# Separating Wax from Honey



## MillsFarmFamily

Does anyone have a good method for separating the wax out? I would like to save mine, but the way I did it seemed VERY messy, and there is lots of cleanup. I took wax and put it in pint-sized glass jars, microwaved for 25 seconds, let clean wax rise to top, then poured it into a clean container. The residuals at the bottom, I just tossed.


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## Oregonsparkie

Yes this is a messy method but it is the way I do it except I dont use a microwave. I put some water in a canning pot then put the wax in and let it melt. After it is melted I use a stainless seive(I dip it into the water/garbage/wax mixture) to strain out the garbage out of it then I let it cool into a block. Afterwards I scrape the bottom of the wax then throw the pot of water/garbage away. If I have several thinner pieces of wax I will redo all the wax together(which is pretty clean) then let it cool into a block again.

The bad thing is you cant use the pot, seive, spoon, etc again for cooking. I just keep a set for processing wax.


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## beaglady

If you have strained cappings, you can put them outside and the bees will clean up most of any remaining honey. Just don't put the cappings too close to your hives or it can spark a robbing frenzy. 

Then you can take the 'bee cleaned' wax and melt it like Oregonsparkie recommended.


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## rwjedi

Have you considered making a solar wax melter? Plans on www.beesource.com
I've seen the results of a solar wax melter and the end product is pretty.


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## alleyyooper

Needed a bigger one or thought I did anyway. The rear.










Side









Front/top









Holds a 5 gallon bucket to catch the run off. I put a bit of water in the bottom so the small chunks fall to the bottom, I hoped.










1/4 hardware cloth screen catches the big chunks.











I can place 25 deep frames on the rack and 4 more along side of the rack. Going to add some screen to the rack to keep the big chunks from getting to the out spout screen which I going to change to 1/8 hard ware cloth.










Works great but so big I need to put some wheels on it.
My monster wax melter.

 Al


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## alleyyooper

This is the results of two days melting the wax from frames and some burr comb. Most of the first day I was just laying the frames on the bottom till I finished the rack.

Top









Side









Bottom









Smells like honey and is sticky to the touch. Hum? need to figure how to seprate the two better.

 Al


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## ace admirer

the solar is the way to go....i had a black hatch back car with black carpet. i would just put the wax waste in a tray and set in in the back. the summer sun would seperate the wax from the small amount of honey. then i would put the wax in another tray with a little water...and process again..

seen somewhere on the net that someone took a large foam cooler (the cheap ones), painted the interia with latex flat black and put a sheet of class on top to make a quick solar wax processor.


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