Who sells beeswax?

[dragonfly]

I'm thinking about making beeswax candles. First, how do they compare in quality to parrafin or soy wax. Second, does anyone here sell wax or have a good source for supplies?

[berkshire bee]

both brushy mt and betterbee sell wax and candle making supplies

[JohnK and Sheri]

I sell beeswax on Ebay, you can visit my store for pics and prices. I also sell direct at a bit better price.
Sheri
http://stores.ebay.com/Honey-Glow-Farm
honeybee@honeyglowfarm.com

[dragonfly]

Thanks so much to both of you.

[tecumseh]

there is no comparison between beeswax and pariffin type candles. the big problem with the latter is they smoke a lot and drip wax everywhere. I have tried the soy oil candles (purchased from a young lady at our farmer's market here) and these compare favorable with beeswax... perhaps smoke just a tad more but in some container they do tend to burn evenly and completely. likely (don't absolutely know) also about the same price range.

I have a large pile of old wax here. perhaps a bit dark for candlemaking... again since I am somewhat unfamilar with this 'product of the hive' I don't absoluely know how question of material quality would effect the end product. you can of course somewhat refine/bleach wax, but this has to be an extremely messy plus this requires some fairly harsh chemicals.

[JohnK and Sheri]

>>>you can of course somewhat refine/bleach wax, but this has to be an extremely messy plus this requires some fairly harsh chemicals.<<<
You can spread beeswax out in the sunshine and it will lighten considerably over even such a short time as a week. The thinner the cakes the better.
Sheri

[TodesSchatten]

putting it in boiling water w/ or w/o hydrogen peroxide is supposed to work... i have heard that chlorine bleach will work but candles made from this wax will give off chlorine gas

[nursebee]

Do you keep bees dragonfly? Do you keep the cappings?

[beekeeper_sd]

NEVER, EVER use chlorine bleach to whiten beeswax for candles! The will emit chlorine gas when burned.

putting it in boiling water w/ or w/o hydrogen peroxide is supposed to work... i have heard that chlorine bleach will work but candles made from this wax will give off chlorine gas

[John Smith]

Beeswax stands alone, as far as I am concerned.

Yes, I know, every new product that has ever hit the market place was touted to be better than the products of the bee hive. It wasn't necessarily so! They were cheaper, yes, so stole a bit of the market share, and because they were far more profitable, they supported research that proved how much better they were. Yes, they even stole the favour of priests and kings, until cancer and obesity took them all away.

And that's where the innocence and youthfulness out of of society went. It followed the Pied Piper into the forest of depression and the slough of despond.

Now we have synthetic everything and America spends more on health products than any other nation, but still has disease! It spends almost nothing on the products of the hive. Those few die-hards like me, who use the hive products often, enjoy fine health, and oh so inexpensive too!

I see some of these soy products sneaking into the ear candles market, always touted up as being better. I don't believe it. I think they are using soy because it is cheaper, and more available. Beeswax is extremely scarce. It would be twenty dollars a pound if it were not for the fact that it is monopolised by only a few large buyers.

There is something very special in the vapors of burning beeswax. I think it is some compound of ether. It is very soothing to the membranes in the head and also in the respiratory tract. If the Pope would replace his candles with beeswax (back to the good ole days) his saints would leave the cathedral with a clear head, no sinus pain, no dizziness, no asthma attacks and no hay fever. WOW, it would be enough to make you want to go back next Sabbath, aye?

And, Michelangelo's frescoes wouldn't get all sooted up, either.

Work with the real thing. It always works better.

Cheers,

onebeeswax

[berkshire bee]

I for one like the varying colors of beeswax. It's all in educating the buyer. People tend to appreciate the fact that they are getting something that hasn't been bleached or altered, just like they are happy to buy raw honey that hasn't been heated and is just like it came from the hive

[HVH]

I'm thinking about making beeswax candles. First, how do they compare in quality to parrafin or soy wax. Second, does anyone here sell wax or have a good source for supplies?

Hi DF,

A good book about Beeswax is "Beeswax: Production, Harvesting, Processing and Products" by William Coggshall and Roger Morse.
Be careful when purchasing wax in the rough. I purchased a batch that had some chemically modified wax that was next to impossible to separate from the good wax. Actually, the good wax was not good either because it had a grey color. I suspect that lye or bleach was used because the wax seemed soponified.