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!
Iain Hay Hi, is it important to remove propolis? is it lower grade beeswax when it contains more propolis? is it preferred a clearer color beeswax? if so, Why? I'll appreciate your reply.
It's not particularly important, more aesthetic reasons than anything! Some people might argue it means the wax is less pure so yes probably officially it's lower grade but I've never had it cause a problem. Propolis is basically a "glue" made by bees to seal up draughts etc in their home Some bees produce more than others and it's composition varies enormously, it is usually produced from various tree resins and propolis itself is used to make toothpaste and tinctures for sore throats, roisin for stringed instruments etc. Some of it smells lovely and some of it is a complete nightmare for beekeepers as they stick everything together, it's actually worth more than gold by weight. I wouldn't worry too much about propolis it's more important to keep the temperature of wax down when processing it.
How do you seperate pure honey from the wax.. i had no idea how to cut it.. now honey and wax is in jars... i dont want to destroy the organic pureness of the honey..
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)
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!
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 !
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.
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😊
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.
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
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.
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.
What should you do if you've got more honey mixed in with the wax than you like? Most the beeswax rendering videos talk about if the wax is mostly already separated. I didn't initially understand how to separate them until I'd made this mistake. Thanks.
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.
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!
Really the best video on the subject with the most delightful, calming voice. May I ask why you use plastic to pour the water wax for setting? I would have thought the heat could be tricky for a plastic container.
I bought a bunch of honeycomb from the village nearby since they cleared out some hives from their college, but when i went to break up the big comb there were larvae inside all squirming about 😣😣 i dumped the whole thing in a baggie and left it in the terrace i dont know what to do with it now 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
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!
Very cool Linn. I watched a video a few months back where someone was purifying wax similar to your method. They had to scrape off the propolis. Does your method require this?
GarageWoodworks Thanks BriaN. I am more of a "see if it works" kind of person, and it works well. You can tell the honey comb I received from Jon Peters had been subject to cold temps since the comb and the propolis were very brittle and mixed together, but I would call my video an experiment rather than a technique.
@ The wax from old frames and any junk wax i use this wax to paint new frames, by doing this it gets them going on a new frame. Its a bee keeping trick
Jorge Araujo Thanks Jorge, I don't think the color of the honey comb itself has anything to do with the final wax color, but beeswax in general can be somewhere like a light brown to nearer bright yellow, depending on the pollen in the area.
kandalfus Your google settings don't allow replies directly to your comments. Using olive oil in place of linseed isn't a good idea. Olive oil will go rancid and even if the project you are polishing doesn't need to be food safe, it will still smell.
I followed the steps but no wax was formed on top. Only small very thin fractures. If anyone knows if there is something I could do to fix this or the reason it happened please let me know.
Hi Linn. I have just recently found your videos and I have been binge watching!!! I have a quick question - what type of poly do you use before the beeswax - water or oil based. Thanks again and you definitely have a new fan.
Dear queen of the bees. Again a beautiful video, with wonderful colors. Did you know the term "Yellowcake"? Thought a bit about it when you removed the first semi clean disks. - Will you get your own bees in a next step?
DanEngeWood- Dan Boiled Linseed oil has chemical additives to allow it to dry, whereas raw linseed oil never completely dries. I hope I remembered it correctly.
A very interesting video. Although not hard labor intensive, it seems to be a bit time consuming, but worth it in the end if you want to produce your own BLO/bees wax finish. :) Thanks for the video.
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!
Iain Hay Hi, is it important to remove propolis? is it lower grade beeswax when it contains more propolis? is it preferred a clearer color beeswax? if so, Why? I'll appreciate your reply.
It's not particularly important, more aesthetic reasons than anything! Some people might argue it means the wax is less pure so yes probably officially it's lower grade but I've never had it cause a problem. Propolis is basically a "glue" made by bees to seal up draughts etc in their home Some bees produce more than others and it's composition varies enormously, it is usually produced from various tree resins and propolis itself is used to make toothpaste and tinctures for sore throats, roisin for stringed instruments etc. Some of it smells lovely and some of it is a complete nightmare for beekeepers as they stick everything together, it's actually worth more than gold by weight. I wouldn't worry too much about propolis it's more important to keep the temperature of wax down when processing it.
How would you separate the propolis from the wax, if I may ask?
Sir, can you tell one thing..that for the use in skin care products, which beeswax is best.. yellow or white??
How do you seperate pure honey from the wax.. i had no idea how to cut it.. now honey and wax is in jars... i dont want to destroy the organic pureness of the honey..
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)
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!
Sounds like a cool trade!!
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 !
tomas olaerts Thanks!
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.
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😊
Great video very simple and straight forward with no nonsense and unnecessary steps unlike other videos.
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.
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
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.
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.
What should you do if you've got more honey mixed in with the wax than you like? Most the beeswax rendering videos talk about if the wax is mostly already separated. I didn't initially understand how to separate them until I'd made this mistake.
Thanks.
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.
Thanks for that! As a rookie woodturner i find this very usefull,thanks!
Informative and the instructions were clear and easy to follow 👍🏻
Very informative and nice and short! My attention span and I appreciate it!
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!
Thank you very much this is the easiest and best video I have found on YT and I saw many.
Your videos are great Linn, I learn something and somehow they make me feel calm too!
It is great wow
Really the best video on the subject with the most delightful, calming voice. May I ask why you use plastic to pour the water wax for setting? I would have thought the heat could be tricky for a plastic container.
I bought a bunch of honeycomb from the village nearby since they cleared out some hives from their college, but when i went to break up the big comb there were larvae inside all squirming about 😣😣 i dumped the whole thing in a baggie and left it in the terrace i dont know what to do with it now 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
Thank you! Finally a full informational video that answered all my questions about rendering my bee’s wax
This was a great video to watch. Darbin was awesome in the instructions. Thank You!
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!
Clear, pleasant and succinct instructions. Thank you. (So many bloggers make a meal of it!)
I found a bunch of honeycomb out on a job recently and I can’t wait to try this!
Great ideas. I’m going to use it to make a few candles from my small honey harvest.
Can you just add the honeycomb to the pot without using all the cheesecloth?
Very cool Linn. I watched a video a few months back where someone was purifying wax similar to your method. They had to scrape off the propolis. Does your method require this?
GarageWoodworks Thanks BriaN. I am more of a "see if it works" kind of person, and it works well. You can tell the honey comb I received from Jon Peters had been subject to cold temps since the comb and the propolis were very brittle and mixed together, but I would call my video an experiment rather than a technique.
Great video Linn, I really enjoyed it
Awesome video. Where are you from?
Thank you for making a video that's straight to the point 👉👈
😁👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍😁
Another fantastic video, and your instructions are always so clear. Thanks
Great video Linn. Very informative as to how you get the beeswax you use.
Donnie G Hi Donnie, I usually buy the wax I use at the farmers market. Jon Peters was nice enough to send me the honey comb from his hive!
Any idea what the shelf life of the end product is? Assuming it is packed in opaque and airtight containers like the tin boxes you used?
Hello, I loved this video and was wondering where I might find the containers as well?
can you please make a vidoe on different uses of wax
Can you use something else if you dont have cheese cloth??
can you use the beeswax to make clothes waterproof somewhat ?
Love the video. Great details and easy steps to follow! Can’t wait to try this.
can this wax be used for cosmetic purposes.. like making lip balms or lotions etc
Yes
I have seen vids in the sidebar suggested that say "Using beeswax for lipbalms" etc...so yeah, I think it can be. Just have to find the right video :)
Can i use dried honeycomb ?
Hi, plz respond, is there another suggestion rather than cheesecloth?
Can we use filter paper to filter wax
Thanks for teaching us madam Darbin...
Can i use store bought honey comb from the the store??? The one with honey still with it?
What do you do with what was left in the cheese cloth
So you use water?
you can also use olive oil
Thank you so very much for sharing your knowledge with us....very interesting and very good information
What size are those tin containers where you put the wax?
Thanks for sharing this I am a Bee Keeper and I keep my capped wax separate from the bees wax for this reason, capped is better for crafts
@ Capped wax is beeswax we separate it out
@ The wax from old frames and any junk wax i use this wax to paint new frames, by doing this it gets them going on a new frame. Its a bee keeping trick
can we use this wax for cosmatic or making lipstick?
Hola, sabes todo lo que aprendo de los vídeos de youtube lo usare cuando por fin me vaya a vivir al campo, así que desde ya te estoy agradecido.
Well done Linn, as always....
How long do you have to boil it?
Excellent video, thank you for sharing you knowledge, much appreciated. Do you know if coconut oil would work instead of linseed oil ?
Troy Kloszynski Thanks Troy, any oil would work well.
It is honeyles?
Can you use linseed oil and beeswax for woodturning projects and is it food safe for a cutting board finish
tutorialinater beeswax is a natural product, and so is raw linseed oil. works great for wood turning.
How is bee wax made from?
How many days will it expire
Well made video, right pace, ty
Thanks for your awesome videos . i have made some home made Rust protector.
When boiling are there bee eggs or larva alive inside.
How can i dry the comb
great description
does the color of the honey comb end up in the wax? Meaning if its a dark honey honey will the final wax be darker? Great video... I love beeswax.
Jorge Araujo Thanks Jorge, I don't think the color of the honey comb itself has anything to do with the final wax color, but beeswax in general can be somewhere like a light brown to nearer bright yellow, depending on the pollen in the area.
Wonderful video. Merci.
How much did the honeycomb weigh and what was the weight of the filtered bee's wax?
Adam R Hi Adam, the whole honey comb and crushed comb weighed about 1 pound and the filtered wax was approx 4 ounces.
Thank you so much for this video, my wax turned out perfect. It now looks like butter.
What do you do with the dirty water that you separated from the wax?
Is there a specific way to dispose of it?
That's a pretty cool process! I was surprised how little was you got out of each honey comb.
Ty Moser Thanks Ty, you do need a whole lot of honey comb to make a lot of wax!
I like your wax videos. Keep up the good work!
Jesus Cerezo Thanks Jesus!
kandalfus Your google settings don't allow replies directly to your comments.
Using olive oil in place of linseed isn't a good idea. Olive oil will go rancid and even if the project you are polishing doesn't need to be food safe, it will still smell.
I followed the steps but no wax was formed on top. Only small very thin fractures. If anyone knows if there is something I could do to fix this or the reason it happened please let me know.
Very interesting. Thanks Linn.
Mike M Thanks for watching Mike!
why you use plastic container ?
Just wanted to ask, is there a smell when malting the honeycomb?
Jody Downes Nothing bad, mostly smells like beeswax, which is nice, but it does attract bees!
Can I use it in lip balm making
arpita saharan yes
Amazing video
Would I be able to post this on my website
Love it!
David Waelder Thanks David!
Very nice video and great instructions
Al Furtado Thanks Al!
Hi Linn. I have just recently found your videos and I have been binge watching!!! I have a quick question - what type of poly do you use before the beeswax - water or oil based. Thanks again and you definitely have a new fan.
You can use either, as I do often. The wax polish goes over anything. Hope that helps!
Thank you for your quick reply. I think I am going to try this at home!
Thank you this video is just what I needed.
Hi, how do you clean your gear once you are done?
+Antonio Marmolejo The best way to clean off beeswax is to heat the bowl or pot and then wipe away the melted wax. I often use a heat gun too.
Dear queen of the bees. Again a beautiful video, with wonderful colors. Did you know the term "Yellowcake"? Thought a bit about it when you removed the first semi clean disks. - Will you get your own bees in a next step?
norm1124 Thanks, I think I will leave the bee-keeping to Jon Peters for now.
Nice, you get to the point!
What is the difference using raw linseed oil vs. boiled linseed oil?
Raw linseed oil can smell bad over time,i think
DanEngeWood- Dan Boiled Linseed oil has chemical additives to allow it to dry, whereas raw linseed oil never completely dries. I hope I remembered it correctly.
DanEngeWood- Dan blo just has some additives to make it dry faster. but it is not food safe.
I haven't tried it yet Beeswax, I really like it! :)
Very helpful video, thank you!! :)
This video was extremely helpful. Thank you so much :)
A very interesting video. Although not hard labor intensive, it seems to be a bit time consuming, but worth it in the end if you want to produce your own BLO/bees wax finish. :) Thanks for the video.
Can you use the polish as lip balm?
+Raven Nicole Yes, when I make it for hands or lips I use olive oil instead of linseed.
Do you think I could use coconut oil instead of olive? Thank you so much for your help by the way
Raven Nicole You can use any oil you wish, or a mix of them too, including essential oils.
Thank you so much for your help. I'll definitely be using this recipe soon. You did a great job on the video as well
Very helpful.... Thank you
Fascinating! ✨
Very helpful indeed
Thank you very much.
how much wax would you get per hive?
Interesting video. Thanks for sharing.
Slowvannah Farms Thanks!
Great video! Looking forward to giving this a try!