I melted a huge pile of comb the other day, it varied in color from white to gold to a dark brown.  I probably should have done some reading before embarking on this strange adventure…..but it worked out fine.  Only I’m thinking there has to be a more efficient way to do it.   So here’s my process….

1st   heat a large pot with several inches of water in the bottom.

dark comb from a top bar hive

2nd place comb in the boiling water and melt into a gross waxy cake.  (At this point more gross than waxy, mine included lots of slimy black stuff)

3rd  take pot off the heat and allow water and wax to cool and separate. lift out wax and pour off water.

4th take the same large pot fill in 1/2 way full and place a tall juice can in the water with the wax inside (books recommend placing a trivet under the can to make sure the wax doesn’t burn).

5th heat the wax until it is liquid, and then strain through a cheesecloth or screen.  this separates the black gooey stuff from the golden wax.

golden moon o'wax

2nd thoughts…. when I do this again I might separate the light comb from the dark comb and see if either one yields more wax, and whether the dark comb is worth bothering with at all.  also the pile that I started with was rather large, and the wax produced from it very small in volume.

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