I built a solar melter, crude but it works with the recent warm sunny days...
I put in old comb that I have acquired mostly from doing cut-outs....
When I put the old comb into the melter, I get wa dripping into my pan, but there's a residue in the form of comb that is left. Almost feels like paper when I remove it.
Isn't the entire piece of comb wax? Shouldn't it melt completely??
Chuck
Ronan, MT
If there's ever been brood in your comb, it'll have paper-like cocoons. Even if there hasn't been any brood, there's bound to be some non-wax material resulting from thousands of bees walking all over it.
The paper that you are referring to is called sum gum.. depending on filtering and as on it isn't good for much. Some people will put it in their compost, fire starters.
As mentioned above, the cocoons from the pupating bees (they're wired to make them even inside the wax cells, which I find interesting) are not wax. They're part of what the wax moths eat/need as nutrition, and why fresh wax isn't a good home for wax moth larvae. But also as mentioned above they're good for fire starters,etc. And what wasn't mentioned above is that some folks use the material for its scent to enhance swarm lures.
And just for completeness' sake, I believe that "slum gum" is what the previous poster intended to write. In case one were to search for info.
The papery cells are cocoons left on the side of cells with each brood hatch. I consider slum gum to be the brown lumpy residue leftover from cappings melting. I don't know what it is but since it comes from cappings over new honey and not brood, it must not be cocoons. It contains wax which can only be retrieved by hot water pressing.
Oliver is MUCH more experienced than I, and knows the nomenclature well (possibly wrote/invented some of it). I, too, have seen the brown stuff in the cappings residue, but I thought it was principally propolis. I've been wrong before and fully expect that I am now wrong in certain things I consider to be true. I just don't know which ones.
Michael
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