Bees Wax

[686]

How Is The Dark Bees Wax To Use In Making Your Bullet Lube? I Know It May Be Dirtier And Smoker Than The Yellow Stuf. What Do You Think.

[grumpy one]

As I understand it the dark stuff has not been filtered, and contains dirt and pieces of dead insects. In principle, you don't allow dirt in a lubricant because it abrades the sliding surfaces.

[bishopgrandpa]

The shade could depend on the melting temperature that will darken it if to high or what kind of honey it came from. Dirty should settle out pretty much. I just finished melting and reforming a bunch into useable blocks and was surprised at how quickly the crud settled to bottom. Dark beeswax could just be a product of what the bees were using and not necessarily dirty.

[Gussy]

The first bees wax I got was dark. It was dark because the guy melting it got it too hot. It was no good for lube. I melted and cleaned it 4-5 times and it stayed dark.

Make a candle out of it. If the candle burns nice it's good stuff. The burnt stuff I had would pop and fizz with a very unsteady flame.
GUs

[Harpman]

perfectly good bees wax comes in many colors, chances are its good, if its dirty you can tell by looking at it, if it is dirty heat it and pour through a clean rag or cheese cloth.... I just got my first Hive and been reading up and meeting bee keepers.:-D....A double broiler is only like 20 bucks and they work great and are safe for the wax.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Whre in the heck does one buy a double boiler? I cannot find one in the Atlanta area.

Dave

[waksupi]

Dave, just sit one pot inside of another, and put water in the big one. Wala!

[wills]

Whre in the heck does one buy a double boiler? I cannot find one in the Atlanta area.

Dave

J. C Penny
http://zoom.jcpenney.com//is/image/0900631b80af5ab7M.tif?wid=250&hei=250&op_sharpen=1

[buck1]

686 dark means nothing to you as far as lube goes. Its most likely just as bishopgrandpa said. But with that said heres how to clean bees wax:
-----------------------outside--------------------------

1-fill a old non coated pot with 2-3 inches of water(leave 4-5 inches of freespace).
2-put chunks of beeswax in old pantyhose and tie them off.
3- put the beeswax/pantyhose in to the pot of water.
4- turn the heat on VERY LOW!!!!
5-make sure the pot stays below boiling temp!!!
6- let wax melt slowly!
7-remove the pantyhose after the wax is melted out.
8- turn off heat ,cover and let cool compleetly.
9-with a butter knife cut wax arround the edge of the pot & remove.
10- scrape the waterside of the wax untill clean, and wrap w/ wax paper.
the pantyhose removes large stuff such as bees and the dirt and fine junk will settle to the water or the bottom of the wax.
--save the scrapings for flux!
I got this from a bee keepers board and it worked great for me!!
FWIW>>>>>>Buck

[Harpman]

I hate to admit this, but I went to walmart and found one, really just a pan that sits in another pan....DO NOT USE YOUR WIFES pans, she will git ya for sure, ( that would be pulling a zumbowray) you can get them clean of the wax, but its easier to just buy your own and let it set , just add wax and other stuff as needed....my lube mix is pretty simple, I eye ball equal amounts of bee wax and crisco, about 2-3 cups each, then add a dash of olive oil and gobblet of lanolin...its probly as good as any lube you can find anywhere..the bullets go in one hole..dip lubing.