Spoonrobot 

I clean my chain before waxing because if not the mother wax will become contaminated with steel and silica grit. It’s much easier to spend a couple minutes cleaning the chain than it is filtering the wax or shaving off the bottom 2-3mm of the block every few dips.

I’be found increased chain longevity for my off road bikes, although grit gets in the chain it does not create a slurry and does not wear the pins and rollers as quickly. There is also decreased noise and better shifting.

redlude97

same

Moe Zhoost

I used to be a waxing fanatic, but not anymore. When I did, I would clean the chain in solvent, then into the same wax pot I've used for decades. I have never worried about a bit of water on the chain; a couple of minutes in the molten wax and it boils away.

That said, I can also add that I have never had an issue with water causing chain corrosion. In fact, I now regularly clean my chains in an aqueous detergent solution in my ultrasonic cleaner, rinse with water spray, dry with compressed air, and then lube. At least 3,000 miles before stretching excessively and nary a trace of rust.

Also, I swore last time I would never again respond to a chain lube thread, so I wrote the above in an invisible font color. Highlight if you really want my opinion.

sdmc530

I do this as well....I use a butter knife and scrap off the crud...no issues.

RGMN

Where I work we used to have a tribologist on staff (they decided not to backfill her position after she retired.) She took an interest in friction in chain drive systems due to a product from a different division, and asked me a bunch of questions about the chains on bikes. I supplied her a bunch of different chain lubes including a sample of wax. She did her thing to them and declared most of them to be junk (including some highly rated lubes,) but said my wax sample should work quite well as a chain lubricant if it wasn't so heavily contaminated with silica and iron. Once she found out that I took the chain off and tossed it in the melted wax she came up with a cleaning routine for the chain prior to waxing. After changing to her cleaning routine and a fresh batch of wax I found the wax to appear to stay cleaner, something she confirmed in another sample about a year later.

I've been told by the experts here that if waxing, cleaning the chain is just a waste of time, so I won't go into detail on the process, other than to say it take less than 5 minutes. I do know that after following it my last pair of chains and cassette had 14,000 miles on them, and would still be in use if I hadn't decided I needed to change gearing. The chains measured less then 1/32" longer over 12" than a new chain.

Clean the chain prior to waxing, even if it has been waxed before. The chain and the wax will last longer if you do.

DaveSSS 

There is no magic involved with dirt getting inside a chain. The spaces between the parts are quite large, compared to the size of dirt and grit particles. Capillary action in not needed for dirt to get deep into the chain. If little is done to remove the dirt, the chain will still be dirty after dipping in the hot wax.

I switched from using mineral spirits to camp stove fuel for chain cleaning. The Crown brand at Walmart is about half the cost of OMS and it dries much faster.

A paraffin lube can be made by dissolving 1 ounce by weight of paraffin into 6-7 ounces of camp stove fuel. A very small amount of high quality oil can also be added - only 0.5-1% will do the trick.

If products like paraffin oil or other oils are added to a hot wax dip to soften the wax or enhance lubrication, then wax is no longer a totally dry product, like pure wax.

If it were true that the chain doesn't get dirty with pure paraffin lube, the home brew dry lube could be reapplied and the chain would never have to be removed. It would be a great time saver, compared to hot wax dipping.

DrIsotope

While I think cleaning a waxed chain between dips is an absolute waste of time and resources, I happen to have both-- time and resources. I just refreshed the entire drivetrain on my go-anywhere bike (chainring, cassette, jockey wheels, chains-- even a brand new crockpot for the chains) so when the first chain comes off to be replaced by it's twin, I'll plop it in the mason jar full of white gas before it does into the wax.

I expect little. I don't believe that roller wear is accelerated to any significant degree by contaminants unless we're talking about abrasive materials, in copious quantities-- and I mean copious, because the difference in mileage on hot wax vs. full-on wet lube (in my experience) is not significant at all. It's within the margin of error. I went to wax over other lubes because I can run my fingers over my chains with minimal takeaway after a full month of riding mixed surfaces. I use wax so I don't have to continually clean the drivetrain. I also get 7,000+ miles out of each chain pair, so any increase in mileage brought about by adding another step in the process would need to be significant enough to warrant it.

But I'll know within 90 days whether there's any benefit. I have six chains for three bikes, getting refreshed monthly. I should be able to pop a wax puck out after just two dips and see if there's any difference in wax quality.

Crankycrank

One of the best suggestions I've seen here.

DaveSSS 

Using my home brew wax lube, I relube after 3 rides, or about 120 miles. After 4-500 miles, I can twist the chain between my fingers on the lower section of chain and hear the gritty noise. It probably starts a lot sooner than that.

Where you ride may make a difference. Colorado dirt is extremely sandy and we get little rain to wash the paved roads. In the winter, I still ride, but never in the wet. I only ride paved roads. Once the roads are dry, you've got sand, dirt and salt or magnesium chloride residue on the road. It's plenty dusty.

When I clean my dry chain, I get plenty of crud at the bottom of my wash bottle. I decant clean solvent off the top and reuse the solvent several times.

Jmpierce

I haven't used this stuff in years. Its way too easy to use Tr-flo and replace the chain after a few thousand miles.

When I did use this I cleaned the chain in some sort of solvent in an ultrasonic cleaning tank. These days I use Simple Green, the Park chain cleaning tank, soapy water and two tank fulls of clear water.

DaveSSS 

If you want to make the paraffin softer, a good quality lubricating oil would be better than paraffin (lamp) oil. There is a limit to how much oil will mix with paraffin. If you put too much in, some of the oil will separate when the paraffin cools. It will also make the paraffin not so clean to use. There may be black residue squeezed out from the chain.

I use automotive gear lube but it is a bit pricey if you have no other use for it.

I like my home brew wax lube because I can make small experimental batches with as little as 1 ounce of wax, 7 ounces of camp stove fuel and a maybe 0.5 to 1 ounce of oil.

canklecat

Or just add some Boeshield T9 or White Lightning liquid paraffin lubes, since they've already figured out the right solvents.

And I'd test both liquid paraffin lubes for flammability/combustibility first, since there's some fire risk with melting paraffin. A crock pot minimizes the risk since the temperature is easily regulated and there's no open flame or ignition source.

White Lightning Easy Lube is clearly labeled as flammable and smells distinctly of naptha. The paraffin and solvent separate quickly and the bottle needs to be shaken to mix.

Boeshield T9 has no warnings about flammability and doesn't have any distinct aromatic odor. It also seems less critical about shaking to remix the paraffin into the solvent/carrier.

Cattriker55

Reynolds makes throw-away slow cooker liners for different models of slow cooker. They can be found at Wal-Mart, Amazon, and many other places. You gunk up your wife's slow cooker and you're in trouble.

Rich11111

I've got interested in this recently. I found youtube post by "oz cycle" informative. I can't put links to his specific youtube channel, but you can search him out and look at his post on waxing and removing. He also has question and answer posting/video on subject too.

robbiesd

Thanks to someone for the suggestion of adding water to allow the gunk to sink into it. I've used a false bottom made of hardware cloth to keep the chain in clean wax. To the original question of boiling a waxed chain in water, I think I'd rather hang it and then heat it up with a propane torch from the top down. That should get the old wax out.