Canvas Jacket Waterproofing

[doc holiday13]

I'm gonna be doing a DIY project here. I have a canvas type Carhartt jacket that I use for general outdoors work and I always lament that its not waterproof..... It randomly hit me yesterday that I could technically make it waterproof-ish. I have a heat gun and a large block of wax. I'm gonna wax my jacket just like all the hipsters do. I feel kinda dumb for not doing this sooner but I'll post some photos here soon. I'll be doing thick coating on the shoulders/upper back, and tops of the arms, with a lighter coating under the arms and lower half of the torso.

 

[doc holiday13]

So I pulled out a basic paraffin wax. Scrubbed it into the fabric till thearea was mostly white. Heat gun on low melted the wax into the material. I'll probably treat the pants and jacket every fall. Cup of water test showed the wax made a significant difference. Untreated spots soaked up water almost immediately. this is not an attempt to make a rain jacket. This will definitely help keep the jacket a bit more dry when I'm sledding with the kids or working snow jobs

 

[conhawa]

Ived used boiled linseed oil on canvas before.

 

[doc holiday13]

BTT for photo update

 

[Maverick1]

How messy was this project? Relatively clean? Or pigpen?

 

[Pescetism]

I've been trying a mixture of 50:50 mineral oil and wax melted with a iron on Weatherproof stretch jeans but the results haven't been stellar. Huge color change, and only slightly water resistant. I haven't experimented with other fabrics yet but I wonder if that will make a difference.

My version of this project is relatively clean. A little wax here and there but that's easy to clean.