I am a beekeeper and archer and am interested in using some of my beeswax for bowstrings. Has anyone made any? If so, did you add anything to the beeswax to make it better or did you find it best at 100% natural wax? If you would like to share your recipe, please let me know.

I use pure beeswax.

I have used 100% beeswax for decades but it works better for me if it’s mixed with some toilet seal material. Straight beeswax requires a good burnishing with leather to heat the wax and work it into the strands. A combination beeswax and toilet seal doesn’t require the heat to get it to work into the strands.

I thought someone on here used 10% olive oil in with it

I put a bit of olive oil in mine. No exact amount.

I mix about 50 50 beeswax with toilet bowl ring . I melt it down and pour into little cup cake papers. And let dry.

same as hunterbob...

2/3 bees wax 1/3 Vaseline nuke together nice and soft

Pure wax.

Pure wax

I use pure beeswax. Very cool to use wax from your own bees on your own string. Pure beeswax can be pretty hard so I keep it in my pocket for awhile which warms it up and softens it.

I also mix with toilet bowl ring. I found that 50/50 is a bit too soft. I now do 2/3 beeswax, and 1/3 cheap toilet bowl Wax. Melt in an old coffee can, then pour in paper cups. Works great. It is awesome that you are using your own Wax. Randy

I have hundreds of cakes I made up years ago. Beeswax cut with a bit of neetsfoot oil.

I tried pure bees was years ago (the dark variety) and did not like it. Even after burnishing the string, the string would want to stick to the limbs of my recurve and make a noise when drawing. Have recently used bees wasa mixed with toilet ring was and liked it much better.

I made mine with 1/2 lb. pure beeswax and 1/2 toilet bowl ring,melted them together and filled quite a few small paper cups.

I mix mine with a little bit of olive oil also. no set amount, just to get the right texture.

Pure beeswax will work well for stringwax, for just waxing strings. If you are using it to make strings, you should add something to make it softer and a little tackier, to aid in holding the strands together when twisting up the string. How soft and tacky varies on individual. As mentioned toliet seat ring, olive oil, and the new one on me vaseline. I wonder if they use petroleum jelly when making toliet seat rings? Consistancy of the ring it would make sense. DANNY

Are we talking string wax or string making wax?

I mix a bit of surf board wax with the bees wax and melt them together in an aluminum foil mold. Works well.

Pure basswood honey is my favorite. I buy-out six gallons of unprocessed honey from a beekeeper that has hives in good basswood country. There is a good basswood zone east of here. Oh, bowstring wax. When I had hives an old guy that made me my first real bow from a strip of ash that was pealed from a tree by lightening made bowstring wax from out of my first hive. He made so it smelled like fish. He said it needed that fish smell so that it would roll on smooth and stick better. He never told me what made the fish smell, but it rolled on smooth and stayed stuck.

Pure melted bee's wax with pharmaceutical grade mineral oil. It's also good for chapped lips and as a substitute for mushers wax.Toilet bowl gaskets are low grade, unrefined petroleum wax, not suited for skin contact

I get my beeswax from a friend :-) He is a beekeeper. 2/3 beeswax after it's been cleaned to 1/3 toilet bowl wax just for a little softness. those who are using beeswax if you keep it in your garage the bees will locate it in your cupboard, I keep mine in my freezer. LOL JF

I’ve mixed mine with vasilene. Don’t know the ratio though. I just wanted it softened up a bit after it sat on the shelf for a few years and got real stiff.

MP

Would paraffin a good softener? Going to try to find some local wax and give this a go. If paraffin is no good, I will try the wax ring.

Beeswax and food grade mineral oil.

I also use this combo for sealing cutting boards, rolling pins, etc. Less oil leaves it a little stiffer for bowstrings, a little more oil makes it more like a paste, which is how I mix it for use in the kitchen.

I still have a couple tubes of Bohning wax from the 1970's, but I like to carry a chunk of pure bee's wax in my fanny pack for field used. I've even used a little cut of thin tree bark to burning a string in the woods when I didn't have suitable material on hand.

LightPaw, Paraffin is not a softing agent, it is evey bit as hard as bees wax when solid. It is the samething most candles are made out of these days. I wouldn't waste good beeswax mixing it with paraffin. Like mentioned use toliet seat ring, vaseline, mineral oil, or olive oil, these all will soften beeswax. DANNY

Thanks Linecutter, I appreciate the feedback. Now to find the beeswax.

Good stuff

I don't wish to be controversial, but, why, when we have strings made from some of the most complex engineered polymer compounds do we need to add wax to them ... what does it do?

Helps protect the strands from fraying.

if you don't have a beekeeper around you, you can buy beeswax from Michael's and/or Hobby Lobby. The sell it in the candle making section, around 15 bucks for a pound. But, if you look online, you can usually get a 40 or 50% off coupon.

I have been making strings for at least 30 years, the easiest and best string makers wax is easily made from a pound of beeswax and one toilet bowl ring. One batch will make a lifetime supply for you and most of your friends. I pour it up into small Dixie cups to harden.

I now know why so many people who make their own strings are having trouble with their strings elongating. When you add softeners to pure bees wax, the strands can and will slip, so its not the strands stretching as it is slippage of the strands. Pure bees was will prevent the slippage and keep the string from elongating. Yes softening the wax makes it easier to make the string but in my opinion it doesn't make a better string,.

Bob

The 2/3 wax, 1/3 toilet ring is the best way to go, in my opinion. Makes a good string wax for making OR maintaining a string.

[[[ aromaker said: "I now know why so many people who make their own strings are having trouble with their strings elongating. When you add softeners to pure bees wax, the strands can and will slip, so its not the strands stretching as it is slippage of the strands. Pure bees was will prevent the slippage and keep the string from elongating. Yes softening the wax makes it easier to make the string but in my opinion it doesn't make a better string,.

Bob" ]]]

I mostly agree with this, except, the only place where the hard resin 100% wax is necessary is in the loops/loop splices.

In the main body of the string, a soft wax is beneficial, because it will flow into & through the fibers of the string much easier, thus reducing, and even eliminating unnecessary abrasion caused from burnishing.

A good soft wax will distribute evenly into & through the string, and it's fibers by simply rubbing it in with your fingers while the string is relaxed, then string it up, and gently wipe away any excess.

In general, the loops of a string never need rewaxing after construction. It's the main body of the string where attention/maintenance are sometimes needed.

So, to that end, I build my strings with 100% triple filtered beeswax in the loops, and a good soft beeswax blend in the main body, and keep the soft blend handy for maintenance when/if needed.

I've tried a lot of different blends, and most of those mentioned here. I still searched & experimented for something I liked better. I found it. While it may not be considered as such by others, I love it.

I made up, sold, and even gave away a lot of my wax blend. Never had any complaints about it.

I've never shared this blend before, but why not:

4oz 100% triple filtered beeswax to 3 tbl spoons coconut oil.

I use a small electric pyrex coffee pot to heat & blend it up, then just pour it into a container of choice.

Rick

75% Bee's wax, 25% toilet bowl wax for me. I melt them together in an old aluminum pie pan over the top of some water on the stove. Stir them up and pour them in mini muffin liners set in a mini muffin pan from Goodwill or a garage sale.

All that has been required for me is a piece of leather. I rub the wax on string then work it into strands rubbing the leather up and down string. Its fast and works really well for me and keeps things slick and clean. The leather creates friction that melts the wax that flows into strands.

I asked the son of a guy here that made his own. He said, that his dad heated it up and added a few drops of either cod-liver oil or coconut oil. That made sense to what I remembered, but if you add a few drops of lime to that you get this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je98UffdN18

That's cool Rick. I never thought about using coconut oil. We always have it around and use it for all sorts of stuff from skin care, to a nightly treat for the dogs, to cooking.

Rick: I believe that hard wax can be used on the body of the string as well, it doesn't take much friction to rub the wax into the string. A soft piece of deer skin will quickly infuse the wax.

Bob

Remembering back to the early 60s here, my friend's dad also made his own strings, he made one for me and gave the bees wax blend to me. He said it was a must do to keep the string well waxed. He made his strings from thread that he got from Shorty Mol, also known as Moly, the midget shoe maker in town.

Bob, I agree. It can with no problem.

I was just saying it is only necessary for the loop construction.

I prefer a soft lighter weight wax for the main body of the string, because the 100% beeswax makes the string stiff.

Rick

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