Hoping to make a wax melter

[pargyle]

That has saved me a few shillings. I've made one of my celotex bonnets just a little too small, it sticks.
I was going to replace this Spring and throw the old one away. I've not yet had any waste wax so hadn't thought of a melter.
Thanks.

I can't say that it was my original idea .. someone in the anals of the forum in the dim distant past had the idea ... I just stole it !

That's the really nice thing about this forum .... we share ideas ... and take them on. It's the collective brain of the forum you need to thank. There's nothing that equates to it in the beekeeping world ... a large majority of beekeepers are very insular and occasionally secretive about their craft and reluctant to change. Not something we see on here I'm glad to say.

 

[Tremyfro]

Sharing the ideas is fab...helps those of us that are new to beekeeping. I can't really make things out of wood...well I can nail things together and use a drill for screws...but sawing is too hard for me. OH is making a big deal of building his hay barn...I mean how long can it take?? So I can't really ask him to help.
I could make the wax melter though..a la Pargyle...and fit out the inside so it works without spilling wax everywhere.
Just finishing the oiling of my Flow Hive ATM. Then the wax melter is next.
Once I have the wax then I hope to have another go at making foundation.

 

[pargyle]

Once I have the wax then I hope to have another go at making foundation.

Melt it down, clean it, sell it as beeswax blocks .. at £1 an oz it's cheaper to sell it and buy your foundation (or go foundationless and keep the money !).

Better still, turn your beeswax into polish, pack it in nice small tins and sell that at an even bigger profit ...

 

[nantmoel]

Melt it down, clean it, sell it as beeswax blocks .. at £1 an oz it's cheaper to sell it and buy your foundation (or go foundationless and keep the money !).

Better still, turn your beeswax into polish, pack it in nice small tins and sell that at an even bigger profit ...

I use to make it years ago, just melt beeswax into pure turpentine, sold like hotcakes!

 

[Tremyfro]

Well I hadn't thought of doing that. I had thought about using their own wax rather than bought in.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Melt it down, clean it, sell it as beeswax blocks .. at £1 an oz it's cheaper to sell it and buy your foundation (or go foundationless and keep the money !).

Better still, turn your beeswax into polish, pack it in nice small tins and sell that at an even bigger profit ...

I went to a bee do last weekend and the quest speaker had on display a variety of his wares. One item I had not seen before was tan and black beeswax shoe polishes. Making some sort of polish would not be difficult I suppose but colouring it might prove a bit more difficult. Any thoughts on a source of colourants/dyes etc. for this purpose?

CVB

 

[pargyle]

I went to a bee do last weekend and the quest speaker had on display a variety of his wares. One item I had not seen before was tan and black beeswax shoe polishes. Making some sort of polish would not be difficult I suppose but colouring it might prove a bit more difficult. Any thoughts on a source of colourants/dyes etc. for this purpose?

CVB

My grandfather used to make his own black boot polish .. he started out with Dubbin and mixed in something that he called Niger Black ... he used to buy it from the local chemist ...

I suspect that it was what is now called Nigrosine or Solvent Black - it's an aniline based dye ... it was sold in the UK


[ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/J-E-Mosers-Finishes-Soluble-Nigrosine/dp/B00866096K"]J.E. Moser's 845135, Finishes, Wood Stains & Dyes, Water Soluble Nigrosine Black Aniline Dye, Package Of 8 Oz: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools[/ame]


But it looks like it's not currently available ... probably the H&S wallers have got their hands on it and it's been banned. More than likely that if you eat enough of it then you will get cancer ....

I worked in the dry cleaning industry for a while and we used to clean and refurbish suede and leather garments .. after coloured suedes were cleaned they lost their colour and returned to their natural skin colour. We used to respray them using liquid leather dyes which we bought in industrial quantities.

Occasionally, we got it wrong and I remember answering the phone to one irate lady who had put in a pink suede jacket and got a green coloured one back ... she knew it was hers from varying distinguishing marks and was not impressed that it was now green. I told her that the cleaning process occasionally caused the dye pigments in garments to change colour and if she returned it to us then we would see if we could resolve the problem ... it went through the cleaning again and we redyed it pink and the lady was happy ... I know - I'll never get to heaven with the lies I've had to tell at times ....

 

[For want of a better word]

My grandfather used to make his own black boot polish .. he started out with Dubbin and mixed in something that he called Niger Black ... he used to buy it from the local chemist ...

I suspect that it was what is now called Nigrosine or Solvent Black - it's an aniline based dye ... it was sold in the UK


J.E. Moser's 845135, Finishes, Wood Stains & Dyes, Water Soluble Nigrosine Black Aniline Dye, Package Of 8 Oz: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools


But it looks like it's not currently available ... probably the H&S wallers have got their hands on it and it's been banned. More than likely that if you eat enough of it then you will get cancer ....

I worked in the dry cleaning industry for a while and we used to clean and refurbish suede and leather garments .. after coloured suedes were cleaned they lost their colour and returned to their natural skin colour. We used to respray them using liquid leather dyes which we bought in industrial quantities.

Occasionally, we got it wrong and I remember answering the phone to one irate lady who had put in a pink suede jacket and got a green coloured one back ... she knew it was hers from varying distinguishing marks and was not impressed that it was now green. I told her that the cleaning process occasionally caused the dye pigments in garments to change colour and if she returned it to us then we would see if we could resolve the problem ... it went through the cleaning again and we redyed it pink and the lady was happy ... I know - I'll never get to heaven with the lies I've had to tell at times ....

Also called Acid Black 2 I used it at the MBA as a stain in cell culture ( but that was now some years ago)

Was marked as carcinogenic!

water soluble azo/aniline/copper stain.... 25g tub got everywhere if spilled!

Very black... probably cost £20~£30

OK to use I suppose providing no one licks your boots!!!

Yeghes da

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

We used to use an 'invisible' dye in work for when we did 'dummy deliveries' of intercepted illegal substances (once, we used it on a pair of boots which we knew was used by an anonymous smuggling seaman) it was handy to find out who in a household had taken receipt opened then hidden the package - it only showed up under ultra violet light. The use was banned when it was found to be carcinogenic. I don't think my comment on the likes it would save the hangman a job went down too well

 

[pargyle]

Also called Acid Black 2 I used it at the MBA as a stain in cell culture ( but that was now some years ago)

Was marked as carcinogenic!

water soluble azo/aniline/copper stain.... 25g tub got everywhere if spilled!

Very black... probably cost £20~£30

OK to use I suppose providing no one licks your boots!!!

Yeghes da

That will explain it ... probably banned by some Bootlicker in the service of the government trying to justify the tens of thousands he gets paid to analyse substances that have been used safely for centuries to prevent people with no common sense doing something with it that they are unlikely to do !!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

That will explain it ... probably banned by some Bootlicker in the service of the government

yes, read the story - it was terrible. Said person was so good at bootlicking he was promoted to central government - he tragically died at the age of 45 (two weeks before retirement) from cancer of the tongue - his last boss died a few years later from cancer of the anus

 

[Tremyfro]

Makes you wonder about the army/batman tradition of spit and polish for shining up your boots. I remember my father doing our hunting boots and teaching all us kids to do the same. I still have the shine on my boots from the last time he did them...must be 35 years ago now!

 

[Cussword]

Makes you wonder about the army/batman tradition of spit and polish for shining up your boots. I remember my father doing our hunting boots and teaching all us kids to do the same. I still have the shine on my boots from the last time he did them...must be 35 years ago now!

My Grandad was a cobbler, he taught all of us to look after our shoes.

Not like the throw away generation of today.

My god! I'm turning into my Grandad!!





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[jenkinsbrynmair]

My Grandad was a cobbler, he taught all of us to look after our shoes.

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look at this - forum back to normality - 33 posts in and someone's talking cobblers again

I still have shoes my mother bought me for my seventeenth - about the same time as I cast away a pair of leather veldtschoen my grandfather handed down to me (I'd given them a hard time and really speaking I'd literally grown out of them which made them unsalvageable)
With spit and polish your mouth doesn't come into contact with the polish anyway and a similar effect can be had by dipping you cloth enveloped finger in a cup of tepid water - gets a great shine if you take your time - still wear my No1 uniform shoes - last properly polished in 2001 for the naming ceremony of one of our boats, still shining like glass.
Years ago when my sister was still at school, i came home for a few days and noticed one evening her black doctor Marten's were looking rather scruffy so spent the night cleaning them as a surprise for her. The next morning she had a fit!! it had taken months for her to get them to that 'just right' level of scruffy chic she said - worse than that, when she came home that night I had it in the neck again - she reckoned the boys could see her knickers in the reflection on her toecaps!!

 

[For want of a better word]

That will explain it ... probably banned by some Bootlicker in the service of the government trying to justify the tens of thousands he gets paid to analyse substances that have been used safely for centuries to prevent people with no common sense doing something with it that they are unlikely to do !!

Needs to be said that there is a large label on my Harley Davidson battery that says... DO NOT DRINK THE LIQUID IN THE BATTERY MAY CAUSE DEATH...
then it is an American motorcycle!!

Yeghes da

 

[REDWOOD]

That will explain it ... probably banned by some Bootlicker in the service of the government trying to justify the tens of thousands he gets paid to analyse substances that have been used safely for centuries to prevent people with no common sense doing something with it that they are unlikely to do !!

 

[pargyle]

Needs to be said that there is a large label on my Harley Davidson battery that says... DO NOT DRINK THE LIQUID IN THE BATTERY MAY CAUSE DEATH...
then it is an American motorcycle!!

Yeghes da

Yeh ... Like the 'Hot Liquid' label on the lid of a MacDonalds coffee ... the heat is probably the least dangerous thing about it ... we are following rapidly the American culture of litigation when common sense fails ... sue.

 

[Barbarian]

I rather fancy making a Pargyle still Kingspan solar melter.

I'm trying to figure out how to stop the glass sliding down when the melter is tilted or blowing off in a summer gale.

Ideas ?

 

[Cussword]

I rather fancy making a Pargyle still Kingspan solar melter.

I'm very interested in the still part.



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[Erichalfbee]

I'm very interested in the still part.



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Having tasted my last lot of mead I think that's the only thing I can do with it