Anyone ever done this? Thinking about trying around a pint of bar oil in 4 gallons of wax to potentially help protect water equipment from rust. My stuff is used year round, and spends most of its time in the water. I’ve heard that adding bar oil can help waxes be more protective. Not concerned about odor since all equipment is used fully submerged. Pint is just a wild guess, any recipes/advice appreciated.

Try a small amount to see how soft it gets. Make sure it will stick. Sounds like an interesting concept. I doubt it will stay on much better than straight paraffin. Once a catch is made some comes off.

I like to mix 3 qts of speed dip in two gallons of mineral spirits. Mineral spirits is expensive if you buy the good stuff. Quality mineral spirits is clear. That cloudy cheap stuff sold at Walmart wont work. Go to a paint store. That 2 3/4 gallon batch will literally do 3-400 1 1/2's. The advantage to mineral spirits is dry time. A couple hours on a hot day and 24 hours on cold ones. Can just redip as critters wear it off if you want. Remake with a trap you pulled and dipped a day or two ago. On new shiny traps they will just be a tan color. They still are coated and rust will be inhibited.

transmission fluid may work better. some use it in a cast bullet lube formula(along with beeswax).

Is the idea to get the wax to come off easier?
because no other oil (and paraffin is oil) will stick better than hot wax, cooked onto a hot trap. Easy way to experiment is just to soak the trap in used oil/pit oil/ or new high dollar brand name bar oil and place it with one that is waxed in the creek for a few weeks. fwiw, the bar oil has paraffin added to a straight weight oil to help keep the oil on the chain, it's what makes it thick and gooey. (or so I was told)
If the idea is to get the wax to be tougher, try using rosin melted on top of the wax pot.
If your wax is chipping off, chances are you did not get it or the traps hot enough.
If you use floor wax, driveway sealer or fence paint in place of paraffin wax then you have other problems that I won't go into. Bar oil or jet fuel might help that, idk, can't guess.

The hope is for more rust protection. I already wax often, all year long. Even a fresh waxed trap starts to rust (no catch), if set underwater a week or so. So anything I can do keep rust from happening, and it can be rewaxed or coated between catches. So far wax has been my go to, just heat and redip after catches, but i recently heard an “expert” material scientist or someone like that say that wax does not actually protect from rust - wherever it chips or rubs through the metal rusts. So for instance, Waxoyl underbody treatment is a mixture of wax, oil, and other ingredients like maybe phosphoric acid or other secret ingredients. Wax provides toughness oil protects from rust seems to be the general idea.

phosphoric acid does the same thing tannin does only it doesn't grow on trees- converts existing rust to a neutral coating; it is the key factor in most rust control formulas.
The thing is bar oil and paraffin wax are almost the same thing in different viscosity, that is mineral oil. My observations are that the lighter the oil the sooner it washes off. If you are getting rust under the wax, it follows that you have not gotten a sufficient conversion of existing rust and that it is continuing to grow under the wax just as it grows under the paint on a truck. If you paint over, wax over or coat rust in oil you will only slow the rust. I had some trucks to prove that.
But, try the bar oil and see if it does make any difference. I'm sure it won't hurt anything.

I have a secondary vat of wax, it had about 5-1/2 gallons and I added about 3/4 gallon bar oil in increments of a pint at a time, cooling a spoonful after each pint to test it. Went ahead and waxed 18 of my CDRs today with the new mix to see how it compares to my regular wax.
I use a candy thermometer in my wax, held it at 220 deg. F today without using much propane...

Keep us posted!

I’d ditch the wax all together and use speed dip.

Just setting a waxed trap is going to rub off some wax in the wear areas.

Speed dip always worked well for me for water traps.

ATF is used in for lube for cast boolits is to bring up the temp the lube can take .I use it my self for the lube I make for my cast boolits. Also the mix of all will depend how much you mix for how hard or how soft the boolit lube will be. And to have it all stay together use Ivory Soap flakes in the mix.