Hi,CapHayes, of late I'v wonder on the make up of buffing compounds,Thinking of adding my rock tumbler graded grits to wax..
So your post led me on a Dr google hunt,that as far as u tube whent had 1 flick on home made product,that used chrome oxide powder & bees wax (which is realy one of the softer waxes,but the mix was aimed at our wood working cousins, & a thourgh research,suggests adding mineral oil/jelly etc to make more of a soft paste )
For buffing wheel bars
carnuba wax pops up as a harder wax base.
Then I found the holy grail of compound info by Donald Watland, of Watland Design & was posted on
http://sydneywoodturners.com/site/articles/finishing/buffing2.html
So it go's into a great deal more detail than my idea of adding grinding grits grades to wax ,well it explains what compounds are in the diffrant grades of bars,not so much on the wax side of things..
For your problem I'd melt & add a tad of mineral oil or petroleum jelly to get a softer compound
The diffrant colours seem to more related to the oxides colour than wax dyes..
Hope this helps,as knifing is such a hands on sport,making kit to use is also part n parcel of the process for me.