How To Render Beeswax from a Honeycomb 

Great video a little tip for you ( from a beekeeping chemist) is to add a squeeze of lemon or dash of vinegar to the water before you heat it this prevents saponification and you get less of the soapy soft layer on the underside of your cake of set wax. The colour is affected by the propolis in the hive so the older the wax the darker the wax. In addition you want to boil gently for the minimum time possible as excess heat also darkens the wax. If you want really nice almost white wax ask a friendly beekeeper for cappings which are cut off from the top of the cells and generally pure fresh wax. Hope this is useful!

Excellent video, Linn! I traded some hand-made deer antler pens for about 30 pounds of unfiltered processed beeswax a few years ago. It took a couple of hours to filter it and I still have about 25 pounds left so I'm going to use a bit of it to make the furniture polish you described. And this year I have a few local honey producers that have raw honeycomb, so your video will be even more helpful later this year. Thanks again!

Love it. I used beeswax from my friends bee farm to make my own furniture wax using 1/3 cup clean beeswax 1/3 cup olive oil (melted in the microwave 30 seconds at a time in an old jar) then when melted added about 1/3 cup lemon juice and 40 drops lemongrass essential oil (because i was out of lemon.) It came out wonderful and worked perfectly on my furniture and on stainless steel. I am so excited. (I made it to use on freshly painted chairs and on some other items to test it. Wonderful wax finish. I am going to store it in the fridge since it has olive oil and lemon juice in it. (Beware you must check often when in the microwave and take 10 second breaks in between melting. When it is almost done melting stop and keep stirring and the wax will melt down in the oil. If you microwave too long you could overheat the jar)

Watching this gave me the confidence I treated my New Wax (Dika Wax) and offered me the avenues for improvement in refining the wax. I am confident I can handle beeswax in hives thrown away by farmers in Nigeria.

I've rendered beeswax for years as a small beekeeper. If you come across a small amount this way is fine. But larger amounts can be done so much easier by adding a colander in the process

I've watched this clip 7 times in the last hour. Other than the great tutorial on wax, I love how your voice is soothing and calming. Keep up the good work !

I have watched your videos for sometime now. I have been interested in making candles, so it was a nice surprise seeing you here. My wife past away yr. Ago so between wood working and now beeswax, been trying to keep busy. Thanks so much😊

Thank you! Finally a full informational video that answered all my questions about rendering my bee’s wax

Great tutorial! I recommend using a paper towel rather than a paper/screen coffee filter. The flow is great for Beeswax and it's finer material really cleans all the unneeded particles out, leaving you with a very nice chunk of pure beeswax. Also it can be hard to have a friend give you complete honeycomb, usually you'll get the wax cap scrapings from the honey harvesting. This isn't bad as the wax cap part of the comb is generally much cleaner as it's freshly done, rather than a reused comb piece that turns darker with age. Either way though if you like Bee Bread and Bees wax definitely think about raising bees or having a good circle of friends that do. Every part of the Bee keeping hobby is 100% natural and every part including dead bees from Winter can be used in remedies, foods and all kinds of other practical uses. Great hobby!

That's a great idea to wrap the comb in cheesecloth to filter out the dirt. This is my first time and have been putting it off, since I have so much accumulated. Other videos shows them just putting the comb into the water and separating the dirt out later which would be time consuming.

Baking soda and washing soda dissolve oils and waxes for cleaning. I wipe as much with paper towels as I can then soak in blue dawn dish soap, baking soda, washing soda and sometimes borax.

Wonderful, helpful video. I used this as part of how I taught myself to render my own wax. We have beehives, so I have a lot of comb and now am making lots of wax products. Cool! Thanks.

Thanks for that! As a rookie woodturner i find this very usefull,thanks!

Great video! Thanks! Was looking for what to do with my comb, as I will be starting my beekeeping journey this spring! Thinking of stealing this idea as well as making candles.

Great video very simple and straight forward with no nonsense and unnecessary steps unlike other videos.

Thank you soo much for this tutorial, I need rendered beeswax for an eos( lip balm) refill at home, and we happen to have some raw honeycomb at home! I will try this asap and hopefully, the results are amazing!

I found a bunch of honeycomb out on a job recently and I can’t wait to try this!

Your videos are great Linn, I learn something and somehow they make me feel calm too!

Great ideas. I’m going to use it to make a few candles from my small honey harvest.

Informative and the instructions were clear and easy to follow 👍🏻

Very informative and nice and short! My attention span and I appreciate it!

What should you do if you've got more honey mixed in with the wax than you like? Most the beeswax rendering videos talk about if the wax is mostly already separated. I didn't initially understand how to separate them until I'd made this mistake. Thanks.

Thank you very much this is the easiest and best video I have found on YT and I saw many.

Clear, pleasant and succinct instructions. Thank you. (So many bloggers make a meal of it!)

Really the best video on the subject with the most delightful, calming voice. May I ask why you use plastic to pour the water wax for setting? I would have thought the heat could be tricky for a plastic container.

Great video Linn, I really enjoyed it

Thanks for teaching us madam Darbin...

Thanks for sharing this I am a Bee Keeper and I keep my capped wax separate from the bees wax for this reason, capped is better for crafts

This was a great video to watch. Darbin was awesome in the instructions. Thank You!

That's a pretty cool process! I was surprised how little was you got out of each honey comb.

Thank you for making a video that's straight to the point 👉👈 😁👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍😁

Very cool Linn. I watched a video a few months back where someone was purifying wax similar to your method. They had to scrape off the propolis. Does your method require this?

Today in our backyard saw a dried fallen honeycomb from where bees migrated to other tree .will make it from it .

Great video Linn. Very informative as to how you get the beeswax you use.

A very interesting video. Although not hard labor intensive, it seems to be a bit time consuming, but worth it in the end if you want to produce your own BLO/bees wax finish. :) Thanks for the video.

Another fantastic video, and your instructions are always so clear. Thanks

Thank you so very much for sharing your knowledge with us....very interesting and very good information

Thank you so much for this video, my wax turned out perfect. It now looks like butter.

I'd make candles out of it antique candles like they did back in the old medieval times

Hola, sabes todo lo que aprendo de los vídeos de youtube lo usare cuando por fin me vaya a vivir al campo, así que desde ya te estoy agradecido.

You're the bees knees kid :-)

Linn, you're magic! Your videos are full of great info and beautifully made! That ''nuclear'' yellow wax looks awesome!

Love it!

Love the video. Great details and easy steps to follow! Can’t wait to try this.

Well done Linn, as always....

kandalfus Your google settings don't allow replies directly to your comments. Using olive oil in place of linseed isn't a good idea. Olive oil will go rancid and even if the project you are polishing doesn't need to be food safe, it will still smell.

her voice is sweet, sweeter than honey

that is really cool linn!! you should get in touch with john peters as always great video!! i like these experiment videos u make. theyre really informative! have a good one linn

Very interesting video. Do you find any difference in the final wax with Jon's beeswax from the one you've been buying? Or does it turn out to be just the same at the moment that it is clean?

Awesome video. Where are you from?

I haven't tried it yet Beeswax, I really like it! :) Very helpful video, thank you!! :)

Excellent tutorial! You have done a fantastic job putting together a good quality video. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Best Wishes for continued success, Lori (aka; Lifeis Wonderful)

Very nice video and great instructions

great video! i found a fallen tree full of honeycomb im hoping to get some wax from it

Thanks for your awesome videos . i have made some home made Rust protector.

you can also use olive oil

Good tutorial! Thanks for sharing!

Dear queen of the bees. Again a beautiful video, with wonderful colors. Did you know the term "Yellowcake"? Thought a bit about it when you removed the first semi clean disks. - Will you get your own bees in a next step?

I bought a bunch of honeycomb from the village nearby since they cleared out some hives from their college, but when i went to break up the big comb there were larvae inside all squirming about 😣😣 i dumped the whole thing in a baggie and left it in the terrace i dont know what to do with it now 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Can you just add the honeycomb to the pot without using all the cheesecloth?

Hello, I loved this video and was wondering where I might find the containers as well?

Interesting video. Thanks for sharing.

Any idea what the shelf life of the end product is? Assuming it is packed in opaque and airtight containers like the tin boxes you used?

This video was extremely helpful. Thank you so much :)

I like your wax videos. Keep up the good work!

Excellent video, thank you for sharing you knowledge, much appreciated. Do you know if coconut oil would work instead of linseed oil ?

Thank you this video is just what I needed.

great description

Great video, great instructions.

Well made video, right pace, ty

can you please make a vidoe on different uses of wax

Nice, you get to the point!

Hello,, Darbin Orvar Wow It is very easy to make beeswax. Superb.👍👌👍👌👍👌😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😘😘😘😘

I love beeswax

does the color of the honey comb end up in the wax? Meaning if its a dark honey honey will the final wax be darker? Great video... I love beeswax.

No one is explaining how to get the remaining honey out of the comb before processing. That's my problem with my bees wax, When extracting honey there is always a bit of honey left in the combs.

Great video! Looking forward to giving this a try!

Wonderful video. Merci.

can this wax be used for cosmetic purposes.. like making lip balms or lotions etc

Thanks.

fun fact beeswax doesn't melt if you mix in non-flammable dye when the candles gone the dye stays behind

I followed the steps but no wax was formed on top. Only small very thin fractures. If anyone knows if there is something I could do to fix this or the reason it happened please let me know.

Hi Linn. I have just recently found your videos and I have been binge watching!!! I have a quick question - what type of poly do you use before the beeswax - water or oil based. Thanks again and you definitely have a new fan.

Very interesting. Thanks Linn.

You surprised me with this! Thanks for sharing

can you use the beeswax to make clothes waterproof somewhat ?

Thank you very much.

Amazing video

I saw a little late. very good

I'll have to pass this one along to my wife, as she makes candles. We'll need to find someone with hives though I suppose.

Can you use something else if you dont have cheese cloth??

Thanks for sharing

Thanks 👍

Very helpful.... Thank you

Hi, plz respond, is there another suggestion rather than cheesecloth?

Great job _honey_.

Great video. Thanks

When boiling are there bee eggs or larva alive inside.

Thanks for the video. It was helpful

Very helpful indeed