Preservation.

[Waschbaer]

Hey youse guys! I just detail stripped my p08 for the first time ever. WOW! She looked pretty clean from the outside, but in every nook and cranny she's got eighty nine years worth of gunk, dirt, blood, sweat, and who knows what else? I'm cleaning the living hell out of her right now. The question is: what can I put on her to keep her protected from the moisture from my swamp cooler, etc. I don't believe renaissance wax is available here, and I don't want to gunk 'er up again either. I figure if I don't coat her in something she'll rust to death though. I want to stay away from oil, and don't want anything that isn't removable. Car wax???? I really have no ideas here, do YOU? Something polishable (like the car wax I wondered about) would be nice to display her. Thanks, Tom Platt.

[RockinWR]

Tom,
* Well, I guess petroleum jelly and motor oil are out although I have run into those that use these regularly.
* Short or long term?? Active or passive??
* Many on the Forum have professed Breakfree is the product of choice. Understand Breakfree is now marketing a version for long term collector's storage; but, have not heard the results as "long term" hasn't elapsed yet. <img border="0" alt="[sleep]" title="" src="graemlins/sleep.gif" />
* Personally, I clean my pistols with Hoppes & an old toothbrush. Holed "T" Shirt dried afterwards. Long term storage includes a light film of "RIG". A safe with a "Golden Rod" and/or a bank's safety deposit box w/ dessicant bag(s) both preferably away from the swamp cooler condensor. Same thing my father did starting in the 50's. Never had a problem. Rig does stiffen-up; so, after it has had a chance to dry, don a pair of gloves and exercise the functions of the pistol(short of firing). Be good to go for 4-5 years; but, I check more frequently.
* Short term, between show displays, may simply be a wipedown with a "Wally's" Rag.
* Do a Forum search as 5-6 threads have "waxed" eloquently on this subject....if you'll pardon the pun. Lots of suggestions & Product URL's.
Respectfully,
Bob

[ViggoG]

Tom,
As far as I can determine, The Most Protective Constituent in Renaissance Wax is Pure Carnuba Wax.
The Higher the percentage of Carnuba the Better the wax.
I find that Johnsons Paste Wax, Thats Right Floor and Furniture Wax works well for me, Its all that I have Used for 30 years.
Just wipe down with a Wax saturated rag and store in a dry Place, when its Show Time, Polish with a soft Terry Cloth Towel and it shines like new.
When Show time is over Just go back to "Just wipe down with a Wax saturated rag".
I believe that Simonize Car Wax would be excellent, just stay away from any cleaner waxes or other unknown additives.
Simonize Car Wax would probably be the best for Shooters and Hunting Guns that are subject to exposure to weather.
If you have any questions Post back, Drop a PM, or ask for my eMail address.
ViggoG

[Waschbaer]

Thanks for the replies! As things turned out, I got her too clean! Hoppes contains oil, I wanted her free of all foreign matter, so I used laquer thinner instead, making sure to stay away from the white lettering (as that is laquer, I understand). In the end she squeaked like a child's playground set upon cycling the action. "Not good," I thought, as squeaking means friction, friction means wear, wear means "meine pistole ist kaput!" My original thought was that oil would attract dust and other nasty crud. I scrapped that idea, gave her a good coat of ultra-thin "Kroil" and put her in a pistol case for safe (and clean) keeping. I should be receiving my "shooter" pretty soon, so better to keep her safe and sound for future generations. She's waited 89 years, but she's finally been decommissioned, discharged, retired, and put to pasture. It's better that way, so case closed on the wax issue. Again, thank you, --Tom.

[Herb]

I'll have to agree with Viggo, I use Meguiar's 'Deep
Crystal' Carnauba auto wax after a good cleaning with carb or brake cleaner. If you get white deposits in the cracks and crannies just use a tooth brush to get it out. I figure if it's good enough for Ferrari's, Lamborgini's and John D's Prosche, it's good enough for my Lugers. So far I have never had a problem doing that. Just an occasional 'dusting off' is all I need to do to make 'em shine.

[Edward Tinker]

Unless you totally forget about a gun, once cleaned and checked every couple of months, breakfree or Hoppes will keep a gun rust free. A swamp cooler is nothing like living in the south where humidity is a way of life, and when I lived where it is humid, with guns, they were fine and I lived in Louisianna, Alabama, Hawaii and Tacoma, Wa, all without a problem. Forgetting about a gun is the mistake, just check it every couple of months. Set your Outlook to remind you to check it every couple of months and you'll be fine.

Shes lasted this long, she's not a puppy, she'll do fine,

Ed

[Hugh]

<img border="0" alt="[bigbye]" title="" src="graemlins/xyxwave.gif" /> There was an article by Wayne Goddard (Knifemaker) in the april 2003 issue of BLADE Magazine detailing an experiment he conducted on various waxes and their rust preventing properties. He tested 1. Zymol Liquid Car Wax, 2.Johnson's Paste Wax, 3. Butcher's Bowling Alley Wax, 4. Butcher's Boston Polish Paste Wax, 5. Renaissance Wax, 6. Trewax, 7. Briwax.

He prepared two pieces of bandsaw steel by grinding the surfaces to give a flat, oil & dirt free surface. He then used acetone to clean the steel, and applied the waxes to different areas of the steel using the manufacturers instructions for the wax application. Some areas of the steel were left unprotected for comparasion.

Four drops of tap water were applied to the center of each test area to make one big drop. After one hour, there were some small spots of discolatation under each water drop except for one; the Briwax. At three hours all the water drops except one (Briwax) were becoming cloudy. He then went to bed. The next morning the water had evaporated and all the areas showed a rust spot EXCEPT FOR ONE. The one spot not showing any rust was the Briwax. <img border="0" alt="[oops]" title="" src="graemlins/oops.gif" />

Not satisfied, he repeated the experiment with two more pieces of steel, using only the Renaissance Wax and the Briwax. After coating the two pieces of steel with the two waxes, he splashed several large puddles of water on each one. After 18 hours, the water had evaporated and there were rust spots on the Renaissance Wax sample and none on the Briwax sample.

Briwax won the test hands down. He admitted that he was suprised by the results of the test, having believed that the other waxes would give more protection than they did.

I have been using Renaissance Wax on my guns and knives, but am now sending my order in for some Briwax!
Info is available at www.briwaxwoodcare.com. It is imported from England and is more expensive than the other products.

I have no vested interest in any of the products mentioned, no does Mr. Goddard. This information is presented here for the members benefit only. <img border="0" alt="[thumbsup]" title="" src="graemlins/bigok.gif" />

[ViggoG]

Hugh, <img border="0" alt="[byebye]" title="" src="graemlins/wave.gif" />
Thanks for a very enlightening post on Wax Protection.
Since you are getting some Briwax could you make a comparison with a good Car Wax such as Simonize?
I noticed that there was no comparison with any Exterior Grade Car Wax.
I believe that such comparison would add greatly to the work of "Wayne Goddard (Knifemaker)".
thanks for your contribution. <img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" />
ViggoG

[Edward Tinker]

I know that others are taken with using car wax, but I hesitate to use it. It is designed for different items then oils... A pure wax as a coating might be fine (the arguement that musuems use it is a bit flawed, as they want the piece to be incredibly maintance free and many times I believe not as interested in no harm to the piece...)

So, back to car waxes, aren't they designed to take out road dirt, i.e. most are abrasive?

Pure wax might be an option?

I have some Briwax at the house, it is colored and designed for wood, with a stain and you put two coats onto the wood. After the 2nd coat, it then "takes" off the coats. Not sure how it works, but I have used it for many years, maybe it would be ok as a non-stain wax, but not the briwax I have...

ed

[Dean]

Briwax, and Trewax are both pretty good. Fine Woodworking magazine did an excellent article regarding waxes last year. They even had some recipes for making your own wax. Some of which I tried.

Of course this all applied to woodworking, however there were some interesting items learned.

Carnuba has a high melting point (which is why it provides a nice hard gloss) However, too much Carnuba and the wax becomes difficult to buff out. Pure Carnuba wax by itself is unusable

Being petroleum based, mineral wax is a good for water proofing.

Beeswax is added for ease of application.

Basically, you melt the waxes under low heat on a hot plate, you then blend in some mineral spirits to get a paste consitency when it cools down.
You do this outside, of course, as there is a fire hazard.

The trick is to match the proportions of the different waxes to match the application. In my case I was concocting a high Carnuba content wax for buffing into gun grips.

I would suspect that for gun preservation you would want a higher proportion of mineral wax since water proofing is desirable.

Anyhow, it was a pretty good article.

[ViggoG]

Ed and Dean,
I hope that my referring Simonize Car Wax did not mislead anyone to think that I was recommending "JUST ANY CAR WAX" that "Contained Cleaners of Any Type", As most of these cleaner Waxes contain very mild abrasives to polish off the hardened and oxidized wax and Road Grime, and would surely damage the Blueing over time.
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">I believe that Simonize Car Wax would be excellent, just stay away from any cleaner waxes or other unknown additives.
Simonize Car Wax would probably be the best for Shooters and Hunting Guns that are subject to exposure to weather. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">If its Good Enough for My "Jeep" its probably OK for my Shooters.
ViggoG