Tallow

[Lucasade]

Our local butcher is going to more or less give me some beef fat to render down into tallow. How much fat will I need to produce a sensible amount of tallow?

Put another way, how much tallow do you need to mix with how much beeswax to finish a bow?

[JW_Halverson]

Our local butcher is going to more or less give me some beef fat to render down into tallow. How much fat will I need to produce a sensible amount of tallow?

Put another way, how much tallow do you need to mix with how much beeswax to finish a bow?

A couple of tablespoons, maybe.

[Buck67]

The best tallow comes from lamb kidney fat.  It is hard white and flakey.  Put in a tall pot full of water over a fire OUTSIDE.  After it comes to a rolling boil take the pot off the fire and leg it cool.  When it comes to room temperature there will be a hard white disc floating on top and nasty water below. Scrape off any discoloration from the underside of the tallow.  Store in a plastic container in the fridge.  Keeps forever.

[mullet]

You can make it from just about any animal fat. I think it depends on how good you render it.

I hunted for 9 days in Kentucky once with a bow I didn't have time to seal and it started to rain the first day we got there. I started cutting fat off of a deer that my buddy had shot and saving the drippings from the Breakfast bacon. I filtered it all through coffee filters and rubbed it into my Osage bow and it worked great for the entire hunting trip.

I had a heck of a time de-greasing it when we got home, so I could "properly" seal it with Modern plastic.

[sleek]

I use 2/3 deer tallow and 1/3 bees wax to seal my hunting bow. I have on the occasion rubbed citronella candel wax on it too.

[Lucasade]

That's useful - thank you. Is it better to pre-melt them or does it work as well to apply them separately and rub them in together?

[Pat B]

Bees wax will melt and blend well with melted tallow. I would prefer to have it already mixed for easier application. I've not used beef tallow but have used bear grease(already rendered)with beeswax and some pine pitch for a leather dressing for my work boots.
 As a bow finish I think a good, vigorous hand rubbing would generate enough heat to help it penetrate the wood well. You could preheat the wood first too but not necessary.

[jaxenro]

I use a 'mutton tallow / paraffin / beeswax' mix as a under bullet lubricant in my muzzle loading revolvers.

I bought an old crock pot at a yard sale and put a pound of each in it and heated it for a few hours then ladled it into canning jars. It is probably the easiest way to mix them instead of melting over a double boiler and all that this is no risk. For the revolvers I cut a tiny chunk out and work in my fingers a few seconds to soften and then roll into a tiny ball and flatten it.

If you put your tallow and beeswax in an old crock pot you could probably essentially do the same. Make a mix that works for you and jar it and then dig some out and just rubbing it in would probably generate the heat, as Pat B said, to work it into the wood

[Lucasade]

At the moment I'm applying them on top of each other and rubbing in together, which seems to work fine. I just like to find ways to improve when I can...

[sleek]

That's useful - thank you. Is it better to pre-melt them or does it work as well to apply them separately and rub them in together?

I melted them together as a single batch, then apply by rubbing the hardened wax on, then follow with a hair dryer to wet it out.