Ah fall. The warm days and crisp nights. The trees changing colors. The start of flu shot season. Wait, what do flu shots have to do with a beekeeping blog? I'm glad you asked. I have been melting my wax in a canning pot with a piece of foam around it to hold the heat in. Several months ago I told my wife "If you see any Styrofoam coolers that someone is giving away let me know so I can make a wax melter out of it. She works at out doctor's office and when a shipment of flu vaccine came in (it has to be kept cold) she got the shipping container for me. Check this baby out.
That's an inch and half of Styrofoam! A quick coat of black paint and
we are ready to melt! I get a tall cup like a soft drink cup from a
fast food restaurant and add about an inch or two of water in the
bottom. Fold a paper towel into a cone and secure it to the top of the
cup with a rubber band. Ball up the wax some so it takes up less room
then place the balls of wax into the paper towel. Bring your box out
into the sun and point it directly at the sun to reduce the amount of
shadows caused by the sides of the box. When you have procrastinated
like I have and it is later in the year with the sun lower in the sky
you should elevate one end of the box to catch more sun. When it gets
hot enough to melt, the wax will drip through the paper towel leaving
behind all the pollen, bee parts, and other gunk and you will be left
with something like this:
The
color will be lighter or darker depending on the starting wax;
sometimes it is almost white to a buttery yellow and sometimes almost a
sunflower yellow. Rinse the wax off because some honey may have been
left in the original wax that will drip through the paper towel. Now
you are ready to use your wax in your next project.
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