Making black powder wad lube

[dodgyrog]

Well as you may remember I made some saponified lube for minie boolits a few weeks back and a fine mess doing so. Today I made another recipe (and another huge mess).
The plan was to make a Mutton Tallow and Beeswax mix.
I needed some mutton tallow to mix with the beeswax. I don't suppose any of you have tried to buy such a thing as mutton tallow or you would be aware that there is NONE to be had.
On to the net to have a look for mutton a week or two ago. The Blackface Sheep company supplies mutton around 5 years old from Dumfries. I contacted them asking if they could supply some mutton fat to render down.
I had a package of some lovely mutton arrive this morning with the fat from two sheep. £40 for it all - ouch.
The fat was minced and put into a slow cooker and after a couple of hours the fat had separated off.
Next step to separate the fat from the dross and water - done with a ladle.
I put around 8oz (1/2 kg in new speak) in a jug and added the same weight of beeswax and popped it into the microwave.
After about 30 seconds a loud bang ensued and the interior of the machine had a coating of wax!!!
I scraped it all together and put it in the jug and tried a lower power setting. It worked. I got 3 1/2 pots of lovely lube which is to be used to soak felt patches with. I'll be selling the lube and patches soon when I have the felt cut and impregnated with the lube.
Having costed it out I know I can undercut the big suppliers.
I will be trying it out in my 44 BP revolver very soon.

[dodgyrog]

Alright 8oz is 1/4kg - sorry but I am getting ready to get my state pension after all!

[greenshoots]

tesco lard and beewax lot cheaper

greenshoots

[Christel]

Priceless :lol: ...what happened to the microwave, still works?

[dodgyrog]

The microwave is clean and functional.
Lard - nowhere near as good. Cheaper is not necessarily better.`I only use and sell the best.

[Meaty]

Dodgyrog,
Can beef tallow be substituted for mutton as its a lot easier to get hold of,easier to render down and smells a lot nicer?

[dodgyrog]

It can be but it's not so soft. Soft is good with black powder lube.

[part451]

I use the E45 cream and cut up pieces of shirt; it's also good for the hands too.

[dodgyrog]

I know that Dromia uses cow's udder cream; there's some weird and wonderful ideas out there.

[Mikaveli]

Aren't there any decent off-the-shelf wads or BP lube available? Seems like a lot of cost and effort?