Is wax ever too far gone?

[SweetBettyBees]

I have a large trash can full of broken combs and frames that need to be cleaned in prep for new foundation. Some of this wax is nearly black - from combs that came with splits, so no telling how old or what's in it. Is is reclaimable? Is it wise to reclaim it? What's the best way? I have read about boiling it and could set up something big enough to handle frames outside - I don't imagine a quick dip would hurt them. I also have several pounds of cappings to render and I'm guessing I might want to keep that wax separate from the old stuff?

Thanks for insight and opinions.

[ScadsOBees]

Old comb has less wax and more cocoons, so there isn't a lot of wax in them. You might get a little but probably not worth the work unless you have a really good wax press or some such thing. Any wax from this will be very golden colored and stronger smelling than cappings.

So yes, you definately want to keep it seperate from the cappings.

-rick

[power napper]

You might just want to make yourself a home made solar wax melter and let the sun do the work for you. The wax coming out of the solar wax melter is like melted butter in appearance, a good way to render old comb or any beeswax in my opinion.

[JohnK and Sheri]

Unless we know where the comb came from, we would never use it, who knows what is in it. While the color might not be objectionable, possible contaminates would be.
We burn old comb.
Sheri

[buz]

I've had some old comb that didn't even melt in the solar box....probably not much wax to it. Some fella called it slub--I just trash it. Got plenty of the bleached stuff for show.
Happy

[nursebee]

Boil the wax stuff with a little water then filter through progressively smaller filters. Filters will clog with crap but you get a lot more wax out. I have used my double metal screened honey filters but the cleanup work is Gawd awful... You can also melt with water and let it all sit. Most of the particulates will sit at the bottom after cooling.

[SandyC]

This may sound like a silly question, but how do you then separate the wax from the water????

[Dave W]

SandyC . . .

If you melt beeswax in hot water and let it cool, the wax will form a solid "cake" and float on top of the water.

[SandyC]

Cool!!!!!

Thanks!