# PARAFFIN SOURCE?



## Dan Williamson (Apr 6, 2004)

Bill-

I buy mine at Hobby Lobby for $1/lb but its gotta be cheaper somewhere. I'd love to hear as well.

Also.... have you found another source of rosin other than Pacific Coast Chemical Co out of CA? Its mighty expensive shipping that stuff here to Indiana.


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## BULLSEYE BILL (Oct 2, 2002)

Hi Dan,
I hadn't been looking for rosin since I still have a 50# bag in the shed, hence the need for 100# of paraffin.

I'll check HL, they did not have it last time I checked, but that sure beats $1.67 at Walmart. Michaels was even higher.

I know that there has to be an industrial supplier for paraffin, I just have not found one yet.


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## KSbee (Feb 18, 2005)

You might try this company-
http://www.dpswax.com/DPS_index.html


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## iddee (Jun 21, 2005)

Her's another one.

http://candles.genwax.com/candle_nav/___0___candle_wax_par.htm


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## magnet-man (Jul 10, 2004)

Thanks for the complement Bill. However, paraffin is just like woodenware. You have to figure in freight versus sales tax on the local level. I think you will need more like 300 pounds though to dip. I did some dipping this year for the first time and once you get setup it sure beats painting. 

Unless there is a local bulk supplier, it is just easier to have it shipped to you.

[ October 24, 2006, 08:55 PM: Message edited by: magnet-man ]


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## livetrappingbymatt (Jan 13, 2006)

too bad your so far away,i've got several 80lb boxs of 142deg wax.made some candles with it but don't have enought time.
bob


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## BULLSEYE BILL (Oct 2, 2002)

Called the local Hobby Lobby and sure enough, they have ten pound blocks for $9.99.

I found a chemical company that sells 55 pound blocks, but they will have to call a price to me tomorrow.

$1.oo per pound sure beats Wally World. Ten pound blocks would be more convenient than 55 pound blocks when measuring. Guess I'll have to weigh the differences in price and convenience.

>Unless there is a local bulk supplier, it is just easier to have it shipped to you.

I'm all for that, it's just finding a place that sells it at a reasonable price. I've already bought and used a couple hundred pounds and need about that much again. I really like boiling my boxes in para-rosin and I will never paint again.


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## Dan Williamson (Apr 6, 2004)

>>I really like boiling my boxes in para-rosin and I will never paint again. 

I'm with you Bill.... My tank is so large that it took 150# of Rosin and 300lbs of paraffin just to get the tank up to the right height. I dipped alot of equipment last year and need to add 50# of rosin and 100# of paraffin to get to a better level in the tank, which is why I was asking about a rosin supplier.

Everyone that's ever seen my dipped woodenware when water hits it is amazed. It just beads up and runs off. 

It was expensive for me to do the initial set up but well worth it in the long run.


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## KSbee (Feb 18, 2005)

Bill- I know you've posted info on your dipping tank before but I can't remember the details. Was it a double boiler setup? What type of burner are you using? I'd appreciate some pics if you have some handy. Thanks


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## Ardilla (Jul 17, 2006)

I used to order 50 lb cases of wax from Pourette (5, 10 lb blocks).

http://www.pourette.com/ 

The price was pretty good - though I don't see case prices on their website. You could give them a call.


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## magnet-man (Jul 10, 2004)

You know I was thinking. Do you really need to add pine rosin to the wax? The rosin is really pricy and is it worth the cost? 

Of course if I lived down south, I could collect my own. I bet you can make it from old Christmas trees.

[ October 25, 2006, 10:38 AM: Message edited by: magnet-man ]


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## BULLSEYE BILL (Oct 2, 2002)

KSbee, sorry, my site went kaput and my pics are still packed somewhere.

Imagine a square steel box one inch larger in diameter than a hive box and twice as deep plus two inches. Add handles on both ends and set it on a small electric kitchen stove on the patio. That's it.

The stove has three burners on it and an extension cord that runs into the house 220. It takes about three hours to bring the wax up to temperature, usually about 230 and I boil the boxes for about 15 minutes.

I can stack two boxes and stand one deep or two mediums on end that in the next cycle the ones standing will be turned over end, thus doing at least 2 1/2 boxes at a time. Oh yes, I have to put one more box on top to keep them weighted down as they like to float. I also have a few bricks that are well coated that I use to weight down wood or to bring the level of wax up with.


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## BULLSEYE BILL (Oct 2, 2002)

http://www.beesource.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=12;t=000746#000000


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## iddee (Jun 21, 2005)

>>>usually about 230 and I boil the boxes for about 15 minutes.<<<

Bill, How are you going to get it past 212 when you add the double boiler???

Are you going to seal the water jacket and build up steam pressure, or what??


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## BULLSEYE BILL (Oct 2, 2002)

>Bill, How are you going to get it past 212 when you add the double boiler???

Yeah, that's why the project got put on hold.  

212 would still be hot enough, but it seems that the majority of posters here have been using much higher temps to boil their boxes.

Mann Lake suggests boiling in 180, but cautioned that the boxes get sticky. I did not have that problem with the first boxes I did at that temperature. Since then I have been using higher heat and the wax seems to penetrate better and the boxes are drier. Some of them are hard to tell that they had been treated at all just by looking at them.

I was a bit freaked when I first started boiling wax. Especially when a pin hole started leaking on the element  I got that fixed and have inched upward in temperature and feel that heating it directly on electric elements is safe enough for me. 

So, I still plan to have Reed make a better tank, but I think that I will forgo the double boiler on it.


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## magnet-man (Jul 10, 2004)

Bill what did you pay for your rosin?


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## BULLSEYE BILL (Oct 2, 2002)

I am still waiting for a bid from the local chemical company. He is also going to get me pricing on pine rosin. Said that local delivery is no problem in the state, perhaps as far as you are too.

He dropped into the store rather than just calling me, so I know that he is working for me.

OH! you said rosin not wax. I forgot. Dan might remember what he paid, I'll have to find my reciept, but I can tell you that it was much cheaper than buying it from Mann Lake.


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## magnet-man (Jul 10, 2004)

> much cheaper than buying it from Mann Lake


Good! Mann Lake can be very expensive on some things.


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## BULLSEYE BILL (Oct 2, 2002)

Just called for quote:

Pacific Coast Chemical in Berkley, CA at 510-549-3535. 
--------------------------------------------------

Latest priceing is $1.45 lb plus shipping.  Far cry from the .80 lb I paid a year or two ago. She said that shipping from Brazil has bumped the price up.

UPS is about $35. to get it here. That's $2.09 with shipping. I'll let you know when Barsol (Barton Solvents) gets back with me on both the wax and the rosin.


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## Dan Williamson (Apr 6, 2004)

>>212 would still be hot enough, but it seems that the majority of posters here have been using much higher temps to boil their boxes.

I dipped yesterday about 40 boxes and 15 covers and some bottom boards and nucs. I can get approx 7 med supers done at a time plus some bottom boards etc... I boiled at 325 deg for 15min at a time. 

>>1.45/lb.... 

WOW... that's alot higher than the $1.09/lb I paid earlier this year..... It cost me around $147 for 100lbs delivered then. Now it'll be that much more... I need 100lbs or so.... by next spring..... OUCH! 

Let me know what that pine rosin quote turns out to be. I need to find a closer source.


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