After our last honey extraction in August, Steve put some of the frames with empty honeycomb back out for the bees to clean up. They eat all the remaining honey until it is pretty much pristine.
cleaned up comb
close up
This comb was then scraped off the frame and we melted, filtered, and molded it. It’s a messy process and it’s best to use old pans that are dedicated to wax from then on because you can never seem to clean it all off. An outdoor sink with hot water would be handy to keep wax from going down the drain. We’ll have to add this to the wish list.
The wax, produced by worker bees, melts around 143-147° F and is best heated slowly so that higher temps don’t discolor it.
molded wax
If anyone needs some wax for homemade lotions or lip balm, let us know. We’re trying to figure out the best form for ease of processing and selling small quantities.