RIP Johnsons Paste Wax

[btulloh]

Good score on the wax. A couple drops of mineral spirits on top can help older wax, if needed 

It might be a good idea to get maybe 1,798 or so screws. Don't know about you, but I always drop a couple. lol

[thecfarm]

I am heading North, I might find some too.
Cost, tax too, and shipping is all I will charge.

[SwampDonkey]

All lubricants and solvents are crazy prices now.

I get 2 cycle mix oil by the 5 litre jug, which is 1/3 the price by volume compared to the saw shops. The saws have never blew up yet. :D Chain oil I can get a full 4L jug for less than the 3.6L jugs in the shop. Some people use burnt motor oil for bar oil. :D

[Ljohnsaw]

It might be a good idea to get maybe 1,798 or so screws. Don't know about you, but I always drop a couple. lol

So I found two lots of 900 screws and one of 200 screws on eBay.  So I can loose 208 screws and still be good.  When I built my wife a horse barn and did the inside in pine ship lap, I used about 8,000 Philips head screws using an old Craftsman variable speed drill (no impact).  You really had to lean on it so it didn't cam out.  Now, that was work!

[btulloh]

Roger on the cam out.  Square drive and torx head screws plus an impact driver are some of the best things that ever happened. 

[Don P]

We were in high cotton when phillips became standard, you could power drive them but they did cam out. As a kid just about everything was slotted, and generally soft and torn up from cam out. New work with slotted screws was careful piloting and nervous driving. Screws and drivers have really improved in our lifetime. Somewhere in the barn is an old yankee screwdriver. I think I finally threw away some 3" slotted screws a few weeks ago, realizing I've been looking at the jar for over 40 years and will never, ever, use them  :D. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, as reluctant as I may be to contradict my learned and very esteemed collages here, I would like to point out that as driving systems have improved over the recent decades, screws have declined. The brass screws I can buy now are terribly weak and snap at a disturbing rate. When I make a piece of furniture or something 'nice' I really do not want to (won't) use steel screws or anything that looks like a deck screw. I use only brass or bronze when a client might see it or a corrosion stain might result.
 I have a limited stock of brass and bronze screws my Pop left for me from his boat building days. Doc gave me a couple of boxes of old stock screws he had carried around for years at the last pig roast. I may leave some of these to my son, if he knows what they are.
 I will take the time to pre-drill and set those screws correctly, it's worth it for a good finished product. I will also go through boxes of deck or structural screws when that applies. But not on nice finished pieces.
 When my Pop did gunsmithing work, he had straight screw drivers he made or bought that fit exactly in the screw slots and I mean like a hand in a glove. There was no slipping allowed when you were working on a 100+ year old weapon. If he didn't have the right size or fit for a screw, he waited until he made and heat treated one for it. Try to find an old rifle that doesn't have slotted screws.
 All I'm saying is, we still need to maintain the old ways for us old guys. Just cause it's old, don't mean it's no good.
 By the way, if anybody has boxes of old slotted screws that are NOT plain steel, you can send them my way with my undying gratitude. :D ;D

[Ljohnsaw]

The brass screws I can buy now are terribly weak and snap at a disturbing rate.

Here is a trick I developed to save the brass screws. Use a Philips head steel screw of the same size to cut the threads first.  You can even use a power driver and it's fast.

[Old Greenhorn]

Yes, John, that's mostly what I do. I use some other screws for pre and test assembly, then use the good screws on the final before delivery.

[21incher]

For brass screws I have a tube of Porter cable screw lube that I bought  about  50 years ago. Like a soft wax stick you push the end of the screw into and they go in easy if you use the right tapered drill pilot hole bit.The older screws usually have the threads stop short of the head and new ones that snap off are threaded right up to the head.

[Hilltop366]

A wax toilet ring will work for screw lube, x2 on the tapered drill or gimlet.

[kantuckid]

Check on Mitek hanger screws and compare to Simpson's. Same specs bit different design. I bought a bunch with free shipping off the web in one certain size-I think it was Shell Lumber in Miami, FL and they got drop shipped from IN to my doorstep.
Back in the old, slotted screw days I dipped lots of screws in paste wax, not so much now days what with self drill star screws.
 I can shoot a couple dozen 5/16" x 9" log screws on one small battery now w/o any wax.
Brass screws still get the wax job. 
FWIW, I still have maybe 15 or more lbs of steel slot woodscrews from bulk buys over the years. They get ignored some too.  

[kantuckid]

A wax toilet ring will work for screw lube, x2 on the tapered drill or gimlet.

Maybe a cheapo wax seal ring would be a great wax source for mixing one's own woodworking wax? It looks to be the color of beeswax. 

And, if you know a plumber maybe some pissy smelling free wax could be had? 8)

[kantuckid]

Well, as reluctant as I may be to contradict my learned and very esteemed collages here, I would like to point out that as driving systems have improved over the recent decades, screws have declined. The brass screws I can buy now are terribly weak and snap at a disturbing rate. When I make a piece of furniture or something 'nice' I really do not want to (won't) use steel screws or anything that looks like a deck screw. I use only brass or bronze when a client might see it or a corrosion stain might result.
I have a limited stock of brass and bronze screws my Pop left for me from his boat building days. Doc gave me a couple of boxes of old stock screws he had carried around for years at the last pig roast. I may leave some of these to my son, if he knows what they are.
I will take the time to pre-drill and set those screws correctly, it's worth it for a good finished product. I will also go through boxes of deck or structural screws when that applies. But not on nice finished pieces.
When my Pop did gunsmithing work, he had straight screw drivers he made or bought that fit exactly in the screw slots and I mean like a hand in a glove. There was no slipping allowed when you were working on a 100+ year old weapon. If he didn't have the right size or fit for a screw, he waited until he made and heat treated one for it. Try to find an old rifle that doesn't have slotted screws.
All I'm saying is, we still need to maintain the old ways for us old guys. Just cause it's old, don't mean it's no good.
By the way, if anybody has boxes of old slotted screws that are NOT plain steel, you can send them my way with my undying gratitude. :D ;D

I still have those for guns and antique furniture repair jobs. try and find an old gun w/o buggered up screws is more like it? ;D Euro firearms often have thin slots. Yea, I'm sort of old screw wise. 

[Don P]

I believe toilet rings are beeswax. They do work good for grafting wax.
Growing up some of those older guys didn't need wax. Through the slicked back hair went that nail or screw.
My comments were more about screws moving into rough work, fine work is beyond me... I bugger high tensile regularly :D. But as I reached up at arms length the other day, hit the trigger on the impact and ran a screw stronger than a lag bolt into a brace at the limit of my reach with no effort. Just in my span, that is quite a change.

Have you tried sourcing from boatbuilding suppliers or some specialty (?) rather than regular hardware grade for alloys?

[customsawyer]

No offense guys but your talk about screws is screwing up my auction. :D :D :D

[SwampDonkey]

I get all my furniture screws from Lee Valley. Their brass screws are to their own specs and have a coating of lacquer and not threaded up into the neck of the screw. They are much stronger than the inferior screws I get locally. I definitely predrill all holes in hardwood projects. Their good steel screws have wax on them, I've never broke one or tore a head out. If I did, it musta been extremely rare because I don't remember it. I do remember breaking lots of cheap local ones and that was with predrilled holes. Why buy inferior stuff just to complain? :D Same thing when doing upholstery, you need good square cut tacks. You don't split your wood all to heck. ;D

[doc henderson]

321cb002038.pdf (webstaurantstore.com)

still listed for 5.99 each and can buy a case of 6, but not in stock.  I was excited.  above is the link to sds sheet.

[21incher]

No luck here either.  Have searched every hardware store in the area. Back to mourning. 

[kantuckid]

I get all my furniture screws from Lee Valley. Their brass screws are to their own specs and have a coating of lacquer and not threaded up into the neck of the screw. They are much stronger than the inferior screws I get locally. I definitely predrill all holes in hardwood projects. Their good steel screws have wax on them, I've never broke one or tore a head out. If I did, it musta been extremely rare because I don't remember it. I do remember breaking lots of cheap local ones and that was with predrilled holes. Why buy inferior stuff just to complain? :D Same thing when doing upholstery, you need good square cut tacks. You don't split your wood all to heck. ;D

My brass screws come from Ebay sellers and are all brand name screws. Other hardware varies a lot, but brass screws there by the box remain a great value. Any brass screw is soft as far as screws are concerned. Only with furniture do I use brass screws or hinges, so a careful pilot hole is done, often via a taper drill designed for tapered screws. I always wax a slotted style screw. BTW, I've never seen a non-square upholstery tack? Or a non-sterilized one either.    

[kantuckid]

321cb002038.pdf (webstaurantstore.com)

still listed for 5.99 each and can buy a case of 6, but not in stock.  I was excited.  above is the link to sds sheet.

Now we know the lawyers killed Johnson's wax. benzenes not real good for skin contact. Cumene I've never heard of? Cumin I like lots ;D

[SwampDonkey]

There's definitely non square tacks used, and they do not perform like a square cut one. ;)

[Don P]

Here's cumene, from an old source;

The  Light  Oils  or  Naphthas  contain  the  following  bodies :
Boiling-point. Cent.
Amylene 39°
Traces  of  propylene,  butylene  dissolved  in  their  homologous liquids          
Caproylene  or  hexylene 65°  to  70°
Hydruret  of  hexylene 68°
Petinine 80°
Benzine 82°  to  83° S.G- 0.850
Oenanthylene  or  heptylene 94°
Toluene 105°  to  108°
Parabenzine 97°  to  98°
Hydruret  of  octyle 116°to 118°

Xylene 127°  to  128°
Picoline 133°—  S.G.-0.955
Cumene  ... 151°
Hydruret  of  decyle 158°
Pyridine     150°
Cymene 176°

[kantuckid]

My wife's KY aunt who died two years back, her nickname was "ene" and the only "ene" I 've known very well. ;D