Online: | |
Visits: | |
Stories: |
Story Views | |
Now: | |
Last Hour: | |
Last 24 Hours: | |
Total: |
Looking to weatherproof your gear? You’ll need just two simple ingredients: beeswax and some “carrier oil” such as petroleum jelly. When heated, the combined ingredients will seal and protect your leather and canvas jackets, hats, bags and boots. It’ll also help preserve gun stocks, axes and other metal tools and equipment.
Since ancient times, beeswax has been used for its medicinal, antiseptic properties. Like honey, it is antifungal, anti-bacterial and anti-viral. It’s an excellent sealant that protects wood and leather, and a lubricant that “greases” iron and prevents it from rusting. Moreover, beeswax doesn’t turn bad. It can be heated for use again and again.
Mix beeswax with oil and you get a cheap, natural waterproofing solution that can last for years and years. Petroleum jelly is a good carrier oil, penetrating the surface of your gear and locking in the wax. It can seep into seams and through the tiny, microscopic pores of cotton, canvas, denim, leather, wood and metal surfaces.
Story continues below video
Alternatively, you can use linseed or flaxseed oil, shea butter, coconut oil or soya oil. Often, boiled linseed is preferred because of its quick-drying characteristic. It also has a polymer or plastic-forming property which hardens and binds it into a flexible solid.
Source: http://www.offthegridnews.com/extreme-survival/the-2-ingredient-off-grid-waterproofer-anyone-can-make/