Many farmers that are into bee keeping have all their attention drawn to honey as the product but bee wax is one of the many other products that can be gotten from bee keeping.
Bee wax is distributed through out the honey comb and in order to separate the wax from the honey comb, you need to first boil it in water. The wax is first wrapped in a cheese cloth and then put in boiling water. As it boils, the honey comb breaks down and the water turns oily and yellow.
Bee wax extraction
Once all the wax is melted and there is no more wax coming from the cheese cloth, pour the wax into plastic container and let it solidify. The wax will float while any solids there in will sink at the bottom.
At this point, the wax is still dirty and there is need to further clean it before being used.
To clean the wax, first remove it from the dirty water, remelt it in a double boiler so that any solids or dirt sink to the bottom again.
To further clean the wax, pass the wax liquid through a filter but only use a dedicated filter for this purpose because its difficult to clean the wax from the filter.
Once the wax is clean to your satisfaction, you can pour it into moulds or paper cups.
Bee wax polish
Clean wax can be used for many uses. It can be used to make wax polish which can be used on furniture, wood working projects, metals and many more.
To make the bee wax polish, melt the polish again in a double boiler combining 4 parts of raw linseed oil with 1 part of bees wax by volume.
After heating them to mix, pour them in container and allow them to solidify. After solidifying, the polish is ready for use for many purposes.
