Beeswax for CXL treatment

[Guppy]

My Aero Board Racer was starting to feel a bit thirsty, so I decided to give it a little TLC today after work.

I did not take any before/after pics, so sorry in advance. I wasn't planning on posting about it, as it's just routine maintenance and when you have as many jackets as I do, it's a bit much to treat every little thing as a project.

I have used Pecard's in the past and have noticed that it seems to significantly softens CXL leather, and I wasn't sure that I wanted that result, so for this treatment I decided to pull out a can of Sno Seal, which as far as I know is just 100% beeswax, and applied a light coat to the entire outer shell, and then applied some heat with a hair dryer, enough to get it to melt and absorb into the leather, rubbing it in with a lint free cloth rag and wiping off any excess.

Very pleased with the results. No obvious difference in the appearance of the leather, and if anything it's now stiffer with the additional wax in it than it was before. I imagine it's a bit more waterproof than it was, too. The surface feels the same, slightly waxier I suppose, and maybe a little tacky in spots that I'll need to go back over with the hair dryer again until it's completely "dry" to the touch.

At about $1/oz it's not terribly expensive, and a little goes a long way. I've used it for decades on boots and baseball gloves, but never tried it on a leather jacket before. Not sure how it would take for every leather, but for Horween CXL I can definitely recommend it.

 

[jonbuilder]

I would guess it would be similar to percards. I learned to go light with percards jelly or a white residue will develop and only use it on dry leather

 

[Guppy]

I would guess it would be similar to percards. I learned to go light with percards jelly or a white residue will develop and only use it on dry leather

I think Pecard's is petroleum jelly based, not wax. Different length hydrocarbon chains, different properties, but similar.

 

[Lebowski]

Wax is used for protection any leather from rain/snow/sun, that's the main and only wax feature. Pecard designed for leather treatment to prevent it from overdrying, though it also gives the leather some protection from water. Different properties, different goals. I usually prefer Pecard, but have also found that it's not very good for Aero CXL, 'cause it makes it too soft.
@Guppy , please show some photos of the result, considering your words it should look great.
P.S. Slightly and less are surely the main words when working with wax.

 

[navetsea]

if its in the can in a paste form then can not be 100% beewax

100% beewax is a yellow candle like bar (or other form it is cast into), on small object like wristband or belt clip, I rub the bar right on the object, and buff it with cloth, on bigger object like jacket I don't dare to use it yet, not sure how to smear it evenly, and it is a lot of elbow grease to buff it out since it remains tacky when not truly buffed, hard work i tried on my patch pocket with hairdryer too but the result is not even, would be a disaster when applied on the entire panel of a jacket the way I did it.

 

[robrinay]

I used to make beeswax Boot polish and use it in my hiking boots. As explained above 100% beeswax is as hard as a candle. The only way to apply 100% beeswax to leather is to dissolve it in a Leather Safe volatile solvent. Once applied the solvent evaporates leaving just the wax in and on the leather Stage 1?- To make the polish I would rub the lump of beeswax on an old cheese grater to produce grated wax (You’re really just increasing its surface area to speed up dissolving it in stage 2).
Stage 2 half fill a clean glass jar (which has a screw top lid) with natural turpentine. It’s expensive stuff - you can usually buy it at an art supplies shop. Do not confuse natural turps with white spirit (turps substitute). Natural turpentine is extracted from trees and smells good.
Stage 3 add the beeswax flakes to the jar until the level rises to half an inch below the top of the jar. Loosely fit the lid to keep the water out and carefully stand the jar in a bowl of warm water - water level below the top of the jar - you don’t want to get water in your polish. Nb no naked flames as natural turps fumes will catch fire. The warmth will speed up the wax dissolving in the natural turps. Alternative just leave the jar for a day or so in the sun and the wax will dissolve. When it looks like clear honey when warm or set honey when cold you’ve got a beeswax polish. Apply sparingly to boots With a soft brush, (I wouldn’t use it on a jacket though), wipe off any excess allow some of the natural turps to evaporate and as the wax starts to harden buff it. If you Google beeswax polish recipe you’ll probably find info on ‘correct’ volumes and weights for the recipe but Ive always gone for 50/50 by volume wax flakes to natural turpentine. Disclaimer - use at your own risk. I use it on bare wood and my boots - I wouldn’t use it on an expensive soft leather jacket. Natural turpentine used to be something we didn’t worry about but these days the label carries the usual warnings ie harmful by skin contact inhalation and ingestion. Keep away from naked flames - flammable.

 

[handymike]

This sounds great for a leather backpack or satchel.

 

[TREEMAN]

Very interesting..........

 

[dannyk]

I used to make beeswax Boot polish and use it in my hiking boots. As explained above 100% beeswax is as hard as a candle. The only way to apply 100% beeswax to leather is to dissolve it in a Leather Safe volatile solvent. Once applied the solvent evaporates leaving just the wax in and on the leather Stage 1?- To make the polish I would rub the lump of beeswax on an old cheese grater to produce grated wax (You’re really just increasing its surface area to speed up dissolving it in stage 2).
Stage 2 half fill a clean glass jar (which has a screw top lid) with natural turpentine. It’s expensive stuff - you can usually buy it at an art supplies shop. Do not confuse natural turps with white spirit (turps substitute). Natural turpentine is extracted from trees and smells good.
Stage 3 add the beeswax flakes to the jar until the level rises to half an inch below the top of the jar. Loosely fit the lid to keep the water out and carefully stand the jar in a bowl of warm water - water level below the top of the jar - you don’t want to get water in your polish. Nb no naked flames as natural turps fumes will catch fire. The warmth will speed up the wax dissolving in the natural turps. Alternative just leave the jar for a day or so in the sun and the wax will dissolve. When it looks like clear honey when warm or set honey when cold you’ve got a beeswax polish. Apply sparingly to boots With a soft brush, (I wouldn’t use it on a jacket though), wipe off any excess allow some of the natural turps to evaporate and as the wax starts to harden buff it. If you Google beeswax polish recipe you’ll probably find info on ‘correct’ volumes and weights for the recipe but Ive always gone for 50/50 by volume wax flakes to natural turpentine. Disclaimer - use at your own risk. I use it on bare wood and my boots - I wouldn’t use it on an expensive soft leather jacket. Natural turpentine used to be something we didn’t worry about but these days the label carries the usual warnings ie harmful by skin contact inhalation and ingestion. Keep away from naked flames - flammable.

I too have used similar techniques. Actually Sno-Seal and Huberds Grease. Theres a thread on here about my collection of veg-tan handmade moccasins. They have 0 coatings of any kind, just the veg-tan process. Some of the pairs I leave as is. But two pairs, one pair thats the oldest and another that I wear in the spring and fall so get wet and dirty. One pair I used sno-seal and the other I used Huberds. Both I did the same. I got a blow dryer and heated the boots up-conversely you could get the applicant and heat that...but I heated sections of the boot and then rubbed in the huberds/sno seal. It worked incredibly well and they drank it up, as they have no coatings so it went deep. The one pair took 3 coats of Huberds. Which sounds extreme but after each coat, I would leave them outside to air dry which took a day or two. I would then look them over carefully and see how they dried, and the one pair was thirsty and took the coats. So I would highly recommend for certain types of leather heating them, and carefully spread a light coat and then air dry.

 

[Guppy]

Very interesting, I have learned something today! Thank you for the information.

I'll try to get some good lighting for pics showing the "after" as someone had requested above. It really does look rather good, as most things do after a fresh coat of wax has been applied to them.

 

[Guppy]

 

[Peacoat]

Excellent Job, Guppy.

 

[handymike]

I recently used a Carnauba Wax based product on my CXL FQHH jacket. It went on easily and created a nice dull lustre while bringing back the black where it had turned greyish.

 

[TREEMAN]

Good job Gup

 

[Lebowski]

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The final result Looks impressive, @Guppy you did it well!

 

[Guppy]

The final result Looks impressive, @Guppy you did it well!

I kinda regret not bothering to take before pics, because now I'm curious myself just how much it improved. I think it looked just fine before, and didn't do this for looks, but because it felt a tad dry. I do think it looks nicer now, but how much, I couldn't say.

I recently used a Carnauba Wax based product on my CXL FQHH jacket. It went on easily and created a nice dull lustre while bringing back the black where it had turned greyish.

That's an interesting point -- I do think that my jacket looks more black now. Like the black is more black than it was. More "vibrant", or I dunno how to put it exactly.

 

[Guppy]

There seems to be a lot of conflicting information about wax. I can't guarantee every candle of that type is 100% pure paraffin, all I can say is that every candle of that type I've ever had has had a low melt point analogous to that of paraffin. Good enough for me. Half of the specific wax play candles I've seen have had 10 times more random crap in them...

I wouldn't know about rubbing a candle on leather, although it might work just fine, but the product I referenced above, Sno-Seal, is specifically formulated for use with leather and is normally used for waterproofing boots. I've used it on baseball gloves as well, and it's a product that I've used for decades.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

Sno Seal is cheaper because it has plenty of additives. I believe my old tub had a list on it, but it is buried somewhere. If memory serves at all, it has silicone in it as one additive. I used to use it on my paratrooper boots that I wore for work (not military). I found a hair dryer is necessary to get it deep into the leather. Honestly, I don't care for it much, which is why it is buried somewhere. Compared to other products, I found it didn't last very long. That's for boots, though. And even if you used a hair dryer, you had to go back and spot buff it because it would crack in the creases of the leather. Makes me think there is a good percentage of cheap waxes in it as well. I know some people swear by it. To each their own. I think the last time I checked, the 8oz tub was around $6, but it was as much as $12 in some places. At that price point, Obenaufs would be a better option. Oh, and I also think Sno Seal smells awful. I had to keep my tub, application toothbrush and buffing rags double ziplocked.

 

[Boyo]

Ive used this on a few jackets and boots.. seemed ok, smells nice

 

[navetsea]

There seems to be a lot of conflicting information about wax. I can't guarantee every candle of that type is 100% pure paraffin, all I can say is that every candle of that type I've ever had has had a low melt point analogous to that of paraffin. Good enough for me. Half of the specific wax play candles I've seen have had 10 times more random crap in them... I would like to recommend you these guys https://cocoluxemelts.co.uk. They sell sets of various wax melts and wax burners too, so it's a good alternative to perfume.

paraffin will crack into white dust flakes, you can't polish flexible stuff like jacket with parafin imo.. the only use for paraffin on jacket is for the zipper.. even for that I rather use graphite pencil dust since I always have them inside my lead sharpener, just dab the powder with microfiber cloth, and rub it along the zipper teeth.

I use transparent paraffin cheap shoepolish like KIWI brand, to polish brass belt buckles.