What to do with beeswax

I have a friend with new bee hives, and she was asking what kinds of things one can do with beeswax (that aren’t crazy complicated.)

What are your favorite things to do wth it?

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Mustache wax.

Maybe that’s just me.

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Encaustic
@uglyknees

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candles, soap, lip balm, sun tan lotion, lubricant, and the list goes on.

I make mustache wax as well (though I chopped my mustache off last week). I also use it to make a metal finish for Blacksmithing.

I kept bees for 20 years with a modest number of hives and always found a use for my wax. I recommend:

  • keep the cappings separate from the older wax: bars of cappings wax aren’t shaded with propolis, come out lighter in color, and can be sold for a higher price.
  • build a solar wax melter (insulated box with a glass (or double glass) lid). It’ll allow rendering the wax out of old frames and makes separating the wax from the “slumgum” (old cocoons, propolis, etc. in the older wax) easier. Make it large enough to put whole frames in to save time/effort.
  • a double boiler can be used to melt wax but use caution: wax has a low ignition temp. Consider doing this outside if you have a propane burner or large camp stove. I would melt old wax with water in the pot, let cool, and then scrape the bottom of the block to clean off slumgum which stuck. Repeat to clarify. The water dissolves the honey and some junk in the wax sinks. The unused bits go into the compost pile. Faster than solar melter but more work.
  • If you get a LOT of wax it can be worth it to sell it to Dadant for them to process into foundation.
  • slumgum makes great firestarters! Pour/pack into old cardboard egg cartons and separate. One will start a chimney of charcoal nicely.
  • buy a small mold for the wax to make 1 oz bars. Much handier than 1 lb blocks. Soap molds work, or get ones with a bee motif (which I like) or “beeswax” text on them. These will sell well alongside your honey.

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I use it to condition leather, to wax thread, and canvas. I would love to purchase some if she has too much to use.

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Once upon a time I used to use it for making hand balm and candles. I also would love to purchase some if she happens to have excess.

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she can mind her own!

(sad trombone noise at the failed joke)

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If she’s just starting out, she may not get enough wax to really do anything with for the first couple years. The bees will be more focused on drawing out new comb on empty frames.

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Make a little mold so that you can pour small bars of it, then sell it to hobby people by weight.

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use it to finish forged steel.

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lip gloss make it

I combine with mineral oil for a butcher block / cutting board paste

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ive made low temperature candles by mixing a ratio of beeswax and coconut oil and a crayon.
soak some yarn/ twine / cloth/ or string in salt water and hang to dry. it’ll slow down the burn rate.
i use big paper/ plastic disposable drinking cups as molds. alternately paper / cardboard can be cut / shaped into molds if you were looking for something more custom/ less like a cup.

your results may vary with this beeswax. maybe give a few trial runs with a medical thermometer to see what the temps are.