Drummond 5" lathe

[MattF]

Not once it's been on there a week or two, that I've noted. Yes, I have been sad enough to rub my fingers on pieces to see if there's any notable transfer. You may get a slight amount if you've laid it on heavy, but nowt which you can't remove with another quick buff. Least that's how I've found it to seem. I've not come away with hands covered in black when I've been shifting the bits I've done around the workshop, for example.

You can always play around with the mix and use more wax, or even drop the linseed oil, which should make it a harder finish. I've kept this one inbetween with it being both a finish and wanting to retain a slight hint of lubrication for the surfaces it's applied to.

 

[Turbo]

I've been trying to gather up the ingredients for Matts's wax and eventually got the final ingredient today - the beeswax. I was trying to buy the stuff locally but couldn't get pure beeswax anywhere. The local beekeepers association hadn't the manners to reply to my e-mails and I was close to resorting to fleabay but I found some today at a hardware shop 40 miles away!
It was one of the remaining proper hardware shops that sells everything with boxes stuffed into every available space but the bloke was able to walk straight to the correct box & produced the ingots of beeswax!

So I got out the camping stove tonight & brewed up the mix according to Matts recipe. It turned out harder than I thought, like a hard shoe polish and difficult to apply when fully cold. I used boiled linseed oil instead of plain, would that cause it to be harder? What should the consistency be like?

When I get the mix right how heavy should I apply it?

What I really like about this mix is the wonderful smell you get from the gum turpentine. It's very addictive and several times I found myself 'sniffing' from the turps bottle!

 

[MattF]

Proper turpentine does have a beautiful smell about it, doesn't it.

I try to get mine around the shoe polish hardness, (that's around the type of hardness that the recipe should give), or slightly softer mark, so that I can fairly easily apply it via whatever means. Just add a dash more turpentine and/or oil to soften it. Adding more turpentine will mean it starting to harden up fairly quickly, as the turpentine evaporates, whereas adding more oil will keep it softer for longer, but then you have a slightly extended curing period. You can also just slightly warm the mix to soften it for application.

Never used boiled linseed myself, so not sure if that may have changed the consistency slightly. Easiest thing to do is just mess around with the turpentine/oil quanitites slightly until you get a softness which you like. I think the last batch I made, I did add a dash more oil in there, for example. The original recipe does cling better to more surfaces, (fairly smooth steel, for example), but adding a dash more oil in there allowed for getting it more easily into awkward spots etc. due to it being a gnats softer.

Went and buffed a few pieces the other day which I'd applied the wax to weeks ago, but never had chance to buff before now. It's a lot harder to buff up when it's cured than it is within the first day or two of applying it.

 

[Turbo]

Proper turpentine does have a beautiful smell about it, doesn't it.

It does indeed, it's like stuffing pine resin up your nose. It reminds me of the smell from a old fashioned joiners workshop where they used mostly natural softwood to make things.

Mind you it would need to smell nice at the price of it - it was £6.50 for a 500ml bottle from the local hardware store! A half bottle of whiskey would be cheaper!
I wonder would whiskey work instead, though it might not make it as far as the polish!

I applied some of the mix while it was still soft to half a spanner I had de-rusted and it brought out the natural colour of the steel nicely. But once it cooled it was impossible to apply so I'll have to do another boiling later & add more oil.

I'll also make another mix without graphite for wooden objects.

BTW, where do you get your graphite powder?

 

[MattF]

Aye, the price of turpentine is somewhat of an **** clencher, these days. Graphite powder, I just bought a kilo off a chap selling some on Ebay.

 

[bigegg]

Don't suppose you've still got the photos from this build?
I might need them to help me with the rebuild...

 

[MattF]

I'll have a look. Should have some reference photo's.

 

[bigegg]

Now I've done some research on them, I'm excited to get started.

 

[MattF]

Understated machines, those dual beds.

 

[bigegg]

Understated machines, those dual beds.

See, I didn't even know they were dual beds.

 

[MattF]

See, I didn't even know they were dual beds.

That centre, raised bed is what the tailstock runs on. It's a way of creating a large gap without using a gap piece bed design.