Waxing Canvas

[jbignell]

I have been working with canvas for a couple of years now and I've done some looking on this site, and others like it, to learn some new techniques.  I am very impressed with the waxed canvas bags folks have been making and I was curious if any of y'all had a good recipe for waxing cloth.  I have several yards of untreated canvas duck cloth and several pounds of pure beeswax and I was hoping that would make a good starting point.  If anyone had any methods that seemed to work well I would certainly appretiate the input.  Also, would it be best to wax the cloth prior to sewing or after?  Thank you all for your time.

[longcruise]

The unprimed works great for shooting patches.  Primed I think is sized.  Usually only have seen "sized" already mounted in a frame.  My mother used to size her canvas prior to painting and it seems like linseed oil was involved, but surely not linseed oil alone.

[T.C.Albert]

Jacob...stitch up the canvas bag as desired...heat the oven to about 200~225
degrees...when its hot, turn it off and put the bag in to warm...

Mean while, be melting the wax in a double boiler on the stove top...when melted, with the bag very warm, pull the bag out of the oven, lay it on a brown paper bag, and begin to quickly paint the bag with melted wax using a natural bristle paint brush...work fast cause it all cools pretty fast.

You can pop the bag back into a warm oven to get more even coverage and penetration on the bag...but always bear in mind that wax is flamable...so always turn the oven off before putting the bag into it...never get the oven too hot...always use a double boiler to melt the wax...and never get the bag too close to an open flame or camp fire...
TC   

[Mad Monk]

The unprimed works great for shooting patches.  Primed I think is sized.  Usually only have seen "sized" already mounted in a frame.  My mother used to size her canvas prior to painting and it seems like linseed oil was involved, but surely not linseed oil alone.

Usually the sizing was gelatin.  If you apply straight boiled linseed oil directly to a cotton or linen cloth it will quickly get brittle.  There will be a chemical reaction between the cloth and the linseed oil.

The Museum Of The Fur Trade published some good info on this.

I did not "size" my cotton fabric for my oiled bag but I loaded the oil up with some powdered limestone.

The type of oil cloth used by the French in the Great Lakes Trade had a boiled oil loaded up with "Spanish Brown" which was actually a red iron oxide pigment out of Spain at that time.  Being a lime based iron ore it would minimize any attack on the cloth by the oil but they still gelatin sized the fabric anyway.


Just keep in mind that any cloth treated with linseed oil or a wax is rather flammable.

E. Ogre

[Trkdriver99]

You can also use a heat gun or a hair dryer to drive the wax into the cloth. It will still be stiff until you use it or work it a bit and it will loosen up some. I have been using a combo of bee's wax and BOL about 50/50. Works better than straight wax for me.

Ronnie

[Kermit]

I've used unprimed linen canvas from the art store for various garments. Works well. Never waterproofed it, however. Oh--and even unwaxed, it will catch and hold a spark well. That's why tow works for tinder. You can probably figure out how I know this.