Give Your Canvas Bag a Wax Finish for Added Water Resistance

[Eric Norris]

Saw this on Lifehacker and thought it might be of interest to the group:

Give Your Canvas Bag a Wax Finish for Added Water Resistance Lifehacker | Jan 20, 2013 Treating canvas with wax for water resistance goes back hundreds of years and while modern fabrics and chemical treatments have mostly made this metho... Continue Reading

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[Ron Mc]

melting a pound of GulfWax in a double boiler may be one approach, but a bar of Otter Wax and a blow drier is a whole lot easier.  

http://www.otterwax.com/

[Jan Heine]

I am not sure why one would want to add wax to a good bag. At least
the old Carradice bags and the current Gilles Berthoud bags are
totally waterproof as they come from the makers. I used my first
Berthoud bag almost daily from early 2000 until mid-2011. (Then I got
a new bike that took a bigger bag.) The old bag still is waterproof. I
posted about it here

http://janheine.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/unimprovable-gilles-berthoud-handlebar-bag/

Perhaps the added wax could be useful for other cotton bags that
aren't waterproof?

Disclosure: Our sister company, Compass Bicycles Ltd., sells Berthoud
bags.

Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
www.bikequarterly.com

Follow our blog at http://janheine.wordpress.com/

[Ron Mc]

Carradice and Giles Bertoud both sell wax to use on their bags.  

[Ron Mc]

oops, that's a never mind - Carradice sells a bag wax - the product I saw for Bertoud is their saddle wax

On Tuesday, January 22, 2013 9:43:00 AM UTC-6, Ron Mc wrote:

Carradice and Giles Bertoud both sell wax to use on their bags.  

tp://janheine.wordpress.com/ 

[Cyclofiend Jim]

I think in this day of high tech fabrics, we have forgotten that the swelling action of cotton does give certain fabrics waterproof results. 

The only bags which I've actually waxed used waxed fabric to begin with.    And only because I've done this with Barbour and Filson clothing over the years.  It's not complex, but as with any natural fabric, takes a small amount of attention and care.

- Jim / cyclofiend.com

[ascpgh]

I have reproofed my 2001 Carradice using Martexin's <http://www.fairfieldtextile.com/fabrics.html> compound. They produce waxed canvas material and this is to retreat from the sunlight breakdown or evaporation of the treatment on the outer surfaces. 

I use my Nelson Longflap daily and when it began to absorb moisture easily on the surface I knew it was time. This isn't an effective way to make untreated canvas into waxcloth but rather maintaining such. I did try treating a small square of canvas intended as a tool roll and it absorbed a lot of the stuff and never reached the level of the Caradice bag cloth. Probably a different weave less likely to tighten up as the material was absorbed.

Andy Cheatham

Pittsburgh, PA

[jinxed]

I'll second the otterwax. Good stuff....great stuff actually. I've redone my Barbour jacket with both the Barbour dressing, and the Otterwax...the latter being WAY easier and lasted longer.

I will however rant a bit. I followed the link to their site which I haven't been to for a while. I watched their "embrace the elements" video. Jumpin Jesus on a pogo stick!!! When will this "faux outdoorsey, lookit me in my super expensive micro brand labels made to look like cheap workwear while I'm pickin apples! Whooo Hooo, I'm so indy and rugged", schtick end?! Cripes...where were the "elements" they were embracing? I digress and step off my reclaimed barn wood hand dove tailed bespoke organic soap box.

[Ron Mc]

fair enough

I just like it cuz it's easy to use, and works.  

[Peter Morgano]

You think that video was annoying we had a theft in long island of "Artisnal Bongs", freaking everything is going that way.

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[Ron Mc]

One thing for certain, wax is a mix of dissolved paraffins, and the lighter components, which make it flow, also have higher vapor pressure and slowly evaporate.  So the wax itself will lose its mass and continuity over time, and needs to be replenished.  Not tomorrow or even next year, but somewhere down the road.  

On Tuesday, January 22, 2013 12:22:29 PM UTC-6, Cyclofiend Jim wrote:

I think in this day of high tech fabrics, we have forgotten that the swelling action of cotton does give certain fabrics waterproof results. 

The only bags which I've actually waxed used waxed fabric to begin with.    And only because I've done this with Barbour and Filson clothing over the years.  It's not complex, but as with any natural fabric, takes a small amount of attention and care.

nheine.wordpress.com/