Thread: Chain waxing
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Old June 6th 18, 12:54 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Theodore Heise[_2_]
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Posts: 132
Default Chain waxing

On Wed, 6 Jun 2018 09:05:25 -0000 (UTC),
Tanguy Ortolo wrote:
Hello,

For those interested in this, after my last inquiry about chain
lubing, I decided to wax my chain by immersing it in a hot
mixture of solid and liquid paraffin (with a ratio of 50% of
paraffin oil).

After about 600 km, including some significant rain,, must say
it works pretty well. My chain still runs smoothly, and is
almost perfectly clean. When needed, I can simply wipe it with
some paper towel. I do not know yet when I will have to wax it
again, but it seems to hold pretty well.


I've used wax on my chains for about 25 years. I've always used
an old coffee can and meat thermometer with 100% parrafin wax
(GulfWax, found with canning supplies). My practice has been to
put it on the stove and heat it to about 250 F, then dip chains
into it one at a time--fishing them out with a piece of coat
hanger wire, and laying them out on old newspaper to drain a bit.

Recently we moved into a house that has a glossy black solid
topped range, and I didn't want to put the process onto it. So I
went out last weekend and got one of these multi-cookers:

https://www.amazon.com/Presto-114324...SIN=B00006IUWH

It worked great. The temperature control does away with the need
for the meat thermometer, and the basket allows me to drain each
dipped chain before putting it out onto paper. The drain basket
does away with the need to fish around in the wax for the chains
(sometimes the quick links have been awfully hard to find).

I'm amazed at how much easier this is, plus I can do it all in the
garage and not have the potential to make a mess in the kitchen.

I've always kept an extra chain for each bike, and not re-dipped
until most of them need it. This new process is so much simpler,
I may be dipping more often--like when each bike has a chain
(rather than two) that needs waxing.

--
Ted Heise West Lafayette, IN, USA
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