Clean this dirty beeswax?

[galadduin]

Hi all,

I asked a villager here also a beekeeper to bring me some beeswax. He did bring me some indeed but they are ugly, dirty and black. I suppose they are not supposed to look that dirty. Anyone knows how to refine them?

They look somewhat like that:

 

[richard j]

maybe see if you can melt the wax and let the dirt settle to the bottom. when it cools, remove the cold wax and turn the pan over and remove the wax. you can cut the dirty wax off the bottom. i'm not sure if it would work but maybe several layers of screen would remove the dirt when passed through the melted wax.

 

[Keith_H]

Are they dirty all the way through or can the surface be shaved off?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

When we used to process beeswax at my friend's farm, we put it into a big kettle and melted it. It was kept molten for a good while. The trash all settled to the bottom and the scum to the top. We skimmed the top, and trimmed off the bottom crud when the block was removed after cooling.
Stacy

 

[Will Leavitt]

Stacy, somehow I knew you would know. Mr. Nerd

 

[galadduin]

thanks friends, I'll try that....

 

[TekSec]

You can also line a pot with cheese cloth, place a 1/4" or so of water in the bottom so it doesn't burn and then place the beeswax on the cloth. Heat at low temp until melted and slowly lift the cheese cloth out, capturing most of the contaminates with it. Remember, the wax probably has some honey left in the comb, so you want to use lower temps to keep from burning the sugar. Then skim and cut as Stacy said.

 

[P.Brewster]

You can put a block of wax in a pot with an equal (by volume; approx) amount of water. Heat until the mixture is simmering and the wax is totally liquid (this can go faster if you chop the wax first).

Then immediately strain it through the finest screen/cloth you have; collect the screened mixture into another pot. You can pour boiling water over the screen to clear it.

Now, simply put the screened water/wax mixture in the fridge overnight. The wax and water will totally seperate; remove your wax and pat dry.

The water makes the wax less viscous so screening is faster, and prevents the mixture from overheating.

 

[ryan9977]

ok so am i the only one wondering what you're gonna do with the wax?.....ryan

 

[galadduin]

I use beeswax for finishing leather sheaths and waxing stitching threads...

 

[butchesforge]

I use beeswax for finishing leather sheaths and waxing stitching threads...

Great for wood knife and hawk handles too,I use a buffer and buff it on:thumbup:

 

[ryan9977]

gotcha....that makes sense now....ryan

 

[Tom Lewis]

When I used to have bee hives I would take the wax, put it in a large black pot, put a piece of window glass over the pot and put it in the sun. In the summer here in southern NM the wax would melt and the impurities would float on top.