Making Organic Wax Foundation

MAKING
BEESWAX
FOUNDATION
Volcano Island Honey Company

In Partnership with Michael Krones, Hawaiian Queen Company
Project funded in part by:
Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education
Introduction
Beekeepers give bees a wax foundation upon which to build comb to store honey. There is currently no
organic wax foundation commercially available in the United States. Most beeswax foundation is contami-
nated due to the use of toxic chemicals used by beekeepers in the hives to treat disease. The chemicals remain
in the wax, which is processed into foundation. Organic standards will soon require apiaries to use organic
foundation. While organic standards allow plastic foundation dipped in organic beeswax, many beekeepers
including Volcano Island Honey Company and Hawaiian Queen Company, feel strongly that plastic should not
be used in bee hives.
Making beeswax foundation in a small-scale farm setting is a lost art, there are not many people who know
how to do it as the process has been industrialized in developed countries. The fact that it is not possible to
purchase organic foundation makes this project a necessity for apiaries who do not want to use plastic founda-
tions. By learning how to make wax foundation and demonstrating it to others, we are trying to become more
self-sufficient and find a small scale creative solution to a serious problem.
We found that making beeswax foundation on a small scale is indeed more art than science. Each farm will
have to adjust the process to account for the small variations that occur in the wax, the temperature of the wax
or room on any given day, and the equipment available.
We have not yet achieved the perfect sheet of embossed foundation, although we are moving ever closer. What
follows is our experience with what works best to date. This is an ongoing learning process, just like beekeep-
ing!
Enjoy!
Richard Spiegel
Volcano Island Honey Company
Michael Krones
Hawaiian Queen Company
Equipment & Supplies
Melting & Dipping

• Blocks of clean wax
• Two water-jacketed wax melters with temperature gauge. One melter is for
dipping and one for replenishing.
• Liquid temperature gauge
• Pot with handle for transferring wax between melters (or a wax transfer sys-
tem).
• Small sump (tub or barrel)- filled with water for cooling dipped wax covered
boards.
• Dipping Boards: 8-10 pieces of marine plywood cut to 18” x 11 1/2” x 1/4”.
Mark the boards with dipping lines for western and deep foundation size.
Mark the dipping lines slightly larger than what you need and trim to size
later.
• Container (small garbage can) filled with water and sea salt for soaking Dip-
ping Boards.
• Table
Embossing
• Embossing machine (cell size 5.1mm)
• Dipped sheets of wax
• Frozen ice packs
• Cold water
• Organic dish soap (unscented or mild smell)
• Paint brush / firm tooth brush
• Water sump to soak wax sheets
Trimming
• Cutting Board
• Wood template cut to the final size of the foundation
• Sharp blade or pizza cutter
• Towels
Resources
Water Jacketed Wax Melter:
Wax Melters: www.waxmelters.com, 888-929-6358
Embossing Mill: Hawley Honey Co., Raymond Cooper 620-365-5956
[email protected]
Step 1: Melting Wax with Wax Melters
• You can melt wax overnight, if you want to

start early the next day.
• Turn wax melters on the night before to 200
degrees.
• Load both melters with blocks of clean wax
and/or any clean wax scraps.
• Wax will slowly melt overnight. Check and
add more blocks of wax as they begin to
melt. You want to have both melters full.
• Once the wax is melted, turn the tempera-
ture down to the dipping temperature of
165-170 degrees and maintain that tempera- Water Jacketed Wax Melter
ture throughout the process.
Melting Wax without a water jacketed wax

melter
• Place a steel tank inside a drum with water.

• Use a propane burner to heat the water to
melt the wax. This method melts wax in half
the time of an electric wax melter, but has to
be watched carefully (do not leave over-
night).
• The depth of the wax in the steel tank de-
pends upon the height of the wooden dip-
Clean Blocks of Wax
ping boards.
Steel tank in a drum with water

heated by a propane burner.
Step 2: Creating Smooth Wax Sheets
You will first make smooth wax sheets which will then be embossed. There are
two ways to make smooth wax sheets: Dipping (the method we use) and Pouring.
We have found that achieving an even thickness throughout the sheet has been
challenging with both methods. We are still seeking to get the perfect embossed
sheet of foundation!
Pouring
If you pour melted wax into flat molds you will need to run the sheets through
flat rollers that flatten and even out the wax sheet before it is embossed. The em-
bossing mill has both flat and embossed rollers that you can switch out.
Dipping
When we dip the boards, the wax ends up thicker on the long bottom because the
wax naturally flows towards the bottom of the board.
You can even out the dipped sheets afterwards by adjusting the embosser. Adjust-
ing the embosser is tricky and it is necessary to get to know, and have a relation-
ship with, the embossing machine. We have discussed dipping sheets top to bot-
tom, instead of side to side.
Dipping to Make Smooth Wax Sheets:

• The marine plywood dipping boards have to be soaked in salt water for at least
24 hours prior to use, the boards should also be stored in salt water to prevent dry
rot. The boards have to be wet so that the wax comes off after dipping.
• Remove Dipping Board from the water and allow the water to drip off. Hold-
ing the board lengthwise over the melted wax- dip the board evenly up to your
measured size line.
• Dip the Dipping Board slowly in and out of the wax 2 – 3 times (depending
upon how thick you want your foundation), allowing the wax to stop dripping be-
tween dips.
• Scrape the edges of the Dipping Board on the edge of the wax melter to create
a break in the wax so that it can peel off the board.
• Place the waxed Dipping Board into the sump of cool water.
• The cool water will make the wax sheet easy to remove from the Dipping
Board.
• Remove the wax sheets from the water and place on table. The sheets can be
stacked up in piles until they are ready to be embossed.
Holding the board lengthwise over Dip the board slowly in and out of the wax
the melted wax- dip the board 2 – 3 times (depending upon how thick
evenly up to your measured size line. you want your foundation), allowing the
wax to stop dripping between dips.
Scrape the edges of the board on the Place the waxed board into the sump of
edge of the wax melter to create a cool water. The cool water will make the
break in the wax so that it can peel off wax sheet easy to remove from the board.
the board.
Tips for Dipping Wax Sheets:
• Maintain a good wax dipping depth by transferring melted wax from the second
wax melter to refill the wax melter used for dipping.
• Check the temperature of wax throughout the process. You want to maintain the
wax at 165-170 degrees.
• Make sure the sump of cool water stays cool so the wax sheets come off easily.
• The Dipping Boards must be stored in water with sea salt added to it. Apx. ¼
cup of sea salt to 3 gallons of water.
• For long storage of wax sheets, make sure that they are dry and restack them.
Store in a cool or room temperature room.
The cool water makes the wax sheet Remove wax sheets from the water and
easy to remove from the Dipping place on table. The sheets can be
Board. Keep the water cool! stacked up in piles until they are ready
to be embossed.
Keep Dipping Boards in a small garbage can

filled with water when you are in-between dip-
ping them.
Step3: Embossing Wax Sheets
Place ice pack into water reservoir, fill

with cold water and a squirt of dish
soap. Fill reservoir under rollers with
cold water and soap. Brush some of the
cold soap water on the embossing roll-
ers. Turn on machine and let the rollers
get wet and cold. Do not wear lose
clothing that can get pulled into gears
and rollers. Keep fingers clear of roll-
ers
Embossing Mill– the mill can be ordered
• Adjust water reservoir to drip while
with different size embossing rollers and flat
you are rolling. rollers as well.
• Adjust embossing machine to roll a
straight even imprint. Wax sheet should
come off the roller straight, not one
side and then the other.
• Wax sheets are placed in warm wa-
ter sump (80-85 degrees).
• Feed one sheet at a time through the
embosser- watching to make sure the
sheet comes off, and does not stick to
Wax sheets are placed in warm water

sump (80-85 degrees) so they will not be
brittle when running through the emboss-
ing machine.
Wax sheet should come off the roller

straight, not one side and then the other.
Tips for Embossing Wax Sheets:
The temperature of the room, wax sheets and embossing rollers are critical to
making embossing successful.
• Embossing on the dipping day only worked well if the room was not too
warm, otherwise it was hard to get the rollers cool enough to release the
wax sheets. In this case you would not need to put sheets into warm water
as they would be warm enough to go straight into the embossing machine.
• If you are doing the embossing later, then you will need to soak the wax
sheets in warm water. If you do not warm the sheets, they will be too brit-
tle to run through the embossing machine.
• Room temperature of about 70-75 degrees is best.
If the sheets are sticking to the rollers, brush the rollers with soapy water.
Cool to cold rollers are the trick to successful rolling.

• Spend time with your embossing machine and get to know the adjust-
ments. Depending upon how you dip (sideways or lengthwise and thick-
ness of wax) will determine what adjustments will need to be made to get
the perfect embossed sheet.
• Dipping wax sheets (as we do) creates a thick and thin side to the sheet
and the machine will need to be adjusted to even out the sheet when it is
embossed.
It is important to get the sheet embossed deeply with the honeycomb cell pat-
tern.
• We have noticed the bees not drawing out the cell if it is not embossed
deeply enough. They will build their own comb on top of the sheet, if the
cells are not deep enough.
Step 4: Cutting Embossed Sheets
• If the embossed sheets are wet, towel dry before you cut them.
• Place embossed sheet of wax on the cutting board. Arrange template on top of
sheet to get the best, straightest cut. (The honeycomb pattern should be running
square to the cut edges.)
• Run cutting tool around template.
• Stack with wax paper between the sheets for long storage.

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What equipment is needed to make beeswax foundation?

What are the steps to dip the beeswax foundation?

MAKING

Volcano Island Honey Company

Melting & Dipping

• You can melt wax overnight, if you want to

Melting Wax without a water jacketed wax

• Place a steel tank inside a drum with water.

Steel tank in a drum with water

Dipping to Make Smooth Wax Sheets:

Keep Dipping Boards in a small garbage can

Place ice pack into water reservoir, fill

Wax sheets are placed in warm water

Wax sheet should come off the roller

Cool to cold rollers are the trick to successful rolling.

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