# Filtering wax



## JohnK and Sheri (Nov 28, 2004)

Probably the easist way to lighten wax is to leave it out in the sun. Pour it into thin sheets, 1/2" is good, and just set it out in the sunshine, turning now and then. It will not restore a yellow color to brown wax but it will generally bleach out whatever color is there.
Sheri


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## HVH (Feb 20, 2008)

JohnK and Sheri said:


> Probably the easist way to lighten wax is to leave it out in the sun. Pour it into thin sheets, 1/2" is good, and just set it out in the sunshine, turning now and then. It will not restore a yellow color to brown wax but it will generally bleach out whatever color is there.
> Sheri


Thanks. I have used photo bleaching and it certainly can help. After reading "Beeswax" by Coggshall, I became interested in scaling down the commercial approach. In the book large vats of wax are stirred with Fuller's earth and activated carbon and subsequently ran through a filter. I have Fuller's earth that is quite course and will be retained by almost any sieve or filter. The activated carbon is extremely fine and just leaches through my finest filter cloths. I expect that course activated carbon is available but I would still like to be able to pump hot through a filter.


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## honeyshack (Jan 6, 2008)

i bought a cappings melter from maxant that i like. The trick is to let the water/honey/debris/pollen settle for a few hours before straining. I find it easy enough to do.
If one is making candles with the dark wax, I have found that no amount of straining and filtering will get out enough pollen to produce a good burn without using water. This seemed to get a slight bit darker or a better word would be duller color of gold. 
9x out of 10, I will send my dark wax and old frames to the rendering plant to get rendered down and make a few buck....make a few good bucks.


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## HVH (Feb 20, 2008)

honeyshack said:


> i bought a cappings melter from maxant that i like. The trick is to let the water/honey/debris/pollen settle for a few hours before straining. I find it easy enough to do.
> If one is making candles with the dark wax, I have found that no amount of straining and filtering will get out enough pollen to produce a good burn without using water. This seemed to get a slight bit darker or a better word would be duller color of gold.
> 9x out of 10, I will send my dark wax and old frames to the rendering plant to get rendered down and make a few buck....make a few good bucks.


My understanding is that stubbornly dark wax is contaminated with other hydrophobic color substances that won't partition into the water phase. The activated carbon and fuller's earth are supposed to compete for these substances and then get retained on a filter. I know this is done commercially but I was wondering if anyone has attempted to do this in their own shop.


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