Didn't get an answer to my question, got lots of recommendations for using something else but no help with basic question.
Which was why was my 2 to 1 mix so much softer than everyone's 4 to 1 mix.
From the tone of his last post I don't think Paul wants suggestions for better ways to do things, just a simple answer with no (to use the R4 just a minute format) Deviation, Repitition or Hesitation. The best way to answer a specific question, rather than seek general help that this forum is so generous with, might be to research it yourself rather than ask others. But all questions are interesting.
So here we go, I've done some research for you. Beeswax is used in cosmetics so there is a fair bit of information from suppliers to that industry. They want to be able to control hardness, what is useful in a skin cream would be useless and floppy stick of lipstick. I know its not directly relevant to abrasive pastes but its the best I can find.
You only have 3 variables in your control - concentration, solvent and temperature. (I suppose time is a fourth variable, maybe it will harden in a year or two).
Concentration.
Beeswax is a complex mixture, not a simple molecule and I was surprised by some of the information out there. Taking one of the solvents they use, castor oil, going from 10% beeswax to 20% has a marked impact on hardness, the graph shoots up. Beyond that little happens, the line goes flat. The same pattern appears with other solvents albeit at different concentrations. So - once you cross a certain threshold the hardness doesn't vary for practical purposes. A 50% mix won't be materially harder than a 25% mix - it shouldn't be softer either but you cant assume that yours will be stiffer than theirs because you made a mistake in the mix. I wonder though - none of the graphs I have seen go above 40%, I wonder if you cross that threshold you get solvent in beeswax rather than beeswax in solvent and the whole chemistry changes? The old salad dressing ratio problem you get to a point where adding more olive oil to the mix makes matters worse not better.
Solvent
This makes a huge difference. Cosmetics tends to use natural products so I have nothing on mineral oil, but if you use a palm oil derivative in place of castor oil not only do you need twice as much beeswax to get a proper gel, it never gets more than half as hard as using castor oil. MIneral Oil covers a multitude of products, my old Citroen BX used mineral oil as a suspension fluid, very different from other kinds of mineral oil, some people use white spirit as a mineral oil, and others say you can use meths. Paint thinners, all sorts, all called different things in different countries. So your mineral oli might not be the same as their mineral oil, it might have additives or be missing some, who knows. The solvent seems to be a much bigger variable than the concentration.
Temperature
Beeswax has a low melting point - 60 to 65 degrees C - and it softens well before that which is why its not a good finish for things that will be handled (sorry, deviation). Some things - take candle wax for instance - melt and harden in a reversible way. Others don't. Take butter - freeze it, thaw it, texture changes a bit. Soften it, OK it will stiffen when it cools. Melt is and it will never revert to its orignial form - the components in the mix separate out (oh, ghee, they all said - deviation again). So - if you warmed it to hurry things up you might have caused an irreverisble change in a complex natural product.
So, without having been there when you made it that's the best I can do to answer your question.
Home Science Time.
You can test some of this. Unless you have enough equipment to test all the variables at once you need to test them independently by keeping 2 constant. You will need 3 or 4 little jars or similar (I find those small jam jars you get with hotel breakfasts or fancy afternoon tea to be ideal) and way to weigh accurately - digital kitchen scales are good enough. You will have to judge hardness subjectively unless you find a way (and have the patience) to lower a ball bearing onto the surface and time it as it sinks to the bottom. You won't need much material, small samples keeps cost down.
Test 1 - concentration. Carefully weigh some solvent and beeswax into each of the 3 jars, if you have more jars do more tests, aim for something like 20, 30 and 40%, see if they differ.
Test 2 - temperature. Pick the best mix from test 1, leave one at room temp, put the other 2 in a saucepan with some water and heat to 50 take one out, 70 (above beeswax mp) take that out. Compare results.
Test 3 - solvents. Use the ratios you established in test 1 but try different mineral oil type solvents.
You have now isolated the 3 main variables so will have answered your own question. You will be 'close' so can then do some more refined tests to get the absolute best answer.
Or if that is a bit time consuming, buy some yorkshire grit, it lasts me ages and ages and ages and ..... (repitition, bother)
