Beeswax

WittyUsername

Forager
Oct 21, 2020
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Kent
I’ve read a few bits about beeswax of late and it seems pretty good for everything.

Apparently it’s good for your skin (as a lip-balm especially), keeping knives and tools rust-free, bringing leather and wood to life, and even as a grease substitute for a squeaky hinge.

Is all of this true? Any I’ve missed? I’m going to get some to mess about with.

Cheers in advance.
 

WittyUsername

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Oct 21, 2020
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Kent

slowworm

Full Member
May 8, 2008
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Devon
Beeswax is very useful, as a beekeeper I've got lots to experiment with. It makes good candles, wood polish, leather proofer, bullet lube etc.

I'd see if you have a local beekeeper, perhaps at a local market, and see what they have for sale. For food grade uses such as lip balm I'd want wax from honeycomb rather than the darker brood. I'd also want a reliable source as some cheap imports may have other substances in.
 

Falstaff

Forager
Feb 12, 2023
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Berkshire
@slowworm; Do you start with fresh wax sheet each time or put the comb back in? As a top bar beek I don't get a lot of wax, unless I cut a lot of bars out, which I never do. Honey production is not my aim, I just like keeping bees, and take only one or two bars out at most.
 

slowworm

Full Member
May 8, 2008
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Devon
I do a mix. When the bees are happily drawing comb I often just put a strip of foundation in. I've just purchased some foundationless brood frames to see how they get on.

Honey is not my main aim either, so I let the bees use a good nectar flow to draw the wax.
 

plastic-ninja

Full Member
Jan 11, 2011
2,267
274
cumbria
Beeswax is miraculous stuff. For all the purposes above and also for me, for a couple of very specific jobs.
The first is to make “white butter” to line my copper moulds to bake cannelés de Bordeaux.
The second, to line a glass bottle in which to age a Negroni or Boulevardier cocktail. Beeswax aging adds a unique flavour and texture to the drink. It’s a big upgrade.
Both pretty niche but literally nothing else can be used as a substitute to achieve the same result. Bees rock!
 
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John Fenna

Lifetime Member & Maker
Oct 7, 2006
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Pembrokeshire
I make my own Dubbin, leather polish, leather balm and wood polish using beeswax, and it is a big component of my "Iron Age" glue. It is also a large part of fabric wax (think "Greenland" wax...) I scored a couple of buckets worth (unrefined) for next to nothing.
Along with resin you can use the wax to impregnate cotton to make eco "cling film" food wrapping, it is a good basis for mustache wax and is great as a sculpting medium ... when warm it handles like modeling clay but is hard when cool :)
Wax is great!
 

Astrochicken

Member
Jan 15, 2024
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LLanrwst
I get beeswax in pellet form - small mini 'drops' of wax that make measuring out qty much easier. I've done candles and they burn very well with a decent burn time. I've also made cosmetics using variations with coconut oil, olive oil and almond oil in different proportions to vary the finish - more wax tends to make a stiffer mix, which isn't as easy on the skin, but is great for nail care.

I also use a blend of mineral oil and beeswax as a part of my fire-starting kit - melted wax and oil plus a cotton cosmetic make-up pad gives a great starter to help with your kindling taking on the fire.

Beeswax will also blacken steel and provide a degree of anti-rusting, which I found worked really well with a set of non-coated fencing pins that I cut down to a shorter length, to create a set of stakes that a griddle can be rested on over a fire. The fencing pins would rust where poked into the ground much quicker without the addition of a beeswax rub, which worked well for my last camping holiday.

I've used beeswax in combination with mineral oil as a sort of paste wax for finishing wooden items for the kitchen too - chopping boards and utensils, however the finish never lasts and so I've moved on from this to pure Tung oil, so whilst beeswax can be good for wood, I don't rate the longevity.

You can also use the pellet form of clean beeswax to make wax wraps - cotton fabric with melted wax impregnated into the fabric that work really well as hygienic food container covers - they're reusable (instead of clingfilm), and when the wax eventually wears away, you can re-melt the wax with a little more and get the wrap back again. Lots of vids of this online.
 

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