beeswax-msg
- 12/6/11
Beeswax
sources. Period uses of beeswax. Casting with beeswax.
NOTE:
See also the files: candles-msg, bees-msg, handcream-msg,
casting-msg, honey-msg, mead-msg.
************************************************************************
NOTICE
-
This
file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I
have collected from my reading of the various computer networks.
Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.
This
file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium.
These files are available on the Internet at:
http://www.florilegium.org
I
have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do
with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and
sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the
message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.
The
comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I
make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by
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Please
respect the time and efforts of those who have written these
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this time. If information is published from these messages,
please give credit to the originator(s).
Thank
you,
Mark
S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous
Stefan
at florilegium.org
************************************************************************
Date:
Mon, 1 May 2000 00:10:27 -0500
From:
"RANDALL DIAMOND" <ringofkings at mindspring.com>
Subject:
SC - RE: Quince Pastes (long answer)
Allison
advises:
>>>>If
you buy honey in the store, you may not have to go through the
boil
and skim process, but if you have bees or are getting it from a
local
farmer, you want the bee-bits and excess starch out of it. Again,
bring
to a boil--very carefully--because sugar boils up and over fast and
makes
a really nasty burn! Lower heat to a low boil or less, stir
constantly
until you have half the volume in the pot that you started
with<<<<
"Bee-bits".
What a concept! But it's only a little
extra
protein though. Starch??? I'm not familiar with
where
starches would come from in honey unless you
mean
there may be some contaminating the honey
through
pollen in it. For the most part, the main component
of
froth when you boil honey is WAX in suspension in the
honey.
A great deal of the golden/greenish brown beeswax
you
see (rather than the pure white from combs) is reclaimed
from
the skim in large scale production. It takes quite a while
to
get it all out by boiling though. The wax in the froth will flash
vaporize
if it spills on your burner and burns with a nasty black
carbon
smoke. Boilng honey is more dangerous than boiling
sugars
because of the greater volitility of the wax in the froth.
Akim
Yaroslavich
Subject:
RE: ANST - Seeking Source For Pure Bees Wax
Date:
Mon, 26 Mar 2001 12:41:51 -0600
From:
"Patrick J. Cuccurello" <pat at adtelusa.com>
To:
<ansteorra at ansteorra.org>
Try
Crockett Honey, in Tempe, AZ. They use to sell bulk beeswax when I
kept
bees
over in Phoenix. Information should have their number as I no longer
have
it handy.
>
I was wondering if anyone in the A&S community or otherwise might
know
>
of a good source for Pure Bees Wax. I am looking for a Bulk
Purchase,
>
between 50 and 100 pounds depending on price per pound.
>
>
My best source currently has it at about $2.99 per pound.
>
>
Timothy of Glastonbury
>
Novice Candlemaker
Subject:
Re: ANST - Seeking Source For Pure Bees Wax
Date:
Mon, 26 Mar 2001 10:57:19 -0800 (PST)
From:
Timothy Rayburn <timothy at elfsea.net>
To:
ansteorra at ansteorra.org
I
have two sources currently that will get me this price. The first is
Craft
Express at http://shop.store.yahoo.com/craft-store/index.html
which
will give you 33lbs at 2.99 a pound currently on sale.
The
other is http://www.stroopebeeandhoney.com/ out of Alvin, Texas
which
will sell theirs at 50 pounds for 3.00/pound, which is a non-sale
price.
Each
is filtered blocks of Pure Bees Wax.
Timothy
of Glastonbury
Subject:
Beeswax
Date:
Mon, 2 Apr 2001 15:09:46 -0500
From:
Tim Rayburn <tim.rayburn at webmodal.com>
To:
"Mark.S Harris (rsve60)" <mark.s.harris at motorola.com>
I
wanted to pass along that I have found two contacts that are selling
(one
in
bulk only, one in smaller quantities) Beeswax for only $2/pound
The
bulk supplier can be reached at KMiller170 at aol.com and sells in
32-34 lb
blocks.
I have not worked with him.
The
other supplier, an apiary out of Indiana, sells in quantities as
small
as
2-8 pounds and in like sized blocks. I do not have his contact
information
here, but when my order arrives I would be happy to pass along
his
information. Shipping on my 50 lb order came to approximately 20
dollars.
This
is a VERY reasonable price as the BEST price (aside for the offer of
some
free wax from a local friend) has been 1.80/lb, but this is from a
commercial
outfit in Mexico and has a minimum order of 500kg, which is about
1100
lounds. This price was before shipping and customs.
Timothy
of Glastonbury
Date:
Mon, 16 Apr 2001 17:19:13 -0400
From:
James Koch <alchem at en.com>
Newsgroups:
rec.org.sca
Subject:
Re: Sculpting in bees wax
Organization:
EriNet Online Communications - Dayton, OH
Chuck
Needham wrote:
>
I've been playing with wax sculpting for the last week. hopefully to
>
eventually try some lost was casting. I was wondering if there are
>
recipes for modifying the wax to make it harder, raise the melting
temp,
>
add color, etc. also needed is a source for these additives and
someone
>
to speak to who would know what I'm talking about.
>
>
Cormac Ua Niadh
>
--
>
Chuck Needham * Figure Sculpture
>
2Bit Studio * Illustration & Computer
Graphics
>
(920)261-3298 * 3D Modeling & Animation
>
mailto:thatguy at 2bitstudio.com * http://www.2BitStudio.com
Chuck,
The
commercial waxes are the way to go. However, if you are cheap, in a
big
hurry, or just want to experiment, I can provide a couple of ideas.
I
once took a sculpting course at the Cleveland Institute Of Art. They
add
carbon powder to parrafin to make it tougher and to raise its
melting
point. The finished product resembles black plastic and won't
melt
even on a hot Cleveland August day. This may work for beeswax as
well,
but to a lesser extent. You might not want carbon in your wax
though
if you are burning it out of your molds. It may leave a residue
behind.
About 25 years ago my girlfriend made her own casting wax from
parrafin.
She found the original grocery store product to be too hard
and
brittle. So she melted a block and began adding vegetable oil. She
poured
out a test piece and added more oil until she got the consistency
she
wanted. She was able to get a wax which was soft enough to form
with
the hands when cold. A slightly harder mix was good for carving
since
it resisted chipping.
Jim
Koch (Gladius The Alchemist)
From:
David Razler <david.razler at worldnet.att.net>
Newsgroups:
rec.org.sca
Subject:
Re: Sculpting in bees wax
Date:
Sun, 22 Apr 2001 00:28:24 GMT
Organization:
AT&T Worldnet
On
Mon, 16 Apr 2001 17:19:13 -0400, James Koch <alchem at en.com>
wrote:
>>
>The
commercial waxes are the way to go. However, if you are cheap, in a
>big
hurry, or just want to experiment, I can provide a couple of ideas.
>I
once took a sculpting course at the Cleveland Institute Of Art. They
>add
carbon powder to parrafin to make it tougher and to raise its
>melting
point. The finished product resembles black plastic and won't
>melt
even on a hot Cleveland August day. This may work for beeswax as
>well,
but to a lesser extent. You might not want carbon in your wax
>though
if you are burning it out of your molds. It may leave a residue
>behind.
About 25 years ago my girlfriend made her own casting wax from
>parrafin.
She found the original grocery store product to be too hard
>and
brittle. So she melted a block and began adding vegetable oil. She
>poured
out a test piece and added more oil until she got the consistency
>she
wanted. She was able to get a wax which was soft enough to form
>with
the hands when cold. A slightly harder mix was good for carving
>since
it resisted chipping.
>>
>Jim
Koch (Gladius The Alchemist)
The
problems using beeswax for lost-wax casting are many.
To
start with, the product itself is relatively very expensive
(If
anyone in this time of bee mites and Africanized bees decimating
the
honeybee population <mites alone have wiped out the naturalized
honeybee
population in most of the Northeast> please let me know - I
cannot
afford the stuff anymore, even for mixtures for small candles)
Then
there's the purity issue. Beeswax smells great, because,
no
matter how good the separators are, there is a resedue of honey and
propolis
- natural bee-produced "varnish" that is some of the
toughest
resinous
stuff around (great little chemical factories, them bees -
try
scraping some propolis out of a hive box some time!). It's the
reason
aged cast beeswax seems to have a varnished look too.
When
you burn out your carefully-sculpted beeswax model,
you'll
get dampness, sooty residue and solids trapped in your mold.
You
can drive out the damp, but not the soot and solids, which will
coat
and become embedded in your work.
Also
beeswax, like paraffin (a petroleum cracking byproduct),
has
a very grainy crystaline structure, the reason jewelry-grade
carving
waxes are sold as "microcrystaline." It is subject to
cracking
along
crystal boundaries. Unlike paraffin, it also has a very low
melting
point, meaning you'll be working in the cold, which makes
carving
easier but encourages cracking.
The
impurities also affect solidness and cracking. In addition
to
encouraging cracking, they also can create microscopic pores that
won't
be a problem until they become little spiky things inside your
burned-out
molds.
Remember:
once you burn out your mold, you cannot look inside
and
repair it - if you could get away with an open mold, you wouldn't
be
using a loat-wax process anyway, since it demands lots of work for
each
wax sculpture, which is then destroyed in the burn-out phase.
d/A
From:
"Steven Weidner" <bigsteve at nycap.rr.com>
To:
<sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject:
Re: [Sca-cooks] OT furniture beeswax for candles?
Date:
Mon, 23 Jul 2001 09:36:38 -0400
>in
a discussion but a short while ago, it was
>mentioned
that medieval candles would be made out
>of
*refined* beeswax rather than the honey-colored
>stuff
favored today. Today I saw a block of
>whitish
wax labelled 'beeswax' in the window of a
>woodworking
and machine rental shop. The stuff is
>intended
to wax wooden floors. Apparently it
>contains
some chemical hardening agent, but the
>sales
staff were completely mystified by my
>innocent
question "is it good for candles?" Does
>anyone
here have experience with it?
A
possible warning about the hardening agent: one such agent is
stearine, or
stearic
acid. It raises the melting point of the wax so that it stays solid
longer,
but it doesn't raise the flash point. What this means is that while
you're
trying to melt it, it may need sufficient heat to soften that it
spontaneously
combusts as soon as it melts. If you're going to do this, try
it
with a small batch first, and have a fire extinguisher handy.
Steinn
Karlsson
Date:
Sat, 16 Apr 2011 08:51:14 +1000
From:
Zebee Johnstone <zebeej at gmail.com>
Subject:
Re: [Lochac] Beeswax source needed
To:
"The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list"
<lochac
at lochac.sca.org>
On
Sat, Apr 16, 2011 at 8:45 AM, Marie Brooker <madmender at
gmail.com> wrote:
<<<
My dear gentles, I am in search of a reliable source of beeswax. Is
there an
apiarist
among the populace who might see their way to selling me a kg or
two
of beeswax? >>>
You
can ring
Stacks
Of Wax
239
Australia St, Newtown, NSW 2042
Inner
West
p:
(02) 9557 0306 f: (02) 9557 0804
and
see if they have what you want at a price you can manage. If they
do
I can probably obtain it and bring it to Festival.
Silfren
Date:
Sat, 16 Apr 2011 09:58:11 +1000
From:
Del <del at babel.com.au>
Subject:
Re: [Lochac] beeswax
To:
The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list <lochac at
lochac.sca.org>
Yeah,
confirmed that you can't import beeswax into Australia from either
the
USA or New Zealand. Don't try ordering from overseas, folks, it's
one
of the easiest things for sniffer dogs to detect and you will cop a
fine.
Stax
of Wax in Newtown as posted by Zebee is your best source.
--
Del
Date:
Sat, 16 Apr 2011 10:32:16 +1000
From:
Zebee Johnstone <zebeej at gmail.com>
Subject:
Re: [Lochac] beeswax
To:
"The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list"
<lochac
at lochac.sca.org>
On
Sat, Apr 16, 2011 at 10:00 AM, Marie Brooker <madmender at
gmail.com> wrote:
<<<
Del, they [Stax of Wax] currently don't have any beeswax. >>>
They
have it in sheets of about 20 x 40 cm at about 80gm per sheet for
$2
or if you buy 10 they are $1.80 each.
Just
rang them so that info is definite.
Silfren
Date:
Fri, 15 Apr 2011 20:56:37 -0400 (EDT)
From:
shayrebel at aol.com
Subject:
Re: [Lochac] Beeswax source needed
To:
lochac at lochac.sca.org
Plasdene
at Milperra has wax in blocks.
Mog
Date:
Sat, 16 Apr 2011 11:06:45 +1000
From:
"Cary" <lenehan at our.net.au>
Subject:
Re: [Lochac] beeswax
To:
"'The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list'"
<lochac
at lochac.sca.org>
Addenda:
do not try ordering beeswax (there may be an exemption for
processed
ie boiled, but I would not guarentee it) it from the north island
to
Tasmania or from the eastern states (any) to WA. This is also
illegal
(and
a Good Idea) due to internal quarantine issues.
Hrolf
<<<
Yeah, confirmed that you can't import beeswax into Australia
from
either the USA or New Zealand. Don't try ordering from
overseas,
folks, it's one of the easiest things for sniffer
dogs
to detect and you will cop a fine.
Stax
of Wax in Newtown as posted by Zebee is your best source.
--
Del
>>>
Date:
Sat, 16 Apr 2011 09:26:39 +1000
From:
Elden <elden.mcd at gmail.com>
Subject:
Re: [Lochac] Beeswax source needed
To:
"The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list"
<lochac
at lochac.sca.org>
YMMV,
but when we bought 'pure' beeswax from Stacks of Wax, it already had
a
fragrance
of some sort blended into it for candle making.
We
use Pender Beekeeping Supplies (www.penders.net.au) now. They charge
$8.80
plus shipping. We order 4KG at a time to Sydney for about $10
postage.
Delivery
is prompt and the wax smells like wax. If you're approaching
festival
from the North, they're in Newcastle, about an hour from Glenworth
Valley.
Elden
Company
of the Staple - Life in Calais, 1376
http://companyofthestaple.org.au
Date:
Mon, 18 Apr 2011 13:54:00 +1000
From:
Del <del at babel.com.au>
Subject:
Re: [Lochac] beeswax as a finish
To:
The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list <lochac at
lochac.sca.org>
<<<
Oh! I imagine that that is probably period. Do you have a period
description of this? Do you mix the beeswax with a varnish or
something? Or just take a piece and start rubbing it into the wood
item? >>>
I
mix the beeswax: 4 parts wax, 9 parts oil. I try to use a natural
vegetable oil such as grapeseed oil but for external applications I
can understand those that prefer a mineral oil. I add some rosemary
oil, a dash or two. Others use turpentine, I don't use it or
recommend it. In warmer climates you may want to use more wax, in
colder climates you want to use less wax. That's really just for
ease of application.
This
is applied to the boat using about 1 part wax mixture to 10 parts
elbow grease. :)
<<<
For your boat, are you trying to maintain period methods? Or do you
prefer the finish or application procedure better than using a
modern, probably synthetic finish/protector? >>>
A
bit of each. I prefer to use period methods when I can, and when it
makes sense to do so. It doesn't make sense to use period methods to
install any electronics, although it's obvious where past owners have
tried (mutter mutter ...).
I
don't like using modern synthetic finishes because they sit on top of
the surface of the wood and don't penetrate it or enhance the wood in
any way. After a year or two in the sun they crack and start
peeling, at which point you sand them off and start again.
Alternatively you keep painting and painting and hope for the best.
If you use a wax/oil finish you never have to sand it off, you just
put more over the top.
Plus
I prefer the look.
--
Del
Date:
Mon, 18 Apr 2011 14:21:29 +1000
From:
Alonya Mazoyer <submarinechick at gmail.com>
Subject:
Re: [Lochac] beeswax as a finish
To:
"The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list"
<lochac
at lochac.sca.org>
I
use 1 part wax and 4 parts oil, though don't add rosemary. I adjust
the
proportions
as required depending on how malleable I want it to be or the
weather
conditions when I am going to use it. So about the same recipe. I
generally
make it in a jar in the microwave for a few minutes until the wax
is
melted. Add a lid, shake and then let cool. Voila.
I
use it on everything from wood, metal, leather and hands when
spinning
commercial
fibre, although it is not limited to these uses. It is magical
stuff.
Juliana
<the
end>