Making 1 pound wax blocks.

[craneman54]

Hello folks,long time since I have been on here.
Anyway, I just finished bottling 15.5 lbs of honey from 4 hives and washing all the wax.
Tomorrow I hope to start melting and straining the wax.
Does anyone know of small containers I might be able to find that hold 1pound of wax. Maybe something from Wally world,or a hardware store.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[mtnb]

Why not mold the wax into a big block, let it dry mostly and then cut it into 1 lb blocks.? When cured you can just stack them in a big plastic tub.

[craneman54]

To cut bee's wax I would think you would need  a saw(I have plenty of saws), but it would still be a guessing game as to what size to cut them for the thickness they would be.

I guess I could make 4X4X1 inch squares out of wood ans take it from there.

[Steel Tiger]

 Why not storage containers like these: http://www.amazon.com/Rubbermaid-Easy-Storage-Container-42-Piece/dp/B00COK3FD8/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1460441347&sr=1-1&keywords=rubbermaid+storage+containers

They sell them at kmart, grocery stores, ect.

[little john]

I don't know if you have them in your neck of the woods, but over here we have 'baking tins' - these are made of steel, slightly wedge-shaped for easy contents removal, and have a Teflon anti-stick coating.  There are some in small sizes designed for baking cakes, probably 8"x4"x4" or thereabouts.  It would be easy enough to find the desired fill depth by trial and error. 

A hot knife could be used to half the blocks in order to make cubes, and/or, if you make your blocks over-size, they can then be shaved down afterwards with a hot knife to the target weight ...

LJ

[iddee]

http://www.spiritcrafts.net/waxbllomo.html

[Wombat2]

I use silicone cake backing molds for wax - comes off clean and no clean up needed.

[craneman54]

Thanks guys. I knew you people would come thru for me.

I hope to be able to get on this site some more now that things have kind of settled down some.

I really do appreciate the help.

[KeyLargoBees]

Is the wax from processing 15.5 lbs of honey worth worrying about getting into 1lb blocks?

I typically get 20-30 lbs of honey per removal and thats always crush and strain and I never get enough wax out of a single removal to mess with....I just melt it down in a turkey roaster and break up the sheets and store in the freeezer in unfiltered rough form until I get enough to mess with rendering and cleaning up.

[craneman54]

Well this being my first harvest I want to use it as a learning thing. Like that I can maybe solve some situations and work out things before I have that large a batch. Besides I only have 4 hives. It gives me something to do with the rain we have coming the next couple of days.LOL

[mtnb]

Fishing wire cuts great through wax.

...maybe for next time...Those pint milk cartons with the wax inside or those plastic gallon jugs are great for pouring wax into and forming into a mold. You could even put each one on a scale and measure as you pour the wax to get exactly the lb you want.    I save some here and there over time

[BeeMaster2]

Craneman,
One thing you can use the wax for is take an empty frame, make or turn the wood wax holding strip side ways and nail it to the top board. melt your wax, it does not take much, and use a glue brush to bush on a thin coat on the edge of that wood strip. The bees seem to really like following it. I have opened 5 swarm traps with 4 of the 5 frames done like this and all of the frames were drawn perfectly in 1 to 2 weeks. I am now going to use all 5 frames empty. I also think they like the smell of the wax after it is heated (often over heated) and it is adding to the attraction of the trap.
Jim

[craneman54]

Fishing wire cuts great through wax.

...maybe for next time...Those pint milk cartons with the wax inside or those plastic gallon jugs are great for pouring wax into and forming into a mold. You could even put each one on a scale and measure as you pour the wax to get exactly the lb you want.    I save some here and there over time

Thanks for the tip about the fishing wire.
I went and got some plastic storage containers this morning and will try that, I think they should be large enough to hold a pound of wax each. Yes I was planning on using the small scale I have to weigh the wax as I pour it.

Thanks for the help.

[craneman54]

Craneman,
One thing you can use the wax for is take an empty frame, make or turn the wood wax holding strip side ways and nail it to the top board. melt your wax, it does not take much, and use a glue brush to bush on a thin coat on the edge of that wood strip. The bees seem to really like following it. I have opened 5 swarm traps with 4 of the 5 frames done like this and all of the frames were drawn perfectly in 1 to 2 weeks. I am now going to use all 5 frames empty. I also think they like the smell of the wax after it is heated (often over heated) and it is adding to the attraction of the trap.
Jim

That makes since. I will keep some wax around just for that. Good straight comb is always a plus.

[Acebird]

Until you get the wax really pure there usually is some imperfections in the bottom of the mold.  If you need accurate weights pour on the heavy side so you can shave them down to weight.

[Michael Bush]

Pint cream/milk cartons are the right size.  Half of a quart carton is the right size...

[Hops Brewster]

Pint cream/milk cartons are the right size.  Half of a quart carton is the right size...

once again, " a pint's a pound".

[craneman54]

Great, I will get some pint sized containers. Maybe something a little larger to have room to shave the bottoms if my wax is not clean enough.

[Michael Bush]

>Maybe something a little larger to have room to shave the bottoms if my wax is not clean enough.

That's the nice thing about the tall thin cartons.  The layer of junk is more concentrated and less spread out.

[craneman54]

I saw a Youtube video where this guy(LSDPrepper) used a solar oven.a window screen and some paper towels as a filter. Look like his was came out really clean.
I have an old apartment sized refrigerator that will make a good solar oven. We'll see just how clean the wax gets. after the first meling i a big pot to get the heavy cleaning done.