On Fri, 27 Apr 2018 16:41:54 +1000, James
wrote:

On 27/04/18 10:14, John B. wrote:


I would be a bit apprehensive about heating any hydrocarbon over an
open flame.... after all their most important property is that they
burn.


So does most cooking oil. The interesting bit is the flashpoint.

Motor oil seems fairly high. 420-485F = 215C.
Similar for paraffin wax at 250C.

Food oil is a bit higher at 315C

But keep in mind, you usually see smoke before fire. If the solution is
smoking hot, turn off the heat source.

Or use a thermometer to monitor the temperature and keep it at or below
150C to be safe.

I use a Chinese made electric "Wok". I let the pot melt the wax and
cycle through at least one thermostat cycle and then drop in the chain
and leave it for two cycles. By this time the chain is at
approximately the same temperature as the liquid wax.

I then remove the chain from the wax and "hang it up to dry" until it
reaches ambient temperatures and then reinstall it.

When the chain is first handled after waxing it is slightly stiff
proving that the wax has penetrated into the inner regions of the
chain. As for those that assert that the wax is squeezed out of the
chain I can only comment that I took a couple of links apart on a
waxed chain after use and the wax was not squeezed out of the links.
It was still there.
--
Cheers,

John B.