How much does beewax bring where you live?

[buzzbeejr]

I just wanted to know what beeswax brought in different parts of the world,i am not sure how much it brings here but when i find out i will post it.

[Understudy]

Not much.
2oz bars for $1
Now candles are more
votive candles are $2
Now the rolled beeswax can be much higher but I have never done those.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[Greg Peck]

My local bee supply guy sells it for 5.00 a pound. Just looks like a brick of wax.

[buzzbeejr]

it goes for about 5 dollars here too.

[empilolo]

We do not have a ready market for wax here. So we give adding value a try - use bee products as raw materials for shampoo (use that myself, not bad at all, compared with what I can buy at the market) and body lotion.

However, in Benin City which is about 100 km away, they still do Bronze Casts by the "lost wax" process. Something that fascinates me.

Say they are going to cast a head/bust. They first mould a rough core from clay material. Over that, they put a fine layer of beewax, which they sculpt very well to have the look of the final facial features. This is then carefully covered with a layer of clay. This will be the mould for casting.

They let this mould dry in the sun. When it is well dried, they put the mould into a fire and the wax layer melts out. You now have a cavity between rough core and outer layer, into which they pour molten Bronze (or Brass). After the metal has cooled, the outer layer is destroyed, thereby revealing the cast metal. The inner core is removed and the bronze cast is polished.

I wish I had found a better link, but here you find some pictures of how it is done - note the third picture, that is quite a lot of wax.

> http://www.hevasof.com/histlostwax.htm

and some pictures of finished casts.

edit, forgot link > http://www.hamillgallery.com/EXHIBITIONS/AfricanMetalworks.html

An ancient art still being practiced today in the same manner as hundreds of years ago - they even do cast some simple spare parts for modern day machines on request.

[Mici]

too little for my menthor to sell his. he has at least 200pounds of it in his garage. the price is...just a bit more than honey, that is...maybe 6â,¬/kg? it can't be more.

[Finsky]

In Finland foundations are 11 â,¬/kg. When I bring my own wax to the wax factory, I pay foundations 3 â,¬/kg.

[NWIN Beekeeper]

I find that the value varies with how many times it has been filtered.

Unfiltered wax can go as cheap as $3.50, maybe even $3.00 in real bulk.
On average, good processed wax is between $4.00 locally and $5.00 bought nationally like ebay.
Prices are based on one pound.

The time it takes to render a good amount, if you don't have a lot of bees and the right equipment, it can be cost prohibitive. It is still fun to do, especially if you plan to do projects with it at home. Its also nice to render broken combs, it doesn't feel like the bees wasted so much of their time for you when you have something tangable for their efforts.

I think with colony failures this year, you are going to see a price increase in everything bee-related.
This will probably include quality candles from folks like Root.

-Jeff