Rendering Beeswax

[DLCTEX]

I am in hot water (pun intended) with the head cook (wife). I found some old bee comb in the wall of a building being demolished, so I brought it home to see if it was usable as it was very black. I asked for a double boiler, but we no longer own one, so I put it in a Pyrex bowl of hers and heated it in the microwave BIG MISTAKE ! There was very little wax, if any, but seemed to be dried shells of cacoon bees or something. Little hard, hollow, lumps that made a terrible stench that filled the house. Opened the door and set a fan to exhaust the smell in 100 degree outside heat, she went off to take a nap, and I began to try cleaning the burned junk out of the bowl. I put the bowl on the burner with water and a dash of dishwashing liquid, too much and it will suds over on the stove (past experience). It worked well, cutting the crud loose, so I turned off the heat and used a hot pad to dump the water out. As i started to set it on the cabinet, it exploded into pieces. Maybe you don't heat those on the burner, I'll ask when she wakes up from her nap, maybe. I sprayed some orange cleaning stuff on a paper towel and hung it on the fan to let it freshen the air, or at least mask the oder. I think it worked, I can't smell the burned junk smell anymore, but the sense of smell does tire quickly. Lesson learned, all beeswax smelting will be done in the shop with equipment that doesn't come from the kitchen. There is some fresh comb in another section, but I will not be bringing anymore black comb home. DALE

[bigdog454]

Dad used to use a centrifuge to seperate the honey from the wax. I think (been a long time ago) he then used a double boiler. Best for you to check with a bee keeper, or do a search on the Web.

[Firebird]

Only Pyrex I ever knew of rated for on the stove use was the old CorningWare that was white, squared off style pots and had "blue sunflower" or "spice of life" decoration. That was last made over a decade ago; current CorningWare is ceramic stoneware that can't go on stove. Standard Pyrex bowls etc can't go on stoves either.

[wiljen]

I cleaned up two 5 gallon buckets last year - I mixed it about half and half with water and heated it until the wax melted. Then set it off the burner and let the wax harden on the surface, separated the wax, dumped the water, added more water and went back through the process. Third time was the charm - nice clean yellow wax.

[JeffinNZ]

The big thing with melting bees wax is to keep the temp down. Anything above about 80C (from memory) will begin breaking down the structure of the wax and ruin it. I do not use the microwave but exclusively use a double boiler.

[Morgan Astorbilt]

I place the beeswax into a pillowcase, an old T shirt, or any large piece of cloth, with a rock or lead ingot, and seal the openings with wire twists. Place into a large metal pail or pot of water with the opening down, held under by the weight, and heat to near boiling outside on my plumber's furnace. All the wax floats to the surface, and the crap stays in the bag. Let the water cool, and lift the wax cake out.
Morgan

[Blammer]

easy way to melt beeswax is to put it in a black paint tray, put it on the "roller" side, then put a piece of glass over the top and let it set in the sun.

the wax will melt and flow down into the paint tray, all the gunk will stay on the top. when it cools it will be a golden yellow color and all the "trash" and other stuff if any flowed with the wax will be on the bottom of the solidified wax.

[crabo]

I take a hive super, put an opened up black plastic trash bag on the inside of the box and walls. Took an old cake pan and cut two tabs in one end and elevated the other. The two tabs rest in a pyrex small loaf pan.

We put the comb in a fabric paint stainer that you use on a 5 gallon paint bucket, then cover the box with a piece of glass and set in the sun. The wax melts out, flows down pan into the pyrex loaf pan. Then when it is still in a liquid state, I pour it through a paper cone paint stainer into smaller little butter dishes. Don't let it cool to quick or it will crack. (not that it matters, it just looks prettier without the cracks)

[shooter93]

Get Darrel to write a sticky on beeswax, melting and cleaning it...He's the bee guy...lol

[docone31]

For those of us, who make an organic, burned mess trying things out, I found a very simple cure.
Sodium bisulphite.
It is called Rust Off in the stores.
Mix an heavy batch and let sit. It eats burned organic stuff pretty thoroughly.
An heck of a lot easier than scrubbing.
Pool acid, Sodium Bisulphate, also works, but slower.

[BlackRifleShooter]

This sounds like it was almost as successful as my attempt to launch a homemade rocket off of the back porch of that very same kitchen. Momma (the head cook) asked me to at least close the door. I told her," I know what I am doing, nothing will go wrong." The rocket took off on ignition, went up about 6 inches. This is when the rocket engine decided to detach from the rocket body and fire backwards into the house through the open door. It made a few laps around the kitchen/dining room before lodging underneath the stove, where it quickly burnt out and left a black mark on the floor. Momma werent happy.

[clodhopper]

Grab your snips and go cut at least a dozen roses from the neighbors yard.

[Tom W.]

My boys came home one day a long time ago with a LOT of remains of a wild beehive that they found in the woods. I punched a bunch of holes in the bottom of a (then) 3lb. coffee can and took a propane torch and melted the wax. All of the dead bees and whatever stayed in the can, the wax melted out into a container and it smelled pretty darn good, too!.


Had some trouble with yellow jackets at the range when I shot my .44 for a long time after that....

[Southern Son]

Dale, my missus made me buy a Microwave from one of those Cheapy Stores for the making of Bullet lube cause she said doing it in the kitchen was making funny smells, I thought that they smelled nice. I think that she has a bad sense of smell, I asked her to wear Hoppes No. 9 for purfume once and she just looked at me. It wasn't a Happy Look, either.

BlackRifleshooter, my missus won't let me make rockets anymore, I don't know why, it wasn't like the dog caught fire or anything.

[DonH]

Just buy or scrounge yourself a cooking pot, like 6 qt or so, and a 2 or 3# coffe can you have a double boiler. You will not scorch any more cooking pots or dishes.

[DLCTEX]

Blackrifleshooter's Mom put up with a lot, experiments with blowing things up, bringing all manner of things home to cook, firing guns in her swimming pool, shooting the TV, etc. She was always a trooper, and still is. She had a good laugh at my beewax mishaps, I guess it was a good nap. DALE

[mainelybees]

Good Morning, I just stumbled in here this morning and thought it was funny because I just spent the last two days rendering 55+ pounds of beeswax. I have a pretty good pic of the finished wax cakes but I don't know how to get them on here, sorry.

How much was do you use regularly? I'm just thinkin' its quite a process if you don't need much. Beeswax isn't too expensive and most any beekeeper will have some on hand.

Great site, I think I might stick around. Thanks. David

[BlackRifleShooter]

Shooting the TV......... why did you have to go there?

[mainelybees]

Hey you go, I figured it out. Not bad for a Sunday morning. The cake on the left needs to be melted and strained again but the other three are ready to use.
Davidhttp://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=27&pictureid=117

[Meatco1]

Some funny stories here.

Sort of brightens the day for me.

Richard

[BlackRifleShooter]

Dale, my missus made me buy a Microwave from one of those Cheapy Stores for the making of Bullet lube cause she said doing it in the kitchen was making funny smells, I thought that they smelled nice. I think that she has a bad sense of smell, I asked her to wear Hoppes No. 9 for purfume once and she just looked at me. It wasn't a Happy Look, either.

BlackRifleshooter, my missus won't let me make rockets anymore, I don't know why, it wasn't like the dog caught fire or anything.


Id like to hear how you caught the dog on fire?:mrgreen:

[DLCTEX]

Mainelybees:It isn't so much the cost, even though our only local guy wants $9 lb., as I like the satisfaction of making my own lube. Who knows, some day I may have to, you never know what the Antis will figure out to ban, ten years ago who would have thought lead? Now we have bills to ban all ammo that isn't laser engraved with a serial # licensed with the government. DALE

[wonderwolf]

I'm set for a while on Bees wax and I don't use it up all that fast. Right now I'm just using it with paper patched bullets but I'm sure there will be other uses as I continue to collect rifles with various requirements. Is there some reason though wax has shot up in price? is there something going on that is killing off the bees or is it just that much in demand? Last local gun show I was at guy was getting $7 a pound and I wouldn't doubt his price will have doubled when the shows start up in Oct.

[mainelybees]

9 bucks a pound?!?!?! I'm lucky if I can get 5. Oh well, we're not in the business to get rich anyway.

[wonderwolf]

9 bucks a pound?!?!?! I'm lucky if I can get 5. Oh well, we're not in the business to get rich anyway.

How much yield do you get per hive unit? (not sure what you call them)

[mainelybees]

Maybe a pound at best. Most of the wax comes from the "cappings", this is the thin layer that gets removed in order to get the honey out of the cells. The wax in the picture is a combination a several years from my own bees and customers I have that bring me their honey "supers" to process. Not really a money maker in itself.

[Blammer]

for about every 30 pounds of honey you get about one pound of wax. If you use the entire comb, crush and strain, then melt off the wax.

[wonderwolf]

Learn something new everyday! :-D