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Getting the beeswax.

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A few years ago i made a bee hive for the father in law and a couple of years ago a swarm took up residence.
Well, not one to miss out on a trick while visiting he suggested taking out a super of honey and i was happy to help as i will get the wax to process for my lubed wads! Processing is not hard, you just melt it and sieve it.
Mind you that disc does not look appealling at the moment.
The honey there is half of what we got from the one box.
For those interested the hive is the 'Warre' style of French origins and is for top bar bee keeping. Less intrusive and more natural. All the rest of the honey we will leave for the bees to over winter with so they do not get fed sugar they use their own supplies.
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The mix i use for wads is 50% beeswax and 50% olive oil melted into 5mm thick pure wool felt.
I throw thw wax and oil in a bowl melt it down in the microwave, throw in the wads and when they stop sizzling they are fully soaked. Tip them out through a sieve and you are done.
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Hello Lawrence,

Well spotted. The wax i used for those wads is from my hives from last year. That disc still sits where it is in the photo. I will be straining the wax out of all the crud and dead bee bodies this afternoon.
 
There you go Lawrence, melted ready for when i do my next load of wads. The block is 12" x 4" x 1.5".
Wax is always a differnt colour from one lot to the next.

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Wax toilet rings in the U.S. are no longer made from pure beeswax. Beeswax is readily available at hobby stores, local apiaries and online.

I too made a hive a few years ago hoping for bees to take up residence, but so far no luck.
Glad yours worked out.
 
Thank you Carbon 6, as well as the father in laws i have made 5 other hives and all have taken swarms so I will never be short of honey or wax. :)
 
Very nice info Carl -- keep up the good work.

About 12 years ago I purchased about 15 + pounds of unfiltered beeswax from a bee keeper. It had all the "stuff" from the hive still in it. I used a double boiler outside and some burlap bag as a filter to get the beeswax cleaned. While I was doing this I had a bunch of bees buzzing around trying to get at the beeswax.
 
If you want to try this but don't have bees, talk to your local Honey guy about getting un-processed wax, the guy here said I could have a 5 Gallon bucket full of it for $10 while he wanted like $3.50 a pound for Processed wax. Processing seems strait forward but not something he liked vary much. Sadly I met him twice at farmers markets and twice he forgot the bucket. . . so I never got to try it out.
 
He "forgot" that $10 bucket for a reason -- which is that for a little work on his part he would sell the cleaned stuff for a lot more money!
 
The dark stuff is probably pollen. Surprised At the number of dead bees in the wax.
As the wax comes out of top bar hives the whole comb, wax, pollen propylis bees etc are in it when it is cut crushed and strained. Some combs are a lot cleaner of all the ancillaries depending on where in the box/ hive they are cut from.
 
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