# Processing old brood comb



## Jon B (Apr 24, 2013)

I usually throw away the old brood comb. I don't think it is worth the work to melt it down. The only wax I usually melt down is the wax cappings I get when extracting.


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Put the old brood comb in a cloth bag. Weigh the bag down with a brick or rock. Boil the wax out. There isn't much wax in old brood comb and the cocoons soak up most of it...


----------



## NewBeeLady (May 20, 2014)

I did the same this last year, and had 40 frames to melt down. Ended up with 2 loaf pan sized blocks of gorgeous wax. But had a ton of dead bee soup to strain through first. I did this in cold weather so I let the liquid cool and wax floated to the top. Was amazing to see a layer of yellow rise up from a vat of pure black muck. 

I'll never throw old comb away again. Just keep stockpiling it, makes a good winter project.


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

o Melt wax with water in the bottom to soak up pollen etc.
o put old dark combs in a cloth bag with a brick on them
o don't squeeze every last bit of wax out of the strainer, it just forces more dirt through
o pour into something that is taller than it is wide. Wax and it's contaminates tend to separate into layers. If you make a tall narrow column those layers are easier to scrape off or work around. If you pour it into something shallow each layer is only a miniscule amount thick and impossible to separate. 1/2 gallon cardboard milk cartons are hard to beat for a mold.
o Scrape the pollen and crude off the bottom. Use if for fire starter if you feel guilty about throwing it away...


----------



## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

I made this melting tank:

http://www.beesource.com/forums/sho...d-comb-wax-block-from-steam-melter&highlight=


----------



## Charlie B (May 20, 2011)

odfrank said:


> I made this melting tank:
> 
> http://www.beesource.com/forums/sho...d-comb-wax-block-from-steam-melter&highlight=


I wouldn't tell anyone about this if I were you Ollie!


----------



## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

I have a solar melter which gets up to 160 on a hot day. I just leave it in there for a long time (weeks) and the wax mostly renders out leaving light crumbly black cocoons that almost look like they have been burned. But I don't do very much at a time - if you really have a Ton of it this wouldn't be very practical.

A solar melter is awful handy though for dealing with a steady but small supply of scrappy wax.


----------

