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Cathryn
Joined: 16 Jul 2005 Posts: 19856 Location: Ceredigion
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BahamaMama
Joined: 21 Sep 2006 Posts: 2315 Location: Away with the fairies
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Tavascarow
Joined: 06 Aug 2006 Posts: 8407 Location: South Cornwall
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Cathryn
Joined: 16 Jul 2005 Posts: 19856 Location: Ceredigion
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15834
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Cathryn
Joined: 16 Jul 2005 Posts: 19856 Location: Ceredigion
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joanne
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 7100 Location: Morecambe, Lancashire
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BahamaMama
Joined: 21 Sep 2006 Posts: 2315 Location: Away with the fairies
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joanne
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 7100 Location: Morecambe, Lancashire
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Posted: Fri Aug 07, 15 9:43 am Post subject: |
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BahamaMama wrote: |
joanne wrote: |
Another thumbs up here with the bag thing, although I just use a pair of cheap tights as they work just as well.
You've reminded me that I've got a load of old comb that I need to do this with in a hive that's not being used at the moment.
I've also got a shed load of cleaned wax that needs making into something |
So... more questions
Do you just bung the dirty comb into the tights, then dunk the tights into the hot water to melt down and all the gunk gets left behind?
What does everyone do with their wax? This is our first year of having hive products other than honey and we are a bit overwhelmed by it all! |
It's all a bit messy but that's half the fun!
I add the comb to the tights, put them into the big pan (I usually use my jam pan as it's the biggest one I've got), cover it with water and bring it slowly to the boil, then as the wax melts it rises to the top.
Then whilst the water is still warm, I remove the tights (the wax tends to stick to the outside of them and put to one side to cool, the stuff in the pan then also gets left to solidify.
If I judge it worthwhile, I'll repeat the process with the stuff in the tights until I don't think I can get any more out of that batch.
Once I've got as much out them as I think I can, I'll squish everything to the bottom to make getting the stuff out of the tights easier later. The rubbish can then be put into cardboard egg boxes and topped up with a bit of wax to make excellent fire lighters as someone else mentioned earlier.
Then to deal with the cleanish comb, when you remove the cooled cake of comb from the pan, you'll find that on the bottom there is alot of brownish looking impurities. I scrape off as much as I can from that.
If the comb is still not looking clean, I'll break the comb up into pieces and melt it in water in a smaller pan, rarely repeat that more than once.
The professional's (those that make wax products for competitions) will repeat 4 or 5 times to get as many impurities out as possible but for general use once or twice will do.
Then the real fun begins, you need to melt the wax in the same way you'd melt chocolate, in a bowl over a pan of water. Any remaining impurities will drop to the bottom of the bowl, you can then pour the cleaned melted wax into moulds or if you have a candle pot which is long and narrow for dipping candles you can use that.
Last edited by joanne on Fri Aug 07, 15 9:50 am; edited 1 time in total |
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joanne
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 7100 Location: Morecambe, Lancashire
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BahamaMama
Joined: 21 Sep 2006 Posts: 2315 Location: Away with the fairies
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Tavascarow
Joined: 06 Aug 2006 Posts: 8407 Location: South Cornwall
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joanne
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 7100 Location: Morecambe, Lancashire
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Cathryn
Joined: 16 Jul 2005 Posts: 19856 Location: Ceredigion
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15834
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Posted: Sat Aug 08, 15 8:10 am Post subject: |
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Another way of finishing the cleaning of the wax is to use nappy liners. Melt the wax to start with. Fasten a nappy liner over the bottom of a tin (the ideal is a catering coffee tin, and tie the liner on with string). Suspend the tin over a fairly shallow container, like a roasting tin, lined with foil, and put all in the oven at the lowest setting. I use thin sticks of batons to hold the tin up. Pour the molten wax through the nappy liner filter. Let the wax in the roasting tin solidify, but as it is setting, score into sections about an inch or so each way. This is best set up so you can do as much wax as possible at a time, as it takes a while and is a bit messy. If you have several roasting tins or pyrex pie dishes, you can do quite a lot in one session.
I use my wax for making candles. Apart from moulds you can also make dip candles. They take a bit of getting used to, but they are the ultimate in wax candles, as a little air get between the layers, and you end up with a really clear flame. Hint; draw out of the wax as evenly as you can and don't shake. Allow to cool between each layer. |
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