bleaching beeswax?

[BjornBee]

What is involved in bleaching beeswax? I have alot of medium to dark beeswax that I would love to lighten in some way. I have heard something about laying it out in the sun, but not at this time of the year.

What the best method to lighten beeswax, if its even possible?
Thank you.

[Michael Bush]

I wasn't purposefully trying to bleach beeswax, but when wax coating PermaComb I ended up with sheets of wax on the table outside. It bleaches quite quickly (a day or two) when it's only 1/4" or so thick. But a block of wax left out doesn't bleach so quickly. It takes a lot of sunlight to penetrate very far into the wax.

[Dave W]

Greetings . . .

Here's some interesting info about bleaching beeswax . . .

"Bleaching w/ chemicals can’t be recommended for home use" [Ref 1, p124].

"US beeswax does NOT bleach readily, neither by chemical means or when exposed to the sun’s rays. Bleachable grades come from Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Africa, and Egypt" [Ref 2, p432].

"Chlorine must be avoided as the chlorine is absorbed by the wax and will be realeased as a toxic gas if burned in a candle" [Ref 3, p69].

Ref 1 - KEEPING BEES, John Vivian, 1986
Ref 2 - THE HIVE AND THE HONEY BEE, Roy A Grout, 1963
Ref 3 - THE ABC AND XYZ OF BEE CULTURE, Morse & Flottum, 1990

Hope this is helpful!

[Hook]

I have used hydrogen peroxide before. It works ok, but it takes a while. Clorox 2, is a non chlorine bleach, and uses hydrogen peroxide. I did 2 pounds with it, and it lightened up alot. It is not pure white, but a natural color.
I made a wax melter, with high wattage lamps, controlled by a thermostat, in which the wax gets screened, and eventually goes through a coffee filter. Sure it is still brown, but alot cleaner. I then put it into a water filled pot, and cooked it with clorox 2. The bubbles purify it, and it has no choice but to bleach. Then I dumped the pot thru another coffee filter, into a cooling pot. The wax floats to the top, and dirt settles to the lower surface of the wax. Once cooled, any dirt can be scraped off. I have not made any candles from it, but it smells like beeswax, and not clorine.

Anyway, that is how I did it. Whether this is considered acceptable or not, it does work pretty well.

[jfischer]

I have a "high-energy full spectrum lamp" for
testing materials that need "accelerated
life-cycle" testing. This thing is claimed
to blast objects with enough photons to
approximate a month's exposure to sunlight
in a few hours.

I also have some wax from melted-down brood
combs that have all been in service for a
total of 5 years each. (Yes, a little longish
for a purist, but at least I have a system,
and let no comb stay in any brood chamber
for any longer.)

Wax poured into old cookie sheets to a depth
of 1/4 inch or so and exposed to the lamp
will "bleach out" in what would appear to
be somwhere between 4 and 10 days exposure.
(I don't trust the math that comes with the
lamp to yeild accurate results when one is
speaking of timespans less than months.)

I have no idea where the comment about not
being able to "bleach out" wax from US hives,
perhaps it was a comment on midwestern pollen
and/or nectar types.

Anyway, I would not use this wax for church
candles, but it clearly lost the typical
greenish cast, and the brownish samples
were lightened quite a bit. I had to discontinue the test abruptly when one of
the samples got hot enough that it not only
melted, but started smoldering. It seems
that dark wax with junk in it will, ummm,
"spontaneously combust" under this rig.

So, 1/4 inch thick slabs and sheets in the
sun for a week seems to be a worthwhile effort.

[Kurt Bower]

Bjorn:

Just curious, but why do you want to bleach your wax? Are you trying to lighten it for a particular purpose?

Kurt

[BjornBee]

Kurt, its the same with honey. The medium/darker honey might taste better, but for a market shelf for consumer preferences, the lighter sells better. I just have alot of darker wax, and in making hand dipped candles, the lighter wax ones do better. I like to mix in with the capping wax an amount of "other" wax (culled old comb and scrapings), to stretch my (good/light) wax reserve as far as possible.

[Kurt Bower]

I sell a fair amount of candles myself and do not seem to have that problem. Perhaps it is the the difference in people groups from area to area.
best of luck,
Kurt

[BULLSEYE BILL]

>I like to mix in with the capping wax an amount of "other" wax (culled old comb and scrapings), to stretch my (good/light) wax reserve as far as possible.

Couldn't you dip your candles in darker wax for the base and then dip in the lighter wax for a lighter outside coating? I would think that should give them a lighter appearance?