beeswax-msg - 9/12/01

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.

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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 the individual 
authors.

Please  respect the time  and  efforts of  those who have written  these 
messages. The  copyright status  of these messages  is  unclear  at 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
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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

<the end>
Edited by Mark S. Harris	beeswax-msg	5 of 5