Rendering Beeswax from honeycomb 

This is the sort of thing I love about the internet. A quarter hour video from a dude with a totally different life, about a topic that'll never apply to me, but it's just there for anyone to watch and appreciate.

Very good video. Apparently in the Middle ages, although they had no other source of sugar, the bees wax was worth 14 times as much as the honey. It still makes better candles than paraffin wax as it burns longer and smells nice. Go bees!

This was fascinating! You clearly have a love and deep respect for the bees as you don't waste even a bit of their precious resources. Thanks for taking the time to record your process!

My grandparents were beekeepers in rural Mexico. My aunt was telling me about the entire process they would go through. How they sold honey , candles and more. This video made me very happy. This explains a lot of the patience they had. Thank you

And this is what I will show people who dare say "it's a complicated process" and "you need machines and the industrial system to make beeswax otherwise it's impossible" Feels incredibly good to have someone make such pure and clean beeswax this well explained.

Being a RU-vidr often means cranking out a lot of videos, most unnecessary. I always appreciate a smaller channel putting out a very well done video that does just what it needs to. Thank you for this, sir.

This was something I never knew or even thought about other than the fact that if there are no bees we die! No food. No pollination. You, sir, are an artist. Your duties with the bees is well appreciated by me. I hope others realize the importance of these tiny creatures!

Pro tip. Take all the "junk" and stuff it into a ladies stocking. Tie it off and toss it back into your boil pot. You'll extract even more off stuff you normally would have thrown out. This would include the junk you scrapped off the bottom of the first big disk, the paper towels, and even the trash you skimmed off the top of the first pot. Also, find some muffin tins at the local Goodwill and grab some of the riffled paper muffin moulds. These are almost perfectly 1.5 ounces when filled with wax and the paper is pre-waxed and pulls off super easy.

This was an interesting watch dude. Nothing fancy, just a really wholesome wax extracting video. The time-lapses were a nice touch and your other tips and experiments throughout the process were also a treat. Great job.

I absolutely love beeswax. I got about 110lbs of capping from a local beekeeper. Steam filtered it through old pillow cases, then melted with a bit of water in a disposable pan like you do. Any tiny remnants sink to the bottom as the wax floats on the water. Smells amazing. :)

I've watched this video several times in the past week, purely because your voice and manner are so gentle and soothing and you clearly have a lot of care for both the bees and the craft - it's very lovingly made, thankyou so much xx

Awesome video! For the record - since you like making firestarters out of the wax-soaked paper towel, if you have some time to play around I'd encourage you to do something similar with the "junk" residue you throw away after skimming it off the first melt - that stuff has a lot of wax left in it no matter how hard you squeeze it. If you buy a set of dedicated molds (i.e. only used to make firestarters) similar to the ones you have at 12:26 but a bit larger, you can fill them with clean wood shavings, cover the whole mold with a healthy dose of "junk-skim" and bake in a low oven (on an old cookie sheet - drippy!!) until the liquid renders down and fills up the gaps around the sawdust. Remove and cool, and you'll be left with a mostly-woodchips-and-cleanish-wax amalgam in the bottom of the molds, and a nasty (but mostly wax-free) layer of bee parts, dirt, etc. on top. This top part you can cut off leaving a set of useful, thick firestarters that'll burn for a long time at the center of a fire. Trial and error will let you find a junk-to-woodchip ratio that works. Have fun! PS: I suggested woodchips, but almost any cellulose-based material is good. Strips of clean cardboard cut to size and packed in the molds would work well too.

This is the cleanest self-made beeswax i've ever seen on youtube, good job sir

My grandpa kept bees or as my grandma said they kept him lol he owned an orchard but kept bees long after he sold it and retired… great hobby…

Fascinating how the bees strip the honey off the combs, then self clean after the honey feast. Great video!!

Most excellent! When I was a boy in the 1960's, my grandmother did a lot of sewing. She used a lump of beeswax to treat the thread so it didn't tangle. She'd just pull the thread through the wax. She also made beeswax candles, but I don't know how.

Another vote for the solar wax extractor. We raised bees here in Minnesota. The first part of July is honey extraction time. The cappings, we get from decappings the honeycomb, is put in the solar wax extractor. The rest of July and August provide enough time to melt down all the capping we get from the honey extraction process. This is from approximately 60 colonies. The solar wax extractor will separate the good wax from the rest of the junk in the extractor (the wax will float above the rest of the stuff). We also get all the honey left in these cappings. We save this honey to feed back to the bees later. The wax is clean enough to go to a pot on a two-burner electric stove. The wax is melted down and filtered as it is poured into milk cartons that have been cut down. A small tea pot is used to pour the hot wax. To feed the honey back to the bees, we use one gallon pickle jars with a few holes in the cover. We fill the jar with honey from the honey extractor and turn them upside down over the opening of the inner cover. The bees are able take the honey as needed. We usually feed in the spring to the weaker colonies to get them started after the tough winters here. This method also helps in keeping the bees from starting a "stealing habit". Any questions let me know.

I love how you did not just show how to render beeswax to clear bricks of it, but also included all the other by-products and their uses. Quite versatile!

That wax drying time lapse looked freaking awesome.

Loved this. I really enjoyed the bee footage and your respect in the sense of giving back to the bees and not wasting anything. Thanks for your time in producing this video.

Super helpful, thank you! I'm in my second year of beekeeping and now that the initial overwhelm is past, I'm excited to look ahead to selling beeswax products at the farmer's market. This was great!

WOW. Ok, just the paper towel fire starters were enough to give this video a like. As a beekeeper myself, I never thought of that! SO AWESOME!! But the rest of the video is great! I love watching other beekeepers!

I live in a small apartment in a big city on the other side of the ocean from where I grew up. But I was born in the country with access to lots of grass, trees, and nature. Watching videos like this makes me feel like I'm home again. Thank you for your great video and your respect for one of nature's hardest little workers!

Thankyou Ryan. Your method has inspired me. Your care about your bees shines through this video.

Great demonstration of your process! I have a bunch of old wild comb I'll be rendering soon by the same method (boiling). I really appreciate you showing your second step of filtering through paper towels for a secondary cleaning. Hopefully my wax will come out as clean as yours.

This was amazing to watch. Showed up in my recommended and couldn't take my eyes off it for a second. You do a great job and make it very easy to follow along. Keep up the fantastic work.

Loved the :outside advice. The cook will be delighted if you do it outside.

That was beautiful. Peaceful. Wonderful. Just simply Lively. Soo loved it! :)

That was amazing! What a difficult process. I love how you don't waste resources. This gives me a new respect for beeswax-anything.

Beeswax with linseed oil is an excellent wood sealer/tabletop finish in my experience. The beeswax on its own is way too sticky, but a little bit melted down with linseed oil is incredibly durable once dry 🤩

Great video mate. Thankyou for taking the time to make it for the benefit of others like me. From my limited experience, just use open frames with no plastic insert. The bees will fiil a naked frame in a couple of weeks.

Thank you. Thank you for tending your bees and keeping our flowers and food plants & trees going!! The world needs more people like you to help these precious creatures live 🐝 Bee mud wrestling...I died lol

Simply inspiring, the way you work with the bees, the way you treat beeswax, glad that there are still people like you.

Wow. Really impressed by how thorough you were and how nice a product you achieved in the end. Thank you for sharing your care and process.

Thank you so much for videoing this process. Its been fascinating to watch. I never knew this is how it's done.

Beautiful finished product 🐝

Did not expect this to be so wholesome :D thank you very much and best of luck with future beekeeping and other endeavours ^^

I was shocked to see you working in the house. Your right this is a job better suited for out the shed. You managed so much better than I have at keeping the mess to a minimum. Bravo! I have usually discarded brood comb because the returns are minimal the way I do it. I Haven't tried to boil it out, but I will give it a try. Thanks

I'm a leather worker and use beeswax to finish edges. This video was very interesting and loved watching how this is done!

Thanks for the video, I’ve always wondered about the wax. And thanks for taking care of the bees. We need more people like you.

this is so relaxing to watch and informative too! Good stuff, would love to see more

I got really excited when you saved the paper towel filters to use as firestarters. I love that kind of minimizing waste.

Great video. Easy to follow process, no special equipment required - thanks for sharing!

The most relaxing and educational video I have watched in a while! Looking at what you did reminded me that that is what life is supposed to be like, slower with lots of patience, nto the fast paced heart attacks we live through and call normal days. I hope one day I can follow you to more peaceful lifestyle.

This video is incredibly calming. Thank you for easing my stressed college student brain. Keep it up ❤️

Thanks Ryan. I've been researching homesteading more and more as things get worse (economically) and bees have always been on my list to learn about before I take the plunge. Thanks from Canada.

I have literally learnt two new thing’s tonight watching this and another video (a farrier demonstration). Thanks for sharing - it’s great seeing and hearing the love you have for this process and bees and what they provide. Thank you.

Such a helpful video. Thank you so much for taking your time to show us how you do it.

That was actually pretty cool and relaxing, beekeeping seems like a great hobby that can be a side hustle as well

You’re very brave to do this wax melting in the kitchen! Try a camping stove outside next go round. Makes your life a lot easier … I use a paint strainer to strain the wax the first time. Puts the junk in an easy throw away container or an easy way to make more fire starters. I personally think melting the wax in an oven that you want to use for food is truly asking for trouble over time. It won’t all work out so cleanly. Nice video! Looking forward to seeing your revised videos.

this felt so calming and fun to watch...honey bees are truly inspirational..thank you!

being a beekeeper is my dream job. I already LOVE beeswax. I love making candles and rendering wax but I dont have my own hives.

Just a note for using the slump: mix with sawdust or fine wood chips and press into silicone ice cube trays = fire starters.

What a nice video to end up in my recommended, even if 3 months late! Really cool to see the process of making beeswax and never expected it to be simple enough to do from home. Quick question about the leftover bee debris when initially melting down the comb, but is that at all something you can reuse for bees? Of my limited knowledge about bees, are arguably one of the most efficient animals in the world so I can't imagine it is something that they would let go to waste normally, and it does make me sad to see such a large amount just be 'dumped', as you put it. If bees can't reuse it in any capacity, I would suggest looking into possibility of using it as a fertilizer, or utilising it in a composter, as I can only imagine the amount of nutrients that could potentially be in all those leftover casings and dead bees. Since I'm not a beekeeper, it's not something I've looked into, but upon seeing it and hearing you describe what it was, my immediate thought was "That could be valuable compost". Definitely something worth considering looking into in my opinion. Nevertheless, fantastic video. And though it is not information that I can put to use, it is always exciting to learn something new!

Sometimes, after squeezing the honey from the combs, the first residue is soaked in water and fermented to make honey beer. The second residues is then used to make beeswax. With nothing discarded. Thank you for this video, I will use this knowledge learnt to train farmers on a much sustainable way of making beeswax. This good for small scale producers who can't afford a beeswax solar extractor.

My grandmother would have loved this! Your respect for the bees and 'waste not, want not' approach. Top class!

I know you posted this several months ago, but Ryan, I was wondering at 11:20 when you tried to remove the wax from the aluminum pan with limited success... could you throw the pan in the fridge or freezer for a bit and then pull it out? Being stiff from the cold will also shrink the wax a bit, making it easier to remove. Not a beekeeper, just enjoy watching people taking care of nature like she takes care of us. Well-done video, thanks for taking the time to make it. Liked and Subscribed. Bee seeing you!

Thank you very much. Great teacher. Very practical and simple!

A most interesting video. You sure educated me on this process.

This video was in my recommendations. Very interesting and could not stop watching. Guess you could also say, you're the type who minds their own beeswax.

Those little black sheets are all so good for starting your smoker put them in there get them started and put them down in there and then put your pine needles in there with them this old Rob

When I was a kid at my home church on Christmas eve the entire church was lit with beeswax candles bought special for that one service. The aroma of those candles was so delicious and something I will never forget. I also used beeswax mixed with turpentine to varnish my oil paintings as a painting major in college. The finish has never yellowed over decades. Thanks for this vid- I have never seen beeswax rendered like that.

This was beautiful to watch. Thanks for the video!

Nice video! Very informative. I didn’t realize how much went into it.

Nice and relaxed presentation and you showed the details not often discussed- about the soiled wax, how to use the inedible bits- I loved the video!

Great video, no nonsense and to me anyway very informative. A big thank you so glad your video popped up.

Relaxing, interesting. Awesome video.

I was bored in the Australian bush while building a new home.. I found a empty Native Bees nest with a shit load of wax in a tree stump. One night I thought I'd make some candles out of the wax using cotton shoelaces out of some old shoes I had for back up if needed ... The candles burnt a lovely steady flame with the most glorious smell... That was entertaining, something to do before sleeping at night..

This is as precious as Gold!!😊 Always protect our little Bees.💖💖

I love how you use and save everything! Thank you for this video!

How incredible. Amazing.

just watched 2 other videos on this subject from "professionals" and have to say your approach is more logical and yielded better results faster. love that you gave the honey back to the bees! get yourself a pan with a pouring lip and you've got it nailed. thanks for the ASMR

Just use your hands and squish the combs to get the honey out man. Then filter it to get the most out. Don't waste honey, even if "most" of it is out. Though seeing you care for the bees is heartwarming. People like you is why this world is a good place.

Lots of work in the process. Interesting video, thank you.

Very creative in how you improved the standard way of doing doing the honey and bees wax.

Very neat ,relaxing and environment friendly.just loved everything detail .thanks for sharing.

Good job! Great explanation. Seeing what worked well and what doesn't work as well was very helpful.

just amzing to watch - thank you very much from Australia for sharing!

Man! I so enjoyed watching this informative video.

I learned SO MUCH from your video! Thank you for sharing!

What a fascinating process. Thank you for sharing!

I really enjoyed watching this video. Thank you for sharing!

im not a beekeeper or anything related to bees, but i really enjoyed watching this video thanks for teaching us. 👍🙏

Thank you for your work. You're doing nature a great service and inspiring the next generation of apiarists.

Awesome! The best video I've seen about making bees wax thanks so much for sharing 😊

I really miss that. I Loved my girls,& working with the wax later. We only took the caps,or wax from old frames. It takes them so much energy to make new wax. Thankyou for what you do

Brilliant, relaxed commentary!

sometimes videos like these take you to a better place in life for a brief moment and help take off the edge.

My father use to use beeswax all of the time in his workplace. My dad was a welder, and sometimes, bolts would break and the tip would be stuck in steel, so he would put hot beeswax on the bolt to get it out. R.I.P. Kenneth Gerard Nash (26 March 1965-23 March 2020). For those wondering, his death was not COVID-related.

What an awesome video. I came here just to see how to make candles from bees wax an found out how to make fire starting paper, how to coat honeycomb so bees will will build on an how to perfect making beeswax bar. Amazing job!

Beeswax is such a wonderful useful material, and the fragrance is delightful. Nice video!

Thanks for sharing. Super cool.

I love that you think of the bees first. After all, they worked hard to make that honey and wax so should get to benefit from some of it. Using them to clean the honey off the comb is great. They get the food and it probably works better than doing it any other way. Painting the plastic starter combs with the wax is a really good tip. If I ever end up with my own place in an area that can support them, I'd seriously consider setting up some hives. It's good for the environment and fresh unprocessed honey is so good.

Thank you for this video! I enjoyed watching it very much. It's very captivating and informative. I had no idea you could do that with honeycomb. Makes me want to make candles from beeswax!

ohh my goodness… you completely made my day… i really like it. Thanks for sharing with us!

Mmmmm, I can almost smell the warm and delicious scent of bees wax. Thank you for showing this incredible process. Fascinating!

I can’t remember the last time I watched a full RU-vid vid without interruption and my attention span getting in the way. I can see you tried to make simple and the fact that you haven’t refined your technique yet makes it relatable and wholesome. Thank you.

My grandfather is starting a honey business in his back yard, and ive been helping him build frames / stands. Totally going to send him this video so we can have kind of an idea on how to switch from buying wax dipped frames to dipping them ourselves. Awesome video man!

That fire starter idea is brilliant thanks for that 👍

Holy closeup Batman!