starting to finally get the hang of this, on Batch 12, still lots of product left to play with. I will be searching out a new solvent, mineral spirits and turpentine can only go so far. I have located the almighty banana oil, worth a shot. I also have some mango butter coming, if anything the wax will smell better. If batch 12 works out ok I might send out a sample to a couple of special people. So far I am learning lots and having fun and not spending much money, this is key. Once my truck is back from the bodyshop I will do some alot more testing to see which wax perfoms the best and which is the easiest to use.

Next on the list is paraffin wax, give the product an easier on/off application, feels greasy to touch. I may cut out some oil in the mixture when I add the paraffin. Hopefully I can get back at it next week.

http://www.wwch.org/Technique/Finishes/FinWaxForm.htm

Found this today, not car wax but some useful info none the less

Batch 11 done, good results, may add more solvent in the next batch, but I am pretty happy with what I have. Not a miracle product but it works. Now I am looking for banana oil, as the new solvent. The shine is good, beading good, ease of application, not bad on this batch. I don't think you can get a wet look with natural ingredients, without the use of polymers. You can definitely get a warm look though.

Well I am on the hunt for banana oil, which as funny as it sounds has nothing to do with bananas. Its a product called isoamyl acetate. The name banana oil comes from its smell, and I have seen it used in some soft waxes and liquid waxes. I like the smell and I am on the hunt to get some. So far I have used pure turpentine, turpenoid ( derivative) and mineral spirits. So far I am pretty happy with the results I have achieved so far.

Well besides an oil I will start searching for another solvent that will give me a workable wax without too much oil. The oil content, if altered slightly can really change the look and performance of the wax. The slightest change can cause the wax to go from clear to streaky. I will test more of the waxes out for ease of use and look, the oily ones streak too much. Still I am pleased with the outcome so far with few ingredients and little money spent.

More exotic oils

I need to get my hands on some exotic oils, but until then I will continue to use and tweak what I have. I added a little more oil today to Batch 4. I did half of the wifes hood with it, not sure if I like the results. I will try again tomorrow and check the beading on it. It may have left too much oil behind, or I picked a bad mf towel. I will post pics tomorrow of the finished hood, with two coats of batch 10 on it. Batch 4 has come out the best so far.

First Go

This was batch 8, it was a little oily and never really fashed at all, smeared all over. It felt nice but too much work getting the smears off.
This is batch 9, after cleansing the suface to rid the hood of any old wax, it was washed dried and a thin layer put on. This wax flashes fairly quickly but no smearing or oily residue left behind. A winner in my book. My need a small tweak for workability but I am satisfied with the results.
A little beading shot. the beads stand up quite tall and the surface is quite smooth. The waxes with more oils tends to leave the surface slicker feeling, but the beads were not as nice. I may make one or two small tweaks until I send it for evaluation and some more educated help.

http://www.canadianweigh.com/scales/palmscale-70

This is the scale that I recieved. handy little unit and very precise

Ok, so it pissed rain all day today, not trials on the wax yet. However yesterday, I found Batch 2 and 3 with turpenoid didn't mix and seperated under the top layer it was chucked. Made two more batches today. Batch 6 and seven, where I increased the oil content of the mixture, increasing one oil at a time. They came out pretty good and Batch 6 will go to test tomorrow, I am definitely getting a feel for how to create the consistency of the wax I want. I found out that too much of a certain oil gives too oily a mixture. Increasing another oil leaves the wax feeling less greasy and workable. We are on the right track, tomorrow I will take the makeup of 6 and change the slovent to see what I get. Already pitched one solvent as useless, turpenoid will only clean brushes from now on

Third up for the day was the same inputs as Batch 3, but Mineral Spirits as a solvent. I thought it was a dud as the top layer was hard, but underneath was the gold. I believe that using minerals spirits caused the wax to flash off a little and made the top hard as I left it to cool with the top off. Texture is granular like sand and very uniform. Interesting, Batch1,3,4 will be tested tomorrow and pics to follow

Next up was the same solvent but at an increased volume, and less oil. It wasn't bad, softer and more granular than the first, they melt up contact with the skin. Pics to follow. I stayed with the wax amount of the first as it gave me the desired amount of material, 4oz. Its starting to shape up but I think the Turpenoid is not a solvent of choice

Well I did a few more trials yesterday at B's house of wax magic. I fiddled with two solvents and changed the amounts of oils and solvents on a few of them. now that the scale is in it is much easier to chart progress and see how the makeup changes by varying the inputs. So on to experiment 1 for the day, we will call it batch two. I switched to Turpenoid from turpentine to see what would happen. Well the mixture turned milky instantly, not sure if its a bad thing but something different than the others. the mixture looks ok, has viens of white in it and is a little granular in texture

The first was hard as a rock, think I will use it as a hockey puck this winter. The second was very good, feels like a wax should. A lot more oil and solvent in it than I would have fist thought. I actually used the second attempt on the fender of my truck, smooth as glass, now we are getting somehwhere. I will continue once I receive my scale, but I have a very good idea of the formulation. more to come

this is the first pouring of Batch1. It is still in liquid form.

First Attempt

OK, so I had to eyeball the wax on the first attemp and got mixing in the double boiler. Melted the wax first, than added the oils and then the solvent

Raw Materials

Ok so here are some of the ingredients I have researched to possibly use for a homemade car wax. Not sure about prportions but its a start. I need a scale for sure in order to make a decent go of it.

well i have turpentine, linseed and coconut oil to mess around with, waxes include, cadellia, bees, carnauba(2 forms)

The start of homemade car wax

Well I am trying to take a page out of Rubbish Boys and produce my own wax. I found a raw wax supplier near by and have most of the other ingredients at an art supply store. I have 200 grams of various waxes, and some organic coconut oil. Time to start experimenting