I've kept my waxed cotton Carradice Nelson Longflap going since 2002, in daily commuting use since 2006, with periodic cleaning and rewaxing. I am glad it is black, so discolorations didn't drive me to stain removal efforts.
I've used the Carradice wax and Martexin, which is pretty thoughtfully created without hazardous VOCs, and requires lower heat to seat your application. Patagonia has an alternative one from Halley Stevenson that's on sale now. I've found that if you need high heat to finish the application, the finish is more brittle and likely to crumble off, starting at flex points. If it takes less heat to seat after application, the finish is more likely to evaporate over a shorter time, especially on the top where exposed to sunlight. Life is too short to document and optimize the cost/benefit of the variety of things like this, so I've stuck with Martexin since it's MUSA and just clean and recoat on the interval it presents me in my use. Deep cleaning waxed cotton items is a challenge since the wax holds dirt with both weak forces and chemical bonding. The previous can be removed with a brush or microfiber cloth; dry first, then wet with water. The dirt that's stuck more firmly will need a surfactant or detergent that may also remove some of the wax product itself. A recoating is more necessary after that sort of cleaning. Getting dark spots or stains out of light colors might not be possible and may be too damaging to the underlying cotton. Andy Cheatham Pittsburgh On Wednesday, October 1, 2025 at 10:27:02 PM UTC-4 Minh wrote: > to tack on to this question, does anyone have tips on cleaning the bag > before reapplying the wax? i have a pretty dirty bag that needs a bit of > deep cleaning. > > On Wednesday, October 1, 2025 at 10:18:30 PM UTC-4 exliontamer wrote: > >> I've used Otter Wax and a heat gun on everything from canvas backpacks to >> Sackville bags with great results. >> >> On Wednesday, October 1, 2025 at 9:10:51 PM UTC-5 Nick Payne wrote: >> >>> Nikwax sell a couple of products: "Cotton Proof" and "Wax Cotton Proof". >>> I've used the Cotton Proof on cotton japara tents and Carradice saddlebags >>> - diluted it about 1:9 and brushed it on. Seems to work OK. I assumed that >>> the Wax Cotton Proof was the same product pre-diluted in a hand spray >>> bottle, but I haven't used that. >>> >>> Nick Payne >>> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/97936935-6f05-4343-a859-a4176bea33ecn%40googlegroups.com.
