I've recently come upon two boxes of deep super beeswax non-wired foundation strips. The strips appear to be the same (thickness, waviness, toughness to squeezing) with the exception that one box of wax is noticeably more white than the other. The first box is a little more yellow and more see-through, while the second box appears more matted and white. Any ideas? The boxes were very likely bought from the same seller at the same time, so I doubt that age has anything to do with the color. Thanks!
Different wax sources for the wax used in the manufacture of the foundation.
I get foundation that runs from almost pure white to a dirty yellow.
The mix of wax used in the lot used in the manufacture of the foundation is the source. If new wax is used exclusively then you get almost pure white wax. If the wax has been around awhile, especially if it came from frames that contained brood at some time or another, the coloring will be darker.
Wax varies greatly in color. Really light colored foundation, however, is usually thinner and made for doing comb honey and is called "thin" or "thin surplus". The surplus I buy from Walter T. Kelley is 7/11 which is a different cell size that the queen does not like to lay in.