Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: twb on July 25, 2009, 10:28:45 pm
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This is a very common question for us when we sell honey and beeswax products. I have googled uses for beeswax, but I want to know specifically for the 1 oz bricks. Can you all give me some practical uses for these things? I'd like to write something up for our customers. Thank you.
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They usually sell for $1.00 and I have seen them advertised for use on zippers to keep them working smoothly, used to lubricate sewing needles, bows and fishing lines.
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You can coat the end of a strand of hemp or other fiber as you are stringing beads, to keep it from fraying. You can coat the tip of a thread before you thread a needle.
I melt the one ounce bricks with other oils when I make measured quantities of base for lip balm.
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Sold it the fair to use on ox whips
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
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My Grandmothers both kept a piece of beeswax on hand for waxing needels for easier penetration. Before retirement, as a carpenter I always had bees wax in my toolbox, to lubricate the threads on wood screws, for easier penetration. As a foolish youngster (in my early 20's), I melted beeswax with black shoe polish (to soften and color it), which I used for mustache wax, I used to race motorcycles, and sported a "handle-bar" mustache.
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some use it on sewing thread to keep it from tangling, Bullet making lube, tapping lubricant, skate board wax, investment(lost wax casting of metals) for making jewelry
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It makes sewing thread at least twice as strong by causing the fibers to stick together, which is why it's used by people sewing leather, or buttons, or quilts. I also use it for bullet lube, lead flux (to get the dross off) etc. There is nothing else like it for many uses.
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Thanks all. I'm writing.... still a little room on my paper. ;)
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Rub the beeswax along wooden runners of drawers that stick, to help them slide better.
Rub beeswax along door frames and door edges to keep them from binding, especially during humid weather.
Treat new wooden cutting boards by heating the board (warm oven 150deg)* and rubbing the wax onto the cutting surface. Place back into the oven for a few minutes (on a baking sheet) to melt the wax in a little more. Or warm with heat gun on low setting - or cover with brown paper and run a hot iron over it for the same desired effect.
*Not recommended for glued butcher-block.
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Grate it with an old cheese grater purchased specifically for grating wax. Put it in a jar and poor in some distilled turpentine, screw on the lid and give it a good shaking. The turpentine softens the grated wax and it dissolves into a creamy texture. Adjust the thickness of the cream with more or less turpentine. It makes a great natural wood rub/polish, I was amazed at the look of the wood after polishing. It's ok for stained or natural wood, but doesn't work for varnished or poly coated woods.
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Use it to lubricate (and protect) the sole of a hand plane or any other machined metal shop tool - table saw, planer, jointer, chisel, etc. It makes all of those tools feed smoother and cut better and It won't mess with your finish if any of it gets on the wood that you are working with.
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use it for bow strings on recurve and long bows to help bind the fibers of the string.
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My mother told me she had a friend that would eat comb honey as she ironed clothes. She would take the wax and rub it on the face of her iron, making it glide smoothly.
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My mother told me she had a friend that would eat comb honey as she ironed clothes. She would take the wax and rub it on the face of her iron, making it glide smoothly.
Ahaha!! Cool. She'd have to make sure to get all the honey out first, and careful not to burn her fingers! :shock:
I think I read somewhere that you can make a fabric water resistant (not waterproof) by rubbing beeswax on a hot iron, and then running the iron lightly over the surface of the fabric, laying down a thin layer of wax on the topmost fibers. Also, I suppose it could be used to fix the knap in one direction depending on the fabric type.
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Odysseus used beeswax for earplugs for his ship's crew. He got the idea from Circe. :-D
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beeswax is rubbed on thread used for fly tying (fly fishing).
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Beeswax is used for lubricating rotary tool bits in jewelry making. The jewelry suppliers sell these little cylindars of brown beeswax for nearly $5! My girlfriend almost bought some even though I have several pounds around the house.
It is also used to seal/polish concrete and some stone kitchen counter tops.
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Lubricates drawers that don't slide smoothly, also window sashes (the old ones that have the sash cord and weights can stick sometimes) woodworkers can lube screws before running them into hard stuff like oak, helps make for easier penetration. Used for flux when casting lead or brass. Extends the life of bowstrngs and boots. Of course there's all sorts of ways to use it in beekeeping.