Beeswax?

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Yes you can use it in soaps and also in balms, lip balms, salves, and a number of other products. Wow! Free stuff! Don't cha love it?! :wink:
 
Sure. It will make your soap harder. I bought some beeswax for just that purpose, after seeing it in a recipe for shaving soap. The recipe (from Dr. Robert McDaniel's "Essentially Soap") uses 2.2 percent beeswax.
 
I can use it, GREAT!

Since it has no SAP value, does that mean it wouldn't be considered an oil then? And not to be added into the weight of the oils/lard?

Does it go in before or after trace? I wonder how much of it I should use.
 
correct, Its not considered an oil or factored into the weights.

It would get melted along with your oils. Ive found the best way to use it is grate it in a cheese grater, itll melt faster in the oils when you heat them up.

Usually the reccommended ratio is 1-2 oz:1 pound of oil...so lets say you were making 4 pounds, you could use between 4-8oz of beeswax :)
 
It's an additive, not an oil. I think you'll be fine melting it in with your solid fats before adding your lye. Using the book recipe above says about 2 percent by weight. That's about 1/3 oz. ppo, perhaps 1/2 oz ppo.
 
Cool!! I can't wait to start.

He said that he'll start collecting honey in about 3 weeks and he'll have some for me then.
 
not sure how the comb ends up after the collection process, but its easier to work with if he doesnt melt it down !! (so you might want to let him know!) its WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY easier to cut when in the comb :)
 
Yeah, don't melt it down, and I'm not all that sure that if it has honey in it perhaps you might want to add the honey too.

I'm just about to try adding honey to my own recipe for sweet almond... and honey.
 
He just told me today that he has been scraping it off and throwing it out . He only has 9 hives and is glad that someone can use it.

I have no idea what I'm really gonna get.

So I should just ask him to leave it on the comb? Wouldn't it have little pieces of comb in it?
 
just tell him youd like the wax in its most natural state (free from the hive fibers, ....so only the wax...) not sure of the process, but tell him he doesnt need to melt it and such :) you dont want to hive fibers in your soap (or then again, you MAY...who knows could be kind of exfoliation-like lol)

never seen a soap with that before!


my best advice...Experiment!! :)

maybe he can give you some in different states/forms and you can see which one you like to use the best!
 
Just get the rawest product from your friend and do whatever you feel it needs yourself, personally.

If you get a lot I wonder if you could make candles. I hear that candle making is the alter ego of soap making. :)
 
I will bee (hehe) sure to take pics!!

Lovehound, I've tried candles before. That experience is on the long list of good intensions gone bad. :wink:
 
Ha, I've just been discussing candle making with one of my good friends on email. She sells 'em along with her soap and she says the candle making is 100 times harder than her soapmaking, with all the FO and wax interactions, wicking problems, container sizes and shapes, thousands of combinations and lots of them bad.

Even though candlemaking and soapmaking have been related through the ages, presumably because both involve fats and oils, but I'm very happy to say I have practically zero interest in candlemaking.

I'm quite happy to let others make the candles, and they're welcome to it.
 

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