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Thread: Bees wax price check

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
    metricmonkeywrench's Avatar
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    Bees wax price check

    Ran across a local beekeeper who sells the wax on the side. In today’s market is $12 a pound for clean and $8lb for semi-clean sound worth pursuing?

    I’m planning on mixing some Home made up for BP and Smokeless from the stickies

  2. #2
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    Mal Paso's Avatar
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    That's about what I paid last time. You can check with Randyrat in VS and see if he has some too.
    Mal

    Mal Paso means Bad Pass, just so you know.

  3. #3
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    Since the the recent crisis of many honey bees dying off, the price of bees wax has gone way up. I used to enjoy having parties with only candlelight. Now bee’s wax candles are too expensive and I don’t like the fast burning paraffin ones. I’ve switched to kerosene lamps. Anyway, I stock up on bee’s wax whenever I see it reasonably priced. It’s probably only going to get more expensive.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master Lead pot's Avatar
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    Soy wax is a good carrier for lube, better yet Ozokerite wax is better then B or Soy wax.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master brewer12345's Avatar
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    As a beekeeper who has had the hardest year yet, if you need beeswax grab it when you see wax offered at a reasonable price. I am wondering how long this will remain a viable hobby, and in years past I used to sell excess bees to other beekeepers.
    When you care enough to send the very best, send an ounce of lead.

  6. #6
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    The soy wax seems to dry out faster than bees wax. Perhaps it is just the recipe I used. Not sure I can find the records on that any more.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by brewer12345 View Post
    As a beekeeper who has had the hardest year yet, if you need beeswax grab it when you see wax offered at a reasonable price. I am wondering how long this will remain a viable hobby, and in years past I used to sell excess bees to other beekeepers.
    What do you mean a viable hobby? Am I making any money at it, no. If that's what you meant, it will likely fade as a hobby. I don't do it so much as a hobby, but more so I know what I am getting. Unless you buy honey from local bee keepers, the honey one buys in most stores now is devoid of any pollens and the stuff that would be good for ya. It's all heated and strained to take out odd colors, for consistency in marketing.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by la5676 View Post
    What do you mean a viable hobby? Am I making any money at it, no. If that's what you meant, it will likely fade as a hobby. I don't do it so much as a hobby, but more so I know what I am getting. Unless you buy honey from local bee keepers, the honey one buys in most stores now is devoid of any pollens and the stuff that would be good for ya. It's all heated and strained to take out odd colors, for consistency in marketing.
    Unfortunately, honey has just become another processed food.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by la5676 View Post
    What do you mean a viable hobby? Am I making any money at it, no. If that's what you meant, it will likely fade as a hobby. I don't do it so much as a hobby, but more so I know what I am getting. Unless you buy honey from local bee keepers, the honey one buys in most stores now is devoid of any pollens and the stuff that would be good for ya. It's all heated and strained to take out odd colors, for consistency in marketing.
    My best friend is a vegetable farmer and keeps a half dozen hives, mostly for pollination. He does sell raw honey at the farmers market. Since the CCD started about a decade ago, he just plans to replace the bees every year. He had a couple lean years where honey production was low enough where there was no profit and probably some financial loss. He has gotten smarter about the harvest of honey with this CCD and Minnesota's cold winter and he has raised his prices to what the market will bare and he no longer sells "bulk" (at reduced price) to his large customers, so has made a reasonable profit each of the last few years...but no where near the profit he had before CCD.
    This is the first year he has had enough wax to sell, he sells a well cleaned 3 oz cube at the farmer's market for $4 each.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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  10. #10
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    With prices at over a dollar an once, I think more and more people will be switching to powder coating.

  11. #11
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    last time I bought beeswax was long ago I got a 10lb block for I think it was $20, but still got a 5 gallon bucket of honey comb I haven't squeezed out yet from when I had my own bee hives

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by GregLaROCHE View Post
    With prices at over a dollar an once, I think more and more people will be switching to powder coating.
    It takes so little Bees Wax to lube a bullet it would still likely be cheaper at $2 an oz. I've used a pound in the last 4 years.
    Mal

    Mal Paso means Bad Pass, just so you know.

  13. #13
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    I bought my last beeswax at Hobby Lobby. 16oz for 12.95, mixed it with Valvoline synthetic high pressure grease, with moly & lithium. So, I have close to two pounds of premium cast bullet lube for around 25 dollars, total. It should last me a LONG time.

  14. #14
    Boolit Master

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    Check the Swappin & Sellin forum for beeswax.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mal Paso View Post
    It takes so little Bees Wax to lube a bullet it would still likely be cheaper at $2 an oz. I've used a pound in the last 4 years.
    Ebay is where I get my bees wax. Dozens of sellers. It's available in blocks or pellets. Filtered. Not filtered. White or yellow. $10 a pound will buy you very, very nice wax delivered. A couple of the sellers are bee keepers. I try to support them as opposed to a reseller. I just bought 5lbs to go with the 4lbs I already have on hand. A little bit will last for years and years. I even flux my lead pot with it.

    Here is the listing I bought from. I hope this doesn't violate any rules. I don't mean to.

    NO EBAY LINKS, EVER
    Last edited by Pressman; 10-16-2020 at 09:37 AM. Reason: No eBay

  16. #16
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    I ran into a listing a week ago from a local apiary selling filtered yellow wax for $6 a pound. The catch was that I had to buy it in 40 pound blocks.

    I passed on the deal, but the thought of partitioning and reselling it crossed my mind.

  17. #17
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    I got 15# unfiltered last year for a $1.00 per pound. I then cleaned it using the water bath t-shirt filter method and after 3 melts and filtering I netted about 13.5#s yellow wax, 200 ground bees where I dumped the castings in the flower bed and 20 sqft of fire starter rags.
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  18. #18
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    I have used this many times under $10 per pound delivered

    https://www.amazon.com/Stakich-Pure-...xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

  19. #19
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    All set for a while, I ended up picking up 2 1lb blocks of the clean stuff, I just haven’t had a chance to do anything with it yet.

    I really didn’t mind paying a bit extra in support of a local fellow.

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Minerat View Post
    I got 15# unfiltered last year for a $1.00 per pound. I then cleaned it using the water bath t-shirt filter method and after 3 melts and filtering I netted about 13.5#s yellow wax, 200 ground bees where I dumped the castings in the flower bed and 20 sqft of fire starter rags.
    You counted the bees!?? I made three attempts to destroy a ground yellow jacket nest, finally sprayed it at night with the wasp killer spray and then dumped five gallons of soapy water down the hole. Haven't seen any since.
    Wayne the Shrink

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