What Should I Get Off of My Neighbor?

[animal]

Yes, it's the slumgum I was wondering about. I haven't done this yet and was curious about it's properties. Pictures online range from a schmutzy gunk of bee parts, pollen, and nastiness to a syrup looking goo in a picture on wikipedia (of a casting in a torn milk carton).

If all of those pics are of slumgum, it seems like slumgum is a catch-all word for "any gunk left over from whatever you had in the melter" ?

[Michael Bush]

After getting as much clean wax as I can out of the slumgum, I press the rest by wringing the cheese cloth and collecting the wax.    There's not much water left in what's left.

[Terri Yaki]

I'll find out, it's easy enough for me to hit it with a torch and see what it does. This stuff kind of stinks but to each their own and if the bees love it, who am I to judge? So how am I to apply this stuff? For the most part it's solids that aren't going to spread or stick too good. Or do I just use the water that was used for the extraction? Or do I take the warm solids and smear it on a frame until it sets?

[Ben Framed]

I'll find out, it's easy enough for me to hit it with a torch and see what it does. This stuff kind of stinks but to each their own and if the bees love it, who am I to judge? So how am I to apply this stuff? For the most part it's solids that aren't going to spread or stick too good. Or do I just use the water that was used for the extraction? Or do I take the warm solids and smear it on a frame until it sets?

I have little doubt that it will catch up with a torch considering the example with spilled wax/water in the open fire of the video which I placed here for your pleasure Terri. The real test would be with a match or a lighter, as in a real life situation and the use for which this is intended by animal, to be used as a fire starter.  🤷🏻‍♂️
Let us know how it turns out..

Phillip

[Terri Yaki]

I have little doubt that it will catch up with a torch considering the example with spilled wax/water in the open fire of the video which I placed here for your pleasure Terri. The real test would be with a match or a lighter, as in a real life situation and the use for which this is intended by animal, to be used as a fire starter.  🤷🏻‍♂️
Let us know how it turns out..

Phillip

Oh yes, a full regimen of testing is in order. I'll start with a propane torch first because that definitely reveals whether or not there are possibilities. Should that succeed, I'll drop back to a match and a piece of newspaper and proceed from there based on results. And I like Michael's idea of wringing out the bag whilst it's still hot and malleable.

[Ben Framed]

I have little doubt that it will catch up with a torch considering the example with spilled wax/water in the open fire of the video which I placed here for your pleasure Terri. The real test would be with a match or a lighter, as in a real life situation and the use for which this is intended by animal, to be used as a fire starter.  🤷🏻‍♂️
Let us know how it turns out..

Phillip

Oh yes, a full regimen of testing is in order. I'll start with a propane torch first because that definitely reveals whether or not there are possibilities. Should that succeed, I'll drop back to a match and a piece of newspaper and proceed from there based on results. And I like Michael's idea of wringing out the bag whilst it's still hot and malleable.

Sounds good, maybe a third test, 'just' a match?

Phillip

[The15thMember]

If all of those pics are of slumgum, it seems like slumgum is a catch-all word for "any gunk left over from whatever you had in the melter" ?

In my experience, yes.  I call all the "unmeltables" slumgum. 

[Terri Yaki]

Sounds good, maybe a third test, 'just' a match?

Phillip

That would be a viable second step in the testing process.

[Ben Framed]

Sounds good, maybe a third test, 'just' a match?

Phillip

That would be a viable second step in the testing process.

Yes a match with 'no' paper...   
Thanks,

Phillip

[Terri Yaki]

Somehow I missed that video but that was interesting. I have an antique sausage stuffer I could use to press the bags with.   

[Ben Framed]

Somehow I missed that video but that was interesting. I have an antique sausage stuffer I could use to press the bags with.   

A sausage stuffer should work fine for that.. I will repost the reply #24 which contained the video, for you convenience in case you might like to see how flammable beeswax really is in an open flame, even in water! 

https://beemaster.com/forum/index.php?topic=56947.msg524180#msg524180

[Terri Yaki]

I find it amazing that bees can make a flammable product like that.

[The15thMember]

I can never get over that bees make wax.  Every time I melt wax or make a candle, I always say to my family, "Bugs made that, can you believe it?"

[animal]

a bee a bug ?
gotcha !     

but ... we make methane ! far more flammable, and quite a few funny youtube videos to "prove it" 

[Terri Yaki]

a bee a bug ?
gotcha !     

but ... we make methane ! far more flammable, and quite a few funny youtube videos to "prove it" 

What's your channel? 

[animal]

Mostly, I was just tickled to catch 15th on a technical error  ... hard to do with bee biology

Channel?
Nah Teri, I don't document my inquiries with video, plenty of others doing that. I do it with  words, silly projects, and injuries.

Alas, while I have personally confirmed the flammability of methane, I received no scars to document it. While the study was conducted in a college setting, it wasn't scientifically controlled(or controlled in any other sense).  Plus, the results may have been affected by the copious amounts of alcohol in my system at the time; which definitely precipitated the experiment itself. So on this, we are reliant on other intrepid souls of youtube to document the science.

This particular line of inquiry has brought to mind a question of paramount importance. That question is, of course, "Do bees fart?"
While I have found researchers claiming that they do, all of them merely describe the expulsion of air accompanying solids and/or liquids. I find these claims dubious since a true fart must contain methane and be of gas alone. While methane content can be argued as to whether it is a correct metric for definition, I cannot accept the idea that expulsion of anything other than gas, can be considered a fart. Indeed, not only do I reject the ideas of these researchers, but would prefer to not be anywhere around them, and most especially not behind them.

Even looking to youtube, I haven't seen any documentation of flaming bee butts. Further research is definitely needed to answer this question, so I've begun looking into the process of applying for a federal grant.

[The15thMember]

a bee a bug ?
gotcha !     

I should think it would be apparent that I wasn't speaking in a strictly scientific manner in this context!    Or am I not allowed to call a tomato a vegetable ever??!! 

[Lesgold]

Hot slum gum mixed with wood shavings which are then pushed into old cardboard egg cartons make good fire starters.

[Ben Framed]

Hot slum gum mixed with wood shavings which are then pushed into old cardboard egg cartons make good fire starters.

I like the idea Les.. Thanks...

Phillip

[Terri Yaki]

I went and ordered another four frame hive from Vevor. It looks like they're going to stop selling them as they have them on 'clearance' but the price is the same I paid for my other two. I figure the price will go up (theirs are the cheapest I found anyway) and having extra stuff around is sort of in my blood (I am not a hoarder, I am a keeper of things).

And opening this thread and looking at it reminds me that I need to see how well that slum gum burns.