How to: Reuse old foundation for new comb (raise plastic hexagons)

[MnBill]

OK,
So I've bought a bunch of used stuff. 
Some of it has the plastic foundation with the raised hexagonal cells under the comb.

I don't want to use the old Comb, due to the possibility of disease.

So what do I do?  I imagine I scrape off the old comb...but then what?  Is that enough?   Do I need to recoat it with wax before I put it back in?

Unless I scrape all the way down and actually start marking up the plastic foundation, some old comb/wax will remain on the comb....right?

If I coat over this, won't I fill I the raised cells with the new wax?

May-be someone could just explain the process for reusing old foundation....foundation that has had old comb removed.

Thank you.

[Robo]

I usually just scrap of the old/bad comb and give it back to the bees.  If disease is really a concern, I wouldn't use it at all.  The effort and time to clean it thoroughly is not worth it.   By just scraping the old off, you leave enough wax remnants and there is no need to recoat.

[MnBill]

Great thank you.

There is no evidence of disease.....  I guess one other reason I am not going to use the old comb is because it is somewhat brittle.  I have been told that bees won't accept brittle comb.

Given this new information, THAT THE COMB IS BRITTEL, do you believe the bees will except the foundation and rebuild if I scrape off the old comb?


Thanks again.

[Robo]

If you are giving it to existing colonies, then scraping it off should work fine.  If you are going to install packages on it, I would give them the whole comb.   Brittle comb is better than no comb and I think you will be amazed at what the bees can fix.