How To Render Beeswax from a Honeycomb

This video is about how to render out wax from honey comb using a pot, water and an induction cook top. I wrapped the honey comb with cheese cloth and melted out the wax.

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[iainhay]

Great video a little tip for you ( from a beekeeping chemist) is to add a squeeze of lemon or dash of vinegar to the water before you heat it this prevents saponification and you get less of the soapy soft layer on the underside of your cake of set wax. The colour is affected by the propolis in the hive so the older the wax the darker the wax. In addition you want to boil gently for the minimum time possible as excess heat also darkens the wax. If you want really nice almost white wax ask a friendly beekeeper for cappings which are cut off from the top of the cells and generally pure fresh wax. Hope this is useful!

[AlbertaBushcrafter]

Excellent video, Linn! I traded some hand-made deer antler pens for about 30 pounds of unfiltered processed beeswax a few years ago. It took a couple of hours to filter it and I still have about 25 pounds left so I'm going to use a bit of it to make the furniture polish you described.

And this year I have a few local honey producers that have raw honeycomb, so your video will be even more helpful later this year. Thanks again!

[hauteswan]

Love it. I used beeswax from my friends bee farm to make my own furniture wax using 1/3 cup clean beeswax 1/3 cup olive oil (melted in the microwave 30 seconds at a time in an old jar) then when melted added about 1/3 cup lemon juice and 40 drops lemongrass essential oil (because i was out of lemon.) It came out wonderful and worked perfectly on my furniture and on stainless steel. I am so excited. (I made it to use on freshly painted chairs and on some other items to test it. Wonderful wax finish. I am going to store it in the fridge since it has olive oil and lemon juice in it. (Beware you must check often when in the microwave and take 10 second breaks in between melting. When it is almost done melting stop and keep stirring and the wax will melt down in the oil. If you microwave too long you could overheat the jar)

[beebob]

I've rendered beeswax for years as a small beekeeper. If you come across a small amount this way is fine. But larger amounts can be done so much easier by adding a colander in the process

[olekaudeala]

Watching this gave me the confidence I treated my New Wax (Dika Wax) and offered me the avenues for improvement in refining the wax. I am confident I can handle beeswax in hives thrown away by farmers in Nigeria.

[tomasolaerts]

I've watched this clip 7 times in the last hour.
Other than the great tutorial on wax, I love how your voice is soothing and calming.
Keep up the good work !

[danieltranchida]

I have watched your videos for sometime now. I have been interested in making candles, so it was a nice surprise seeing you here. My wife past away yr. Ago so between wood working and now beeswax, been trying to keep busy. Thanks so much😊

[JennySimon]

Baking soda and washing soda dissolve oils and waxes for cleaning. I wipe as much with paper towels as I can then soak in blue dawn dish soap, baking soda, washing soda and sometimes borax.

[MrCaneast]

That's a great idea to wrap the comb in cheesecloth to filter out the dirt. This is my first time and have been putting it off, since I have so much accumulated. Other videos shows them just putting the comb into the water and separating the dirt out later which would be time consuming.

[TacticalPoppins]

Thank you! Finally a full informational video that answered all my questions about rendering my bee’s wax

[P.E.R.fishingadventures]

Thanks for that! As a rookie woodturner i find this very usefull, thanks!

[heathersprouse]

Wonderful, helpful video. I used this as part of how I taught myself to render my own wax. We have beehives, so I have a lot of comb and now am making lots of wax products. Cool! Thanks.

[nouraelmoghazy]

Great video very simple and straight forward with no nonsense and unnecessary steps unlike other videos.

[animalyze]

Great tutorial! I recommend using a paper towel rather than a paper/screen coffee filter. The flow is great for Beeswax and it's finer material really cleans all the unneeded particles out, leaving you with a very nice chunk of pure beeswax. Also it can be hard to have a friend give you complete honeycomb, usually you'll get the wax cap scrapings from the honey harvesting. This isn't bad as the wax cap part of the comb is generally much cleaner as it's freshly done, rather than a reused comb piece that turns darker with age. Either way though if you like Bee Bread and Bees wax definitely think about raising bees or having a good circle of friends that do. Every part of the Bee keeping hobby is 100% natural and every part including dead bees from Winter can be used in remedies, foods and all kinds of other practical uses. Great hobby!

[mashaelll]

Thank you soo much for this tutorial, I need rendered beeswax for an eos( lip balm) refill at home, and we happen to have some raw honeycomb at home! I will try this asap and hopefully, the results are amazing!

[marquisbois]

Your videos are great Linn, I learn something and somehow they make me feel calm too!

[debbieexcell]

Informative and the instructions were clear and easy to follow 👍🏻

[nvanwensen]

Great video! Thanks!

Was looking for what to do with my comb, as I will be starting my beekeeping journey this spring! Thinking of stealing this idea as well as making candles.

[chrisprickett]

Very informative and nice and short! My attention span and I appreciate it!

[peredavi]

Great ideas. I’m going to use it to make a few candles from my small honey harvest.