For those of you that make wax dirt in a mixer ,do some of you melt the wax then add to dirt ? How do you melt the wax , over a propane burner ? Also is your dirt warm also or is it cool ? Thanks

I put a bucket of dirt in the mixer and put a weed burner in the opening of the mixer wile it turns until the dirt is about 150-160 degrees. Then take flame away and toss in flake wax wile still turning. I put a lid on the mixer at this point for a few minutes to keep the heat in wile the wax melts and mixes. I then take the lid off and let turn until the now waxed dirt is cooled back down. Be careful not to get the flame directly on the dirt or get the dirt to hot that it scorches. If you don't want to use flake wax, melted wax could be put in the same as the flake. Something else to consider is wax sand, it takes a pound of wax to five gall bucket were the dirt takes 3-4 pounds to a bucket. There are more elaborate setups that may work better, but this has worked well for me.

/\ yup. Make sure the dirt is hot and dry before adding wax.

plan on finding out this sunday! hope to make 2-300 gallons Plan on trying both ways flake wax and melted wax poured into hot dirt. I don't want any heat source once wax and dirt connect! Scorched wax dirt is the worst!!Just as well bed with chicken poop!

I used melted wax this year with good results. Just have to have another wax pot on a burner. Either way works good. Only real advantage is a block of wax is a little cheaper than flake, not sure if it is worth it.

It's NOT worth it. I'm buying flake from MTP from now on.

I'm sure every body has own way of making wax dirt,
Here is mine hope it helps
Put flame to the outside of mixer, you will not have oder issues ,
Putting flame in the opening of the mixer will get refusals .
Heat to 140 add wax melted or flaked, it will cool off, wait it heats back up 135 to 140 ,take heat away once dirt has a damp look or you can press together so as to make clump.
Let cool then on to storage.

I was hoping to make all mine by solar but work and weather didn't allow me to make enough. I tried the mixer method one year with the laser pointer but I think I still got it to hot at the bottom ,guess I will just have to try again, Thanks for the replies

Reds got it down, but stir while it cools so it wont clump up. The flame needs to just touch the lowest part of the mixer, on the outside!!! Use a lazer thermometer to moniter the temp! Wax is flamable!!! I use a hot plate single burner to melt the Hobby Lobby wax. And propane burner to heat the dirt.
Carry on..

I did the cement mixer method and seemed to work pretty good. How do you know if you have scorched dirt though? I got the dirt up to 160F added my flake, put my cover back on and let it mix for another 15-20 min. I tested each batch with water, so I'm not worried about that. Just wondering, at what temp do you get scorching?

Edit* I did turn off the heat after adding my wax

Borgy if you see puffs of smoke smell hot wax game over. Same smell when waxing traps when it gets to hot.
Should smell like dirt start to finish.

Scooped up and sift close to half a ton of dirt yesterday for this weekend between us all we've got 200lbs of wax I got half dirt half sand for our party! gotta go fill up a 100lb lp cylinder then its game on! Like gus I plan to use hot plates to melt wax or I can run it thru the planner for flake wax. My old mixer has a cast iron bottom so it should hold heat well! My phone wont transfer pics to my computer so I cant show pics

The temp does rise when you add the wax to 160 ish, as long as ya turn the heat off you should be fine. Scorched dirt has a different burnt smell to it. Trust me it gets the yotes attention. I let mine cool to 100 before I dump to keep it from clumping. Some dump and stir to cool. Guess I'm just lazy.

It's quicker to melt the wax with the torch first then transfer to the hot plate to keep it going. Add more wax as needed. Have fun at the party Tony. Do some with all sand you'll be glad..

thanks gbus me and Michael hope to do two seasons worth! I plan to mix and cool at the same time I will have multiple thermometers going. Thru the whole process! I got plywood and plastic if its cooling to slow! and a few concrete comealong to shuffle it around till its cold. The high for sunday will be mid 50 perfect for our party! Personally id rather get it mixed well then dump and get a new batch heating! Im not going to apply flames to my dirt! In my brain that screams disaster!This is old barn dirt so small particules of straw are mixed in the dirt. I feel like this helps it blend in better at the set! I've been using the dirt from this barn for 6 seasons. With no adverse effects! And yes every batch will get freeze tested! Got a freezer a few feet away from our work area.

I tried making waxed dirt this year. Being cheap, I mixed my dirt and wax on a hot plate with a large Teflon coated pan. I’ve trapped for years using 50/50 glycol and water, sprayed on and mixed into the set dirt. It works but requires extra dry dirt at set if you have to chip out frozen dirt. Anyway, being cheap, and having an electric hot plate, I made up about 10 gallons of waxed dirt. The process wasn’t fast but it wasn’t hard either. The trick for me was to get it cool before putting it into storage pails. Otherwise, it gets hard in the bucket!

report back tonite meeting the guys at daylite

Try waxed sand. Requires less wax and it actually packs around the trap. I used real fine sand last year and was accidentally a little rich on the wax. But it packed awesome. You will have to blend it a little more. The year before I used half sand and half black dirt. Worked better than straight dirt. Than I read on Lesal’s FB page of using 100% sand. You wont be disappointed..

Made my first recently. Sand takes WAY less wax. Loamy black dirt turns out really nice, but takes almost a pound of wax to a gallon of dirt in my area, which has a lot of clay. Sand took about a pound of wax to make 5 gallons of waxed sand. I liked 2/3 sand to 1/3 dirt the best. Took about 4.5lbs of wax to make 15 gallons using that combination. I still have to use what I've made, but both stood up well to a freeze test with water.

I've made quite a bit in a mixer. My best advice is to add the wax SLOWLY. Get your dirt warm, then add wax. I made 1\2 sand and 1\2 dirt by volume. Turned out pretty good, but used more wax than I wanted. I'm not sure why, but the bigger batches 8 gallons turned out the best. When the wax is incorporated, I let the mixer run until the dirt is just warm. Then I turn it out on sheets of plywood until completely cool. This way I can have another batch rolling while the other cools. My dirt is high in organic matter so it takes a lot of wax. I used 26 cups for 8 gallon sand\dirt mix.