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Richard Taylor on Making Wax Blocks

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tillie:
I'm reading a small pamphlet called "Beeswax Molding and Candle Making" taken from Richard Taylor's The How-to-Do-It Book of Beekeeping.  He comments that wax will discolor while melting unless it is melted in stainless steel or a "properly tinned can." 

I wondered what a "properly tinned can" would be.  I assume that all "tin" cans we use today are "properly" tinned but since he wrote the foreword to this pamphlet in 1984, I wondered what Taylor meant by properly tinned.

Anybody know?

Linda T in Atlanta

Bee-Bop:
Most of the soup cans, vegtable cans etc. are plastic lined these days I believe. Coffe cans are still tined only, I think.

Best bet I believe,go to a yard sale and get a stainless pot for a quarter, then you got a handle also.

Bee-Bop

Joseph Clemens:
There are also plastic molds designed specifically for use with beeswax.

Vetch:
Well, iron or cast iron could give off rust, as well as the dark oils in the coating. Properly 'tinned' metal would be coated or galvanized to prevent that. Copper could also be a problem. I doubt that aluminum would be a problem with the color, although in acid conditions, it could leach aluminum.  Enamel should be ok.

tillie:
I melt wax in a Presto pot designed for wax melting adapted with a spigot in the side of it.  But when I am melting wax for waxing in starter strips, I use a "tin" can - who knows if it is "properly tinned" - and when I'm done with the waxing, I leave the leftovers in the tin where it solidifies.  I haven't determined if it is darker each time.

I think I'll stick to the Presto Pot for the wax melting, but it is rather unsatisfying in that you have to have a rather large quantity of wax to make it worth while.


Linda T waxing about wax in Atlanta

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