Years ago I read somewhere to use “pitch” for black wax so bought a can of jeweler’s pitch for that purpose. When i unwind those old reeds a little cloud of dust comes off but they hold together OK. In recent years I’ve started adding a bit of linseed oil, in a totally unscientific manner. Last batch I think some of the oil was concentrated in one part of the block, some of the reeds just seemed oilier than normal for some reason…
I mean to go about this a bit more rigorously, also trying out tapping pine trees, there’s info on that on the web here and there. The hydrocarbon pitch definitely leaves a lot of gunk on your hands. What goes into your black wax? This actually doesn’t seem to have been covered much in the past on these forums.
Incidentally I’ve been using the same reed in my old concert pitch chanter for about 11 years now, and have had flat pitch reeds last for a long time too, so the pitch does hold up over time, even on its own.
My black was is a mixture of black cobbler’s wax, beeswax with a little almond oil. It’s great for starting hem wraps. Cobbler’s wax is a bit hard for my liking. I used to heat it a bit in order to use it. I like mine that is always ready to use. You have to mix it in a double boiler but that only takes a few minutes.
Thanks, that’s handy information. What’s the ratio you use (roughly) of the ingredients and can you be a tad more explicit about making it with the double boiler? Thanks again!
This is how I made the batch that I am currently using;
Place a block of beeswax, as sold by many GHB suppliers and a stick of black cobblers wax in a clean tuna fish can. I buy larger blocks at Michaels Stores and cut it up myself. Add enough almond or olive oil to get it make softer. Place it in a pot with enough water to just raise the can of the bottom. Heat while stirring with a stick or screw driver blade until color is even. Remove from heat with pliers or some such tool and cool. More beeswax or oil may need to be added with re-heating it to get it to the right consistency, so you may want to reserve a little wax. Put it on a square of fabric or leather. Run your hemp over it several times while covering the hemp with a folded over piece of either of the above. That’s it!
I make and sell “cobblers’ wax”, available at piperssupply.com. I also supply it to the NPU store. It is a mixture of rosin, pitch, beeswax and some jojoba oil or lanolin. Real pine pitch can no longer be bought. Most shoemakers don’t like to use bitumen (mineral pitch or asphalt, e.g. roofing tar) for the pitch as they feel it is detrimental to the thread. Some substitute pine tar which has been heated to cook off the turpentine and thicken it. I make various levels of hardness. In use, I want it to coat the thread fairly easily but not leave a sticky surface when wrapping reeds. It takes several passes of thread through a small piece of wax to completely coat the thread. If it is too hard, it flakes off the thread when used. Too soft it leaves a lot of sticky residue on your fingers and reeds wrapped with it remain sticky. I use around 20% beeswax in my mixture. Adding beeswax and oil reduces how sticky it is. I find adding anhydrous lanolin preferable to adding oil and or beeswax for a softer product.
Cobblers’ wax is a thermoplastic, meaning it softens when being applied and used but quickly sets up hard when left for a short time. Jeweler’s pitch is now a manufactured product with a bitumen base. It used to be pine pitch, which is not the same as the raw resin or sap from pines. Pine pitch and tar are by-products of charcoal making. Pine stumps are cooked in an outdoor kiln sealed off from oxygen so the wood does not combust. The sap is cooked out of the wood and collected at the bottom of the kiln. The liquid is pine tar, while the solids are pine pitch. They have a smoky smell. Pine sap which is tapped and distilled produces turpentine as the boiled off and condensed liquid portion, leaving rosin as the solid part left from distillation.
When modifying cobblers’ wax, you can melt it in a sort of double boiler or use a mini crock pot, which are a good temperature to melt everything but not burn it. I pour the melted mixture into a bucket of 96 to 100 degree water and allow it to cool to that water temperature. Pull off a ball smaller than a tennis ball and pull it like taffy. Fold it back on itself and pull again at least 20 times. This will thoroughly mix the ingredients and incorporate tiny air bubbles which makes it go on the thread more easily.
I should add that I get my black cobblers wax from Ted. It’s a great product! He also supplies white uncolored hemp, beeswax and reed cane. http://www.piperssupply.com Check it out.
I’ve always used a 50/50 mix of black Thermowax and soft Beeswax for putting inside the chanter holes for tuning. It’s sticky enough, and flexible enough. (I heat the waxes in the microwave until they’re near the melting point, then kneed them together.)
For hemping joints I used black Thermowax on the first few feet (keeping the wax warm and sticky) to get a good bond on the joint, then Beeswax the rest of the way out.
Thermowax is a brand name of cobbler’s wax once made in England. The company who made it closed shop and sold their business to Caswell, who no longer makes the product. The GHB maker C E Kron, paid for the rights to make it, as it was the last commercial wax of its type available. He occasionally sells it on eBay and can now found there for $20 for 4 half-ounce packets, plus postage. A couple of GHB suppliers used to carry it but have switched over to my product as I always have it in stock. Years ago, Thermowax switched from using pine pitch to bitumen (asphalt) in their wax. It was never favored by shoemakers who opted to each make their own in small batches. I used the shoemakers website for the recipes I adapted for the wax I make so it is an authentic wax of its type. There are some faux waxes sold by GHB suppliers which are no where near what cobbler’s wax should be. They should be avoided.
but they hold together OK. In recent years I’ve started adding a bit of linseed oil, in a totally unscientific manner. Last batch I think some of the oil was concentrated in one part of the block, some of the reeds just seemed oilier than normal for some reason…