Melting wax

[gdog]

How do you go about melting wax and getting all the dirt an dead bees out of it?

[Sparky]

Here is a link that shows one method of many ways to render wax.

Wax Part 1 - What to do with Old Comb

[hjon71]

I use the same method as the video but I bought a metal bucket to melt mine. And I use the side burner on my add grill.

[Wolfer]

I crush and strain so I get quite a bit of wax. I tend to just cut out 4 or 5 frames at a time. I put the wax in a coffee can and fill with water. Set it on the stove on simmer until the wax melts. Then I pour the hole mess thru a screen back into another coffee can. The wax will float to the top and shrink enough I can just lift it off.

The window screen I use doesn't get all the crud/ bee hair out so if you wanted it refined further it would need to be melted again and filtered better.
I use mine for bullet lube and it runs down a gun barrel just fine.

[Oblio13]

I wrap comb in burlap or cheesecloth, weight it down in the bottom of a pot with a flat rock, cover it with water, and put it on a woodburning stove outside. (I'm apprehensive about melting wax in the house because it's so flammable - I have a titanium woodstove that I use in my tent for winter camping, and it's a simple matter to set it up outside.)

The wax melts through the burlap and floats to the surface. The slumgum stays in the burlap and the whole mess makes wonderful smoker fuel once it dries.

If you let the pot cool slowly, the wax will separate from the walls of the pot and harden without cracking. You'll have a nice puck that only needs the bottom scraped.

[JWChesnut]

Cakepan with a piece of double strength (or plate) window glass laid over it.

Use light spring clips or even clothes pins to seal the pan to the glass.
Put on a piece of bubble/mylar insulation or a car windshield shade.
** Place in sun.** 
   In about 2 hours wax will be liquid. 

Pour wax into a kitchen strainer in a second cakepan. Cover with glass.
Prop up second pan with a block of wood so the pan has a slight slope.
Wax and honey will flow through, and propolis and other junk will stick to kitchen strainer.

The honey tends to flow off first (high specific heat), and can be decanted as a cooking and/or feed supply.

*Place in sun* until wax is fully liquid again.

Pour wax/honey mix into plastic cups (the heavy clear plastic 8 oz work nicely, but any will do).  Pouring through a fine strainer will catch some additional crud.

When wax hardens warm in a waterbath just enough to pop  the wax plug out.  If you let the wax harden slowly, the residual crud will settle on the bottom, and any entrained air will bubble to the surface.

The advantage of solar melting of wax is the temp never exceeds about 145F, and the wax retains it lemon yellow color.  If you overheat the wax it will turn a mustard brown-- far less attractive.  Once the wax is turned, it never seems to come back to the fresh lemon yellow.

You can also use a dedicated crock pot (look in a thrift store) to slowly melt the wax, but you will still need to strain. 

An advantage of the low-tech cakepan and glass technique is the odors of the wax is contained and doesn't attract a mad crowd of robber bees.  Warming on the stove will create a scene out of Hitchcock at your kitchen windows and doors.   Spills are out of doors.  The process is infinitely expandable -- get more thriftstore cakepans and more thriftstore pictureframe glass.