beeswax

Prices are going to vary but I was getting $12 for a 1 Kg container of nice wax (yellow, clean, cappings or well cleaned newish wax) a few years back.

Find some local bee keepers and ask them. To find them, start with you Provincial Agriculture branch and ask for contact info near you.

Cheers
Trev
 
Right consistency, chemical structure, high melting point and it smells good.

If you read up on what chemical changes occur when making lube you'd be surprised. IIRC raw wax is better than purified bees wax.

http://www.lasc.us/LubeIngredients.htm

Physical characteristics: It is a tough wax formed from a mixture of several compounds including: hydrocarbons 14%, monoesters 35%, diesters 14%, triesters 3%, hydroxy monoesters 4%, hydroxy polyesters 8%, acid esters 1%, acid polyesters 2%, free acids 12%, free alcohols 1%, unidentified 6%

The main components of beeswax are palmitate, palmitoleate, hydroxypalmitate and oleate esters of long-chain (30-32 carbons) aliphatic alcohols, with the ratio of triacontanylpalmitate CH3(CH2)29O-CO-(CH2)14CH3 to cerotic acid CH3(CH2)24COOH, the two principal components, being 6:1.

Beeswax has a high melting point range, of 62°C to 64°C (144°F to 147°F). It does not boil in air, but continues to heat until it bursts into flame at around 120°C (250°F). If beeswax is heated above 85 °C (185 °F) discoloration occurs. Density at 15°C is 0.958 to 0.970 g/cm3.
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What is beeswax used for? Was going to start keeping this year, and have never heard of a gun-related application. Very cool to hear, though. Thx
 
If you're in the Hamiltion area and don't mind a nice country drive, Dutchman's gold in Carlisle has it pretty cheap. Last time I was there it was $5.00 a pound, but that was a year or 2 ago, may have gone up a bit, still cheaper than Michael's.
 
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