Canvas is supposed to be water repellent in its natural state, but I decided to give my bike bags a little help. After much searching on the internet, I found little information on waterproofing canvas using natural ingredients. A few sites had vague directions on covering it with wax or linseed oil, but there were a wide variety of recipes and techniques.
Finally I decided to use a 50/50 ratio of melted beeswax and boiled linseed oil.
Using an old yogurt container and a medium sized pot, I melted the wax in a double boiler.
Next I carefully added an equal amount of linseed oil to the melted wax, mixed it, and brushed the mixture onto the canvas.
The wax solidified on the surface of the canvas.
It looked rather ugly, and would quickly flake off, so I melted it into the fibers with a heat gun.
This is about halfway through...you can see the difference between the wax on the surface, and what has been melted in.
A side-by-side comparison of the waxed bag, and the un-waxed one.
I used about 1/4 lb of wax and 1/2 cup of oil, but it didn't quite cover one pannier. The coloring was very uneven; it was darker where there was more beeswax, and lighter where there was less. I'm going to leave the bag to air for a while to let the linseed oil dry...
Finally I decided to use a 50/50 ratio of melted beeswax and boiled linseed oil.
Using an old yogurt container and a medium sized pot, I melted the wax in a double boiler.
Next I carefully added an equal amount of linseed oil to the melted wax, mixed it, and brushed the mixture onto the canvas.
The wax solidified on the surface of the canvas.
It looked rather ugly, and would quickly flake off, so I melted it into the fibers with a heat gun. This is about halfway through...you can see the difference between the wax on the surface, and what has been melted in.
A side-by-side comparison of the waxed bag, and the un-waxed one.
I used about 1/4 lb of wax and 1/2 cup of oil, but it didn't quite cover one pannier. The coloring was very uneven; it was darker where there was more beeswax, and lighter where there was less. I'm going to leave the bag to air for a while to let the linseed oil dry...
3 comments:
Panniers look great! Make sure to give an update how that waterproofing works, I might have to try it out.
Thanks! I will definitely post the results when I am able to test the waterproofing. When the weather warms....
Natural canvas fabric wax bars:
400g Beeswax
100g Lanolin
50g Linseedoil
(these are the rough sizes) I let everything melt together and poured them into square molds and let it cool over night. I wrapped the little bars in kraft paper and voila
I tried something that was like a product you can buy on the market which we can't buy where we live. O**er Wax bars. The ingredients are the same. Its Natural that was very important for me.
The only thing I added more compared to your recipe is Lanolin which has an incredible water resistance.. I got some on my hands and could not get it off so be careful. Its not harmful but has a nasty texture. Actually these ingredients are used in cosmetic products as well just different ratios.
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