Here you go Dean,
Making Lube, as I did it
My lube is a simple mix, half beeswax and half Alox. Since the Alox formula I used to use isn’t available these days, I switched to what I believe to be a very good substitute, Xlox 350. White Label Lube is the supplier of this Xlox. link -
http://www.lsstuff.com/lube/ You can find beeswax on the web and I buy from folks that sell it through these forums.
Getting started. First, it is probably best to not borrow any cooking utensils from your spouse. If you do, she’ll be imagining that she smells alox in the mashed potatoes a year from how.
I used a large tin similar to an old lard can, probably 4 gallon size, and bent the top edge to form a pouring spout. The day I chose to brew this mixture was calm and about 20 degrees. Since I make this outside I was suitably dressed for the weather. I set up my propane burner on the picnic/saw horse/game dressing table in the back yard. I didn’t use a double boiler because I couldn’t find a smaller tin to place inside the large one. I would recommend that anyone trying this use the double boiler method for safety purposes. I felt safe doing it my way because of the wide base of the can and also the depth of about 16-18 inches keeping the flames underneath at all times and never extending up the sides of the can. I did have a trash can lid handy to cover my “pot” should that be necessary. I had just over 4 pounds of beeswax and I put that into the pot and turned the heat to low. While that slowly melted I gathered up my lube tubes which are sections of RV awning poles and tightly capped one end of each with duct tape. Now I packed a 5 gal bucket with snow and stuck my dozen or so tubes into it, open end up to accept the lube when ready. The snow serves two purposes, cool the lube and hold the tubes upright as the lube is poured. It didn’t take too long and the beeswax melted so I carefully added the 2 quarts (approx 4 pounds) of Xlox. Wanting to be certain that my mix was well blended I stirred this mixture over heat for about 15 minutes. I was able to hold onto the can with just a pair of leather work gloves so I carefully filled each tube using a funnel and watching for the tube to fill. There was enough lube left after this that I poured three 8” pans of lube for future use.
When it’s time to remove the lube from the tubes it’s a simple matter of removing the duct tape, heating the entire tube in very hot water and then pushing out the lube with a ramrod, mine being an old broomstick. Comes out slick as can be if the tube temp is warm enough.
My lube machines are both Lyman's which have the pressure screw in the center and should require hollow sticks of lube. I don’t bother with trying to get a hole in the lube. Just push it down into the luber and it makes its own hole.
There are probably hundreds of lube mixtures being used, some undoubtedly with state of the art materials. Mine is an old formula that I find works for me and it’s a simple mix of two materials.
