beeswax - hunter-valley-amateur-beekeepers.org · beeswax...
TRANSCRIPT
BEESWAX
Beeswax has been used by mankind since an7quity.
Wax is essen7ally a solid or semi-‐solid (depending on temperature) form of fat. Chemically it consists of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons, faFy acids and proteins. If we eat too much fat we become obese. Ever seen an obese bee? No, they turn their fat intake into the manufacture of wax which is their principal building material for honeycomb to store their honey and, mixed with resins, to form propolis with which they shore up their hive structures and bung up holes.
Making wax is an energy intensive process for which bees need a lot of honey as well and pollen. It has been calculated that it takes 8 kg of honey to make 1kg of wax. Since 165,000 foraging trips are needed to produce 1kg of honey, it takes well over a million for that kilogram of wax with bees flying about 4 million kilometres. So please remember that when you are playing with wax and throw away the last liFle piece!
In their six weeks or so of life bees pass progressively through a series of job descrip7ons, and between 8 and 17 days of age wax making is their specialty. It is made in modified epidermal glands under the scales on the 4th to 7th abdominal segments. LiFle flakes of wax are scraped forward by front legs and mandibles to the mouth where they are mixed with saliva and kneaded into the appropriate consistency to make the cells of honeycomb. It takes 4 minutes to process one flake of wax and 66,000 bee/hours to make 1kg of wax and build 77,000 comb cells in a small hive.
Beeswax is flammable; bushfires engulfing beehives leave nothing but the metal lids and straps and messy cooked honey. It melts at 640C and if heated further to 720C it loses its characteris7c aroma and colour and is briFle when cooled again. At 2040C, its flash point, it bursts into flames.
So a[er all the work the bees have done to produce your cake of wax, what can it be used for?
Apiarists use it as a founda7on comb in hives. Rolled into flat sheets and stamped with the hexagonal paFern of honeycomb cells it forms a template to direct the bees to build combs in frames so the beekeeper can access and manipulate them.
One of the oldest uses is for making candles, especially candles for use in churches and cathedrals because they burn without emi^ng smoke. Making candles out of founda7on comb men7oned above is popular art form.
Other common uses include furniture polish (wax, turps and ammonia), cosme7cs and perfumes, woodwork fillers and lubricants, cheese wraps, waxing moustaches and even surf boards. A request recently came to the local amateur beekeepers for wax to treat horses’ hooves!
If you look up the internet you’ll find 101 uses, and remember just how much work the liFle bees did to make this remarkable product.