Making lube sheets

[Hawkeye2]

I have been trying to think of ways to form a stiff lube into sheets so that I could cut out wax wads. I looked at clay extruders but wasn't impressed and I have heard that they don't hold up well for the task. Have any of you used a clay machine or pasta maker to roll uniform sheets of lube? The price is way under the price of the extruder die from Buffalo Arms.

http://www.amazon.com/Makins-Profession ... ay+Machine

http://www.buffaloarms.com/Lube_Ribbon_ ... x?CAT=3799

[jhrosier]

I don't recall the exact details, but I recall hearing about dipping and rolling a glass bottle in melted wax and then cutting and pealing a sheet of wax from the bottle.
maybe someone else can recall more of the details.


Jack

[Hawkeye2]

I have heard of that and methods that involve pouring the lube onto water or in a pan etc. but none of these give a good uniform and repeatable thickness. I have some sheets of lube a friend picked up for me at a black powder cartridge shoot many years ago but they were quite expensive.

[Ray Newman]

I load a lubricating disc (AKA grease cookie) in my .45 and .50 Black Powder cartridges :

Pour the melted lube into a non-stick cake pan to the desired depth/thickness. I use a thin piece of wood, with a notch cut at 3/16", the thickness of the lube cake that I want.

When cool, cut the lube cake into 4 pieces.

I compress the powder with a wad in place, cut out the cake using the case, then place another wad and seat it all atop the over the powder wad with a short section of dowel. Lastly, wipe off the outside of the case with a paper towel.

[Chuck 100 yd]

I have made lube cookies by pouring melted wax/lube mix onto the top of hot water. The wax will float on top of the water and when cool/hard, the sheet can be removed. Gravity will make the sheet a uniform thickness.

[perry owens]

I have made lube cookies by pouring melted wax/lube mix onto the top of hot water. The wax will float on top of the water and when cool/hard, the sheet can be removed. Gravity will make the sheet a uniform thickness.

+1 on this method.
I use tinfoil takeaway food containers for the mould. If you measure the area of the container you can work out the volume of melted lube you need for a given thickness of sheet. You need enough lube to completely cover the surface and the water needs to be as hot as possible. The cooled lube sheet will be a little thicker at the edges but most of it will be nicely uniform.

Perry Owens

[rbertalotto]

Piece of wax paper....spray it with PAM cooking oil........pour hot lube on paper......take a 4" diameter piece of PVC pipe and wrap electrical or duck tape on ends to thickness desired.....take second sheet of PAM coated wax paper and lay on top of lube.....roll with modified PVC pipe........You end up with perfect thickness sheet of lube that is easy to store between two layers of wax paper....remove one layer and die cut your lube cookies....or leave the wax paper, put in freezer and using a drill press cut the cookies with wax paper attached so the cookie doesn't stick to the bottom of your bullet or migrate into your powder.

Easiest way I've found to do this task. I have the "Lube Extractor" that attaches to your press and could never get it to work properly with SPG.....Tried everything. Hot lube, warm lube, cold lube....sits in a drawer not with other "Great Ideas"....

[M. M. Wright]

I use the hot wax on top of hot water method. An old rolling pin is used to make it very uniform while between two sheets of wax paper. The rolling pin gets rid of those thick edges.
Powder in, (drop tube), over-powder wad, compression, seat bullet. For my Roller I just hand seat the bullet.
I think SPG will respond well to this method but is too expensive for me. I use a lot of it in lube grooves but prefer my own concoction of toilet bowl rings and olive oil for grease cookies.

[Chuck 100 yd]

I like tallow and bees wax. (25-35% tallow) . Melt in a Crayon if you like pretty colors.

[765x53]

Why not punch wads out of foundation sheets from beekeeper supply houses?

When seated on a compressed charge in a straight walled case the crinkles would flatten out sealing the case.
You could make a lube cookie by spreading lube between two sheets.

[BrentD]

Why not punch wads out of foundation sheets from beekeeper supply houses.

Because it is expensive and pure beeswax more or less.

FWIW, I use 50:50 beeswax and mutton tallow (Dixie gunworks) with a shot of jojoba oil or sperm oil just to make me feel good.