Another .02 to an old topic. Eugene Sloan 25 years ago wrote that he soaked bike chains overnight in heated SAE 140 (gear oil) on a hotplate. I have been soaking chains in a mix of parrafin (candle wax), Johnson's paste wax, and SAE 90 in a hot water bath for a couple of hours. The result is quite slick but does collect sand and grit.

The pure hot parrafin soak seems to give a cleaner chain. And I think the wax sticks only if old grease is completely cleaned off the chain before parrafinizing--by repeated washings in solvent. I hypothesize that this is the best method for lubing a worn chain on a beater bike. It may be that a new tight chain will do better with a thin carrier and teflon lube, while a worn chain needs a longer, stiffer hydrocarbon molecule for lubrication (i.e., higher SAE numbers).

Somebody oughta do a scientific study. Grants gratefully accepted!