For a fabric with its heyday in the distant past, waxed canvas is enjoying a remarkable resurgence. Your nearest hip boutique probably stocks a few bags and jackets made from the stuff. But how does it stand up to use on the boat and in the workshop? I purchased a few yards of DuraWax Heavy Waxed 12-oz duck from Sailrite and found it useful, attractive, and easy to work.DuraWax comes in two grades: light, which is treated with paraffin wax, and heavy, treated with beeswax. Both have the same underlying 12-oz cotton-duck fabric and, in both, the added wax is an integral part of the product, not a superficial coating. According to Sailrite, the light grade is 50 percent paraffin by weight—there’s just as much as cotton. The heavy grade is 54 percent beeswax. Wax contributes water resistance, windproofing, stiffness, and shape memory to the fabric. Both grades are available in ten traditional-looking colors. The sewing kit roll keeps a needle holder, a sewing palm, and a roll of whipping twine with an awl tucked inside. When the top flap is folded down, prior to rolling the kit, its top right corner needs to be angled inward to keep from covering the upper snap.
Photographs by the author
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Nice!
Have you (or anybody on here) tried sewing it by hand? I don’t have a machine. I have basic sail repair and ropework tools, and somewhere I have a Speedy Stitcher.
Thanks for the article. It contains many little details I appreciate. I do similar things from some quality painter’s canvas (leftovers from my wife’s painting workshop). But need to try the originally waxed one (definitely better for this purposes).
Example, block plane cower:
For waxing I’m used to use the Greenland wax, which I mix myself from paraffin and beeswax (something like 10:1). The paraffin is more elastic and beeswax durable. Paraffin can be bought in variety of types, so I have the one with highest melting point (62 C) I was able to get. It is also used here in Czechia for impregnating the boxes for bees.
But for larger projects, I would like to try to cook the hot oil wax. For example, I have old sailboat cover that already lost its waterproofing.
And, anyway, if anybody knows where to buy waxed canvas in EU (Germany or so) today I would like to know. Because shipping from US will be expensive.
For waxing, Filson sells oil finish wax for their tin cruiser garments.
Sounds like a great option for the Cagoule.
I have an Australian jacket made of waxed cotton, but it’s a much lighter fabric, so I think a waxed canvas cagoule would be rather heavy and stiff. But the fragrance of beeswax might be rather nice.