So the drip wax will penetrate into a hot waxed chain especially if you are doing the cross-chain style application. The liquid really doesn't want to sit on the hot melt wax on the outside of the chain, but it definitely does want to wick its way down into the places it needs to go if there is a crevice for it to do so. We've had a lot of people a bit freaked out by how much it wants to drip off of the outer surfaces of the chain (as Adam also mentions in the review) but as he also found, it really does get in there better than you might think!
As for 'bonding' to the surface, it really more impinges the surface and finds its way into the nooks and crannies of the metal.. the effects are long last until it is exposed to water and friction combined which oxidize it and also help sweep it from the texture of the metal. Similarly, when spray applied as a dry film, the effects are not permanent and the durability varies widely depending on environmental conditions and exposure. But, as I said above, if you keep wax in there and keep moisture out, a chain can last nearly indefinitely as the wear surfaces essentially become a constantly replenished coating of these little WS2 platelets.
weiwentg the slack wax is really just a mix of paraffin powder and paraffin oil.. it's the precursor from which you would make both products. I think of this as similar to making ice cream.. rather than use whole milk you use skim milk and milk fat so that you can get the proportions just right.. in our case, the dry, powdered paraffin has the consistency of powdered sugar and doesn't want to adhere to itself unless you get it hot.. so if we put some in water and made an emulsion and then let the water evaporate, you would get powder again as it has no real affinity to itself. The bit of oil in there makes it want to stick to itself after it is dry. If you've ever bought paraffin for canning you would find that it is slightly pliable.. this is because it still has some of the oil in there (as much as 10% oil).. whereas the 99.5% laboratory grade paraffin feels like concrete.
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