Wax fastening the Van Deusen way

[rolande]

A couple of years ago, watching one of the Mike Palmer (@Michael Palmer) videos from his National Honey Show visit I was impressed by a small piece of kit which he discussed.

Basically it's a simple wax tube (edit: copper tube), used to dispense molten wax along the top edge of a sheet of foundation to fasten it to the topbar.

The mechanism is basically the same as that of lifting water in a straw by placing your thumb over the top.

At the time it struck me that it'd be particularly good for topbar users to fit starter strips.

A little searching found a reference and description in one of Roots 'ABC's' from the early 1920s. They had it listed as a 'Van Deusen Wax Tube fastener' I got around to making one last year, a simple enough job although it took a little practice to get the hang of actually transferring the wax.

 

[Into the lions den]

That's a perfectly standard bit of kit. We have a couple of them here...not new by any means....but the copper wax dribbler was a listed item by Steele and Brodie long ago..and Thornes. Jolanta started using them for her top bar frames in the mating boxes..but has since found it faster and simpler just to cast a nice long and quite thin candle and just dribble the molten wax from the lit candle.

The UK ones had/have a wooden handle so your hands did not get hot.

 

[rolande]

Yes, I think ICKO listed them till relatively recently - at least, there's some memory of a similar item in their list but I never took notice till the MP video.

Have also used candles for the job myself and the mini handheld waxmelter that 'bee equipment' sell -if the pouring tube was on the other side it would be a very fast, tool for the job.

 

[mbc]

I've taken to glueing a bit of plastic foundation into the top bars in my kielers and apideas, the bees don't like it much but I prefer not to find wax strips shiggled off when I get to stock them, very frustrating when that's happened in the past.

 

[Garry R]

Yes, I think ICKO listed them till relatively recently - at least, there's some memory of a similar item in their list but I never took notice till the MP video.

Have also used candles for the job myself and the mini handheld waxmelter that 'bee equipment' sell -if the pouring tube was on the other side it would be a very fast, tool for the job.
View attachment 23948

Is the large tube for the water or is that the pouring wax tube? Approximately what size is this item.

 

[rolande]

Is the large tube for the water or is that the pouring wax tube? Approximately what size is this item.

Hi, the side tube is the pouring spout, top tube is for the water jacket. As for size: