Subject: Unusual uses for beeswax?

From: [email-masked] (Adam Finkelstein)
Date: 6 Dec 1994 19:56:13 GMT

From: "F. HENRY" <[email-masked]>
Subject:      Any unusual uses for beeswax?

I am interested in hearing about unusual uses for beeswax, such as the
following two cases from my own experience:
 
1) A military friend asked me for beeswax to stiffen the points of his
   moustache - he had trained it out about three inches on each side
   but drooped at the ends. A light application of beeswax each morning
   fixed it for the day.
 
2) Another friend, who is into medieval jousting, needed to stiffen his
   leather armour because these enthusiasts get carried away in the heat
   of battle and whack one another pretty hard sometimes. (In the Middle
   Ages, the poor foot soldiers used leather while the knights used metal
   armour. Nowadays, metal armour is cheap but heavy - those who can afford
   it use lighter, leather armour). My friend had heard that leather could
   be stiffened by dipping it in beeswax. (Does anyone know if this is
   another medieval practice?). The individual pieces of leather were
   not large, so we heated them up a bit in an oven and dipped them in
   liquid beeswax. The results were very satisfactory on the field of
   battle and it was about five years before the leather had to be
   treated again.
 
Do you know any other out-of-the-ordinary applications for beeswax?
No need to mention candles and batik dyeing, as these are common uses.
 
Thanks in anticipation,
 
Falconer Henry,
Capital Region Beekeepers Association, Victoria, B.C., Canada

-- 
____________________________________________________________________________ 
Adam Finkelstein                     Price Hall 
Entomology                   VA Tech, Blacksburg, VA  24001-0325 
[email-masked] ______________________________________________________

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From: [email-masked] (Larry London)
Date: 7 Dec 1994 05:00:13 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
Adam Finkelstein <[email-masked]> wrote:
>[text deleted] 

Yes, a very good use for beeswax, as an excellent finish for things made 
of wood:

WOOD FINISH
-----------

Ingredients:
[proportions can vary, just experiment]

pine sap (rosin), fresh or old, that exuded by pine beetles is OK too
rendered animal fat (sheep or lamb is best)
beeswax

heat in a pot and filter liquid through a cloth if trash needs to be removed
pour into a container to harden

the resulting substance should be a bit tacky and should easily soften
with a little heat

usage: heat the mix a little and try to get some on a piece of cloth;
heat wood surface a bit with a hairdryer and apply finish with the cloth

rub in thoroughly until it has been completely absorbed by the wood
keep rubbing until surface is dry and begins to shine 

produces a great finish, fairly durable but doesn't fare well if wood is 
allowed to get wet for prolongued periods - may need to reapply finish 
to restore sheen

this produces a beautiful finish, especially on heart pine

-

possibly as waterproofing for boots except that I hear it will rot stitching
if other than synthetic

Lawrence
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Tom A. Lachlan-Cope)
Date: Wed, 7 Dec 1994 10:28:33

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Adam Finkelstein) writes:
>Subject: Unusual uses for beeswax?
>From: [email-masked] (Adam Finkelstein)
>Date: 6 Dec 1994 19:56:13 GMT

>No need to mention candles and batik dyeing, as these are common uses.
Well I am not sure if this counts but I was asked last year to supply some 
beeswax to seal the nickel sulphate filter (a glass cell filled with nickel 
sulphate solution) on a Dobson Ozone Spectrometer. The instructions for the 
instrument written many years ago specified beeswax.

Tom Lachlan-Cope

British Antarctic Survey

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 11 Dec 1994 02:53:58 GMT

>[email-masked] ______________________________________________________

I make a shoe protector with beeswax.  I melt about 1 part beeswax with 4 parts
olive oil. (Just estimates- trial and error works great).  I then pour it into
short jars and let it cool. I've been using it as a leather water repellant
for almost 2 years.  You can also use it as lip balm.

I've also read that in the middle ages, flax fibers were dipped in melted
beeswax.  The were then stuffed in the end of a hemlock stalk and used as a
torch.  

Paul Cauthorn
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Dr G A Cooke)
Date: 13 Dec 1994 16:52:32 -0000

My brother uses it to lubricate and waterproof the zips on his
scuba drysuit.  It is better than greases as it doesn't soak into
the fabric bits and therefore means that the zip can be replaced 
easily, don't ask me why they can't put a zip into greasy material.
He takes most of my wax in 2oz blocks for this purpose.

graham

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From: [email-masked] (Donald R. Newcomb)
Date: 13 Dec 1994 08:54:55 -0600

Of course, one current use of beeswax is in various formulas for the
lubricants used to coat the bullets used in target pistols.
-- 
Donald R. Newcomb              * University of Southern Mississippi
[email-masked]      * "The God who gave us life gave us liberty
[email-masked]     * at the same time."  T. Jefferson (1774)

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From: EVA DECK <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Dec 1994 19:45:35 -0500 (EST)

We use beeswax to coat the insides of breadpans when baking bread: warm 
the pan enough to melt the wax and rub a chunk of wax over it.  We 
usually have enough to do these things with the spent stubs of home-made 
candles.  
Also on cookie sheets (just rub a spent candle stub over the cold cookie 
sheet).
Also, a generous coating in the bottom of the omelet pan results in a 
beautifully-colored and delicious omelet.
We just hope the ingestion of beeswax isn't hamrful.  Our info is that it 
is edible in small quantities.  So far so good.
========================================================================
Charles and Eva Deck        2805 Trenton Drive         Trenton, MI 48183
========================================================================

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From: [email-masked] (Rugose Nutlets)
Date: 24 Dec 1994 09:04:44 GMT

This is definitely unusual--saw an article in the Weekly World News
(for non-North Americans this is a hilariously awful newsrag sold at
supermarket check-out stands--'I had Elvis' Alien Love Child' sort of
thing).
It describes a guy in the 1930s so obsessed with his dead lover he
preserved her in his living room...as part of this process he filled
in her face with beeswax, gack!  
Well, you asked for unusual...

J. "terrified of bees yet enjoying this newsgroup" T.
-- 

[email-masked]
Happy Hogmany, and to all a good night!

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From: MELTINGPOT <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 23 DEC 94 19:30:40 -0500

I use bees wax to make sculpture ..which is then cast into bronze.This
is not unusual...because this has been going on for 6000 years.....
THE LOST WAX PROCESS...was first use some 6000 years ago....
 THE MELTING POT(TM)

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From: [email-masked] (Gordon Scott)
Date: Thu, 29 Dec 1994 18:16:41 +0000

Hi all,

Happy new year etc.

It seems to me that these beeswax uses should go into a FAQ because  I'm
sure  many  people  are interested in this.  Seems also that we could do
the same with other hive/bee produce.  I will gladly  volunteer  to  put
a/some  faq's  together  if  people  will post me their 'uses'.  I don't
(yet?) have an automated method of circulating the results but I'll find
a  way,  maybe via someone else's faq handler (offers?).  My guess would
be to split into four groups -- honey, beeswax, propolis and others.

If you can supply some info  (I  have  all  the  beeswax  stuff  already
posted), please *mail* me directly on [email-masked].  It would
help me if you send mail for *each* group that you respond for because I
can then write out to an appropriate 'folder'.

I shall  post  on  bee-l  and  sci.agriculture.beekeeping  when  I  have
something ready, and how to get hold of a copy.

TIA, regards,
-- 
Gordon Scott	[email-masked]		100332,3310 on CompuServe
Newsletter	[email-masked]	ditto
		Beekeeper, Kendo Sandan, sometime sailor.
		Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG22 5HP, UK

Some men are discovered; others are found out.

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From: [email-masked] (Adam Finkelstein)
Date: 29 Dec 1994 19:08:50 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,

>be to split into four groups -- honey, beeswax, propolis and others.

 A site for archiving this information is going to be available at
sunsite.unc.edu. One may access this site using gopher, ftp, or www
browsers. The site would be for faqs, newsgroup archives, bee-l archives
and whatever else anyone feels is important related to beekeeping.

 Please send me what you want archived.
 Adam