Recovering old wax foundation - worth it?

[max2]

I had some old frames i cut the wax foundation out and , having a bit of time, decided to melt the foundation to recover the wax.
A waste of time.
I have a great wax melter but the amount of wax I got out of the frames was not worth the time or electricty. The little wax I did recover will need more processing.
What is the experience other beekeeprs have with recovering old foundations?

[Lesgold]

Hi Max

I do this regularly. I steam the frames 10 at a time. The steaming kills any wax moth eggs, small hive beetle etc and softens the old cocoons which makes for an easy frame cleanup. I normally get just over 1 kg of good, clean yellow wax from every 10 frames that I steam. This wax is then used to make more foundation to place into the empty frames. This process is quite slow so I normally do other work in conjunction with the steaming. Eg retensioning wires, adding foundation to cleaned frames etc.

Cheers

Les

[G3farms]

I also do this on a regular basis form all of the cut outs I do.

To keep it simple and on the cheap a solar wax melter is what I use.

It does a pretty good job, I just keep stiring up the old cocoons and a little more wax seems to come out.

[Brian MCquilkin]

 The process I use is simple put it in the solar wax melter and throw the old scum onto the garden compost pile.

[max2]

Thanks for the ideas.
Les - what do you mean by "Steam cleaning"?

I use a wax melter with good success for cappings but for old frames with wax - simply not worth the effort.
I place old frames with wax in the freezer for 24 hrs, cut out the wax which then very brittle and the place them in the wax melter - it is pretty well  steam too.
max

[Lesgold]

Hi max

I build a fire in my fire pit and then sit an old beer keg on top. The keg has water in it and generates the steam. I then take the steam via 30mm stainless tube and dump it into a container that holds 10 frames. The steam melts the wax and it runs out the bottom. I?ll see if I can find a photo of the unit in action.

Cheers

Les

[Lesgold]

Not the best photo in the world. I just had to grab it from a YouTube clip I made a few years ago.

[Jim134]

I had some old frames i cut the wax foundation out and , having a bit of time, decided to melt the foundation to recover the wax.
A waste of time.
I have a great wax melter but the amount of wax I got out of the frames was not worth the time or electricty. The little wax I did recover will need more processing.
What is the experience other beekeeprs have with recovering old foundations?

           What a person with only 3 hives or so.. Most likely it's not worth it... I know for me I used to get a lot...  Of junk honeycomb And capping's.. From people  With just a few hives. At the county beekeeping club that I belong to... Yes they kept the junk honeycomb away from the capping's.. I know it worked out well for me... Add a couple of medium size solar wax melder's.. Approximately 3' by 4'.... Yes I was running  at least 20 to 30 beehives in production.. And approximately 15 to 20 nucs.. Along with a lot of  split.. Swarms of bees I caught.. Total number of units  50 +..



                   BEE HAPPY  Jim134   

[paus]

Try soaking old comb in water first, that way the cocoons do not absorb as much wax.  Old comb also makes excellent fire starter.

[Oldbeavo]

Very old brood comb contains very little normally recoverable wax.
A friend who used to contract clean frames would cut out the comb, put it in a hessian sac, stack them in a 44 gallon drum and steam them.
 the steamed sacks were then pressed to remove all the wax.
My opinion, the comb makes good garden compost, worms love it

[Ben Framed]

Max I have posted a method here a couple times, (video), of some Asian beekeepers using a home built wax (melter / press) that looks to absolutely, salvage every bit of wax that is salvageable.

When a very small amount old brood comb is the factor all methods mentioned may be worth 'your' time and effort as an individual.
But for me and my needs; The bottom line is I tend to agree with Jim 134s' statement in reply number 7. However I do not wish to discourage you.

Phillip

Jim 134
What a person with only 3 hives or so.. Most likely it's not worth it

[Lesgold]

I agree about the comb being loved by worms. After steaming, all old comb goes to my gardens or the worm farms. My thinking is that the combs must be full of nutrients and trace elements.  Not sure if I agree with you on the wax in old brood combs. I average just over 100 grams of clean wax per comb. I suppose that?s not much but it is definitely worth retrieving.

[Ben Framed]

Les that is a handy setup that you posted. I like it.. It looks to work similar to the system that Tim Rowe uses except Tim actually uses the super box itself as the frame holders. That way they can be stacked enabling wax, (bur comb etc) inside the box wall and box area to be melted and cleaned as well. Tim seemed to thinks this will sterilize the box. This theory has been discussed here and the general analyst is AFB would still survive the scorching of the steam. I confess that I really don't know.(yet another subject). If any who visits this and wishes to discuss it, may I suggest we do it on the old topic, or start a new topic, keeping this one on track...

Thanks,

Phillip

[Ben Framed]

I average just over 100 grams of clean wax per comb. I suppose that?s not much but it is definitely worth retrieving.

That is grand Les. 100 grams is about 3.5 ounces. Not bad for old black brood comb....

[max2]

Thanks to all of you.

Great photo and system you got, Les.

I safe all the cappings. Actually, a friend of mine picks up my cappings  and washes them to make mead. He also removes all the propolis and uses it to make some tinctures.
I get the cappings back quite clean and then melt it down. I get very clean wax which i use for tealights which I sell at the local markets.
With the price of beeswax going through the roof i just wanted to try getting something out of old frames but with my method it is not worth it.
Compost/garden maybe the place for mine.
Mind you, I'm tempted to to try Les's steam cleaning but were will I put another gadget...?
max

[Ben Framed]

Les that is a handy setup that you posted. I like it.. It looks to work similar to the system that Tim Rowe uses except Tim actually uses the super box itself as the frame holders. That way they can be stacked enabling wax, (bur comb etc) inside the box wall and box area to be melted and cleaned as well. Tim seemed to thinks this will sterilize the box. This theory has been discussed here and the general analyst is AFB would still survive the scorching of the steam. I confess that I really don't know.(yet another subject). If any who visits this and wishes to discuss it, may I suggest we do it on the old topic, or start a new topic, keeping this one on track...

Thanks,

Phillip

For those who may be interested in Les steam wax melter here is the link where we discussed the 'possablities' of sterilization back in May 2020, with steam. It was an interesting discussion in my opinion.

Here is the link name and a brief explanation of the link:
"Steam Cleaning Your Woodware Equipment"

Reply #3 on: May 26, 2020, 09:54:37 am
Explanation:
"I did not word that correctly. My apologies. I should have ask if anyone uses Tim's method of wax melting and 'sterilizing' with steam.."

Phillip

[Jim134]

      If there is a link in reply 15 ..I do not see at 


                     BEE HAPPY  Jim134   

[Ben Framed]

      If there is a link in reply 15 ..I do not see at 


                     BEE HAPPY  Jim134   

Jim just copy "Steam Cleaning Your Woodware Equipment"  then paste in the search bar above. The topic will pop up,, click on it and you will be there....

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Phillip

[Jim134]

     Thank you it did .. Lead me to YouTube. Video.. A friend of mine made a very similar wax melter... This was sometime in the  late.. 1970s... He was from Western Massachusetts... When I meet  him..He was a stationary beekeeper... Just a sideline with about 300 colonies.. This was back in the priestoric days.. He was a A I Root..  Dealer for bee supplies.. Thank you for reminding me of him... Have a great day...

https://youtu.be/Wzkxq7qGqxQ

                    BEE HAPPY  Jim134   

[Ben Framed]

Jim 134. It is nice to know that topic lead you back to some good memories of your beekeeping days past! Makes me feel good for you. I enjoy hearing of folks and methods of days past. Thanks for sharing that story!

The conversation in the topic,"Steam Cleaning Your Woodware Equipment", was interesting concerning wax melting, but also evolved into the possibilities of sterilization. Their was some pretty good discussion there in my opinion...  Thanks for posting the video from that older topic Jim 134. Maybe some of our newer members will enjoy it.

Phillip