The rountuit showed up about an hour ago; so I got out some beeswax 
cakes, the single burner butane stove, some BLO and some paint thinner 
(never placed anywhere near the stove).  First I set the flame as low as 
it would go and put the cakes of beeswax in a 14 oz tomato can that had 
been through the dishwasher.  It melted in just a few minutes to a nice, 
clear golden brown.

I used a stick to measure the depth of the liquid wax then marked out 
that distance 2 more times and drew rings with a marker on the stick.  I 
poured in the BLO to reach the first ring followed immediately by the 
paint thinner to the second ring giving me roughly equal amounts of the 
three magic ingredients.  I stirred and stirred and stirred some more.  
The liquid cooled quickly. Some of the beeswax clumped into smallish 
balls and ring of beeswax formed above the surface where stirring had 
caused the liquid to ride up the cold sides of the can.

I think I got the magic potion - maybe Scott or whomever told us about 
this brew - can tell me if I'm wrong.

What I'd like to know is whether or not the clumping of the wax is 
normal and what I might do to move the emulsion level higher. Our range 
top has a warming center that has 3 or 4 levels of heating.  I made sure 
the can was not leaking and placed it on the warming area.  Will further 
heating and stirring improve consistency.  I will continue to stir it in 
hopes of getting a consistent emulsion without clumps of wax.  Am I 
overly ambitious here?

Please advise this aged neophyte.  I have a couple dozen yard and garden 
tools with metal ends and wooden handles that I want to use this elixir 
upon.  Do I need to try to remove most or all of the rust before 
applying to the steel bits?  After applying with rags or paper towels, 
should I be concerned about them spontaneously combusting?  I plan to 
put them jars or cans of water then spreading them out to dry on the 
next warm sunny day.

Thanks for any help . . .

Bob Hutchins
Temple, TX