bee's wax

[wvbuckbuster]

If this is not the right place please excuse. I was given some old comb and was wondering how to recover the wax from it. Do you put it in boiling water then let cool hoping wax will be on top and comp drop to bottom? Never done anything like this before and would like your help. Thanks,Dan.

 

[jtmattison]

Yes. Boiling it in water will remove almost all of the impurities. When it cools you can scrape off what's stuck to the bottom of the wax. It will be plenty pure enough for our purposes.

HD

 

[buttonbuck]

I did some over a three day weekend, a suggestion I was given was to place it in a muslin or burlap bag the wax will float to the top and most of the crud stays in the bag. I ended up remelting mine several times since I had to remove it from the wires that held the combs In place. I believe I got about 10 lb of it it was sure expensive at a muzzleloading show I went to.

 

[jdstrang]

...it was sure expensive at a muzzleloading show I went to.

If y'all are willing to spend a few minutes on the phone, good beeswax can be obtained about anywhere by first contacting your county agricultural agent and asking for the name(s) of the beekeeper association officers in your area. Even mostly urban counties have active beekeeper associations. Lots of beekeepers sell beeswax by the pound or five, already cleaned by use of simple solar melters.

Beekeepers tend to be salt-of-the-earth people, many of whom, I've found, are positively disposed to the primitive nature of our sport. They'll sell it for considerably less than you'll find it at gun shows, etc.

 

[bingo1952]

The last I saw at a CW reenactment was $2.00 for a cupcake sized piece. I thought that was extremely high but they were moving some of it. :nono:

 

[Black Hand]

The comb is the wax. By boiling in water you will separate the wax from the crud. The crud will either sink to the bottom, dissolve in the water or end up trapped at the surface of the water below the wax. Allow to cool and the wax will solidify on the surface of the water. Remove the wax and scrape the crud off the bottom. You can repeat the boiling/cooling/scraping several times if the wax is dirty.

 

[wvbuckbuster]

Thanks guys! Been wanting to try some of the lubes different ones have talked about and didn't want to get off on the wrong foot. Thanks again.

 

[rkmeyer]

The dark wax is from the brood frames and light yellow stuff is from the honey frames and should have less crud to deal with.
Dusty

 

[oletymepreacher]

Comb melts about 120 degrees. Place comb in pan of water and heat up until wax melts. Let it cool so that it will solidify. Remove solid wax from water, and again melt in a pan by itself. Be verrrry careful with your temperature at this stage, or the wax may catch fire. When wax is melted, pour through an old tee shirt into your next container. This will strain all the particles you don't want. The more you repeat this last stage, the cleaner the wax will be. I will only do this once. Try to keep the temperature as low as possible for this process. Works for me.