To make it thinner for cold weather just increase the amount of castor oil, add bees wax for hot weather...

Some use olive oil in place of castor oil and evidently it works fine...The guy that developed the lube also races the small kit airplanes and those guys put castor oil into the gas for lubrication of the engine...He noticed when cleaning his plane that the smoot from the exhaust was still oily...He figured that if the castor oil would withstand the heat of combustion from the engine then it would work in a muzzleloader...You can get castor oil fairly cheep at a health food/supliment store, get the grade you rub on your skin, not for consumption...

Guys have been experimenting with different patch lubes since greased patches have been used...Some still use deer tallow and bear oil, it's just how a guy wants to go about it...