Bees Wax

[skeet1]

I was recently given several pounds of bees wax that I want to use in making bullet lube. The wax I was given has a lot of impurities in it, dirt, honey and other material. Does anyone have any idea how I can clean it up. I'm thinking of melting it with the hope that the impurities will separate. Anyone have any other ideas?

Skeet1:confused:

[Calamity Jake]

Melt it in some hot water, stur gently after melted, the junk will sink to bottom, let cool and the wax will stay on top.
If that is not clean enough then melt it again without water and strain thru cheese cloth.

[calaloo]

Put the dirty wax and a few boolits in a section of panty hose leg. Include a few boolits to sink the bundle. Put this package into a pot of boiling water. the wax will melt and rise to the top the impurities will remain in the panty hose.

Bill

[skeet1]

Thanks guys. I wasn't sure how I was going to do it. This forum is terrific.

Skeet1

[carpetman]

Make sure those panty hose are not your wifes good ones and make especially sure she is not in them. To avoid the possibility of using some of her good ones---contact Scrounger he has plenty of his worn out ones he could give you.

[Blammer]

make sure you use a pot that you won't have to worry about cleaning!

easiest way is add about 1/2 cup of water and bring it all to temp , very slowly.

simmer if you will. simmer it all until it is all liquid. then turn burner off and let it cool by itself.

make sure your melting pot is not tapered IN but tapered out. It will make it easier to remove cooled wax.

make sure you let it cool for a day at least, or more depending on how much it is.

wax is slow to heat up and slow to cool.

[floodgate]

skeet!:

One thing NOT to do is to melt the beeswax directly in a pan on the stove; a double-boiler is generally considered to be the safest way to do it; boiling in water is OK, but messy. A friend who quit the bee business gave us a solar wax clarifier; a tilted box, aimed towards the sun, painted black inside with a hinged glass window and a galvanized, sloped steel tray ending in a screened exit channel that let the melted wax drip into miniature baking tins. Three passes through would yield almost white wax. It works well in summer; with a double-glazed window it would probably work on a bright winter day.

Floodgate

[alamogunr]

make sure your melting pot is not tapered IN but tapered out. It will make it easier to remove cooled wax.


Amen! My pot was straight sided but the handles were rivited with big heads inside. Had to chisel the wax around them to get the block out. Other than that everything worked fine. I did use more water than some are recommending. When I got the block out, just turned it over and used a putty knife to scrape off the trash, bee parts, etc.

John

[Blammer]

I melt my beeswax directly on the burner in the pot, no double boiler.

Just do it SLOWLY with lo heat and you'll be fine. I've actually had it on medium heat and it didn't scald or burn anything.

problem with a double boiler is, by the time the wax starts to melt your water has boiled away, and you need to add more water and start over... for me it was an endless cycle and I never did get the wax melted.

[357maximum]

I melt my beeswax directly on the burner in the pot, no double boiler.

Just do it SLOWLY with lo heat and you'll be fine. I've actually had it on medium heat and it didn't scald or burn anything.

.


I will second that...if one has common sense and is attentive....it is very doable in an open standard kettle..I even do it on an LP fired range.

[halfslow]

When you melt the wax in a pot with water, the easiest way I've found to get the wax out is, after the wax has cooled, poke a hole in the wax and pour the water out.
Then heat the outside of the pot with a propane torch all around the pot for a couple of seconds. The wax will slide right out.
I never thought of putting the wax in the panty hose before melting. I like that idea better than trying to pour melted wax through a strainer in a funnel. It clogs up everything.

[Pawpaw]

When my Dad kept bees, we had a big ole double boiler we used for melting bees wax. It worked great for the quantities we were melting. Think 40 lb round cheese molds. We'd send those to the Kelly company as a deposit on super-frames.

I'm still working on my last round block of wax and it'll probably last me the rest of my life. These days I melt it in the microwave, in one of those disposable bowls.

[runnin lead]

I put the wax in a pot of water on a hot plate ,it takes longer but there is no flame
next time I think I will try bringing the water to boil on the range then moving to the hot plate then adding the wax .
Halfslow thanks for the drain & heat sugestion ,getting it out was a huge pain ,cleaning was not too bad bring fresh water to a boil & the small amount left stuck to the sides scraped right off

[crabo]

5 gallon fabric paint strainers work great for melting the wax through if you don't have panty hose.

[ben1025]

I have common sense and am attentive, or so I thought. I burnt my house down cause the pot cracked. I used that pot numerous times B4. Don't take a chance use a pot in water. I
wish I had. ben1025 AKA ben.