Beeswax Uses

Beeswax is no more than yellow to brown glandular secretions of bees. However, if you look up some facts about beeswax, it'll reveal to you that the blessings and versatility of this substance has been known to man for centuries.

If you ask anybody today about the uses of beeswax, after prolonged thinking they might be able to tell you about the beeswax uses in cosmetics. But ancient men know and exploited all the beeswax qualities optimally.

Yes, I shall give you some fun beeswax trivia later in the article, but first let us enlighten ourselves about the myriad uses of beeswax that we are hardly aware of.

As I said earlier, the beeswax uses for skin products are well-known. Beeswax is indeed used in a lot of body lotions and face creams as it is believed to bind all the other components together and gives the products their sheeny, glassy look. But there are other beeswax uses that are enlisted read on to know more:

• Beeswax is a fantastic lubricant for oiling very old furniture joints. You can use it for the smooth movement of doors and windows as well.

• Beeswax is a regular component for mustache creams which are used by men to stiffen their mustaches in desired shapes. To make it at home, you just have to melt approximately 8 oz. of bee wax in a double boiler and then blend it with 4 oz. of petroleum jelly. Once it has cooled, you can use it.

• Beeswax actually prevents bronze items from getting tarnished. Since you cannot bar moisture from existing in air, you can simply cake your bronze artifacts with a solution made by melting ⅓ pound of beeswax in ¼th gallon of turpentine.

Similarly, copper can be protected by brushing molten beeswax on it. Iron smiths often coat iron products with beeswax not only for the shine but also for rust prevention.

• Mix equal parts of linseed oil and mineral spirits and then add beeswax to it. Place it on a flame and melt it. See to it that the end product is a rich, thickened mixture and shimmer your wrought iron furniture with this homemade beeswax furniture polish. Adjust the amount of beeswax you use according to the consistency you need.

• While making fine filaments out of high-end metals such as gold and silver, jewelers use beeswax as a lubing agent.
• Beeswax is still used by certain traditional makers of cheese as a glazing agent, that is, to cover their product from spoilage. They prefer this caking over plastic as plastic adds its own undesirable flavors to cheese at times.

• Beeswax is a natural conditioner for wooden products. You can condition wooden items such as wooden salad bowls or chopping boards by heating one part of food grade mineral oil to which 5 parts of beeswax has been added and then dab it onto the piece of wood with a piece of cloth.

A 2:3 mixture of beeswax and food grade mineral oil respectively will give you a paste with a thick consistency. You can also make a 2:1 mixture of beeswax and walnut oil respectively, and use it as a wooden utensils conditioner.

• Once you coat your nails and screws with beeswax, they do not splinter the wood while you hammer them in.

• Even NASA woke up to the versatility of beeswax and presently uses a concoction of beeswax mixed with certain enzymes especially to mop up oil spillage cases, wherein the beeswax soaks up the oil and the enzymes help to disintegrate it. So, even oceanic oil spills can be tackled in this way, nowadays.
• Coating tools with beeswax actually keeps rust at bay.

• Not only is beeswax used to cake guitar bodies, in order to boost their longevity, but it is also used on tambourine surfaces to get the desired effect when the player is employing the 'thumb roll' playing technique.

Also before the reed strand is inserted in an oboe, a woodwind with a conical bore and a double-reed mouthpiece, the tread is waxed with beeswax to make sure that it fits tightly. Even the hemp for bagpipe tuning slides and joints, is rubbed with beeswax.

• Beeswax is used extensively during egg-painting in Ukraine, called the folk art of Pysanky. Beeswax is also used as an essential ingredient in the ethnic Indian art of fabric dyeing called Batik printing.

• Beeswax candles do not melt with ugly wax drips by their sides. They also produce no smoke. Candles which are made from hundred percent beeswax smell divine, emitting a natural honey aroma which gets accentuated when mixed with other essential oils and herbs. So, it'll do you some good to learn how to make beeswax candles today.

• Certain popular candies, such as gummy bears, worms and jelly beans are made using beeswax, which naturally textures them as well as prevents the dissipation of their flavors.

• Leather is protected from the clutches of water afflicted destruction when rubbed with a molten solution made from the admixture of beeswax, tallow as well as yellow neatsfoot oil in equal amounts.

• You can polish your granite counter tops regularly with molten beeswax to keep them shiny bright! Just apply the beeswax, allow it to dry up and then wipe it off with a suede piece of cloth.

• You can teach your children to make crayons at home by melting an ounce of beeswax, then stirring in an equal amount of soap shavings and then adding the desired amount of coloring agent to it.

After that you just need to pour this into oiled foil molds and allow it to stand for 24 hours. You can also make crayons by using some talc and food colorant along with beeswax!

• A mixture of palm oil and beeswax is the perfect combination for a soap cake as palm oil reduces scars and beeswax naturally moisturizes the skin.
• A palm wax and beeswax mixture is a natural and safe hair removing or waxing agent.

• In archery, bow strings are beeswaxed both in order to reduce friction as well as to protect the string from damage due to dirt, moisture and other agents.

• Whip makers who use light nylon parachute cord to make their whips, either soak the individual strands before braiding them together or coat their finished whip with molten beeswax so as to make the whip heavier as well as water repelling.

• In weapon making, beeswax is used with lead so that it bonds quickly with the impurities present in the metal and helps remove them, before the process of casting bullets is carried out.

• If you add 2 ounces of molten beeswax to the mixture of a pint of olive oil which has been boiled for three straight hours with comfrey leaf powder and chickweed powder (1 tablespoon each) and then run through a sieve, you will get a balm potent enough to alleviate all sorts of itching sensations.

Other than these, beeswax actually has a thousand other uses. We use a lot of products in our daily lives which has beeswax in it without realizing. But you can actually make a lot of things using beeswax yourself, especially cosmetics and skin care products. Let us see a few recipes here.

• Beeswax pellets, ½ oz.
• Avocado oil, 1 oz.
• Emu oil, 1 oz.
• Sweet almond oil, 1 oz.
• Lavender oil, 6 - 7 drops
• Lime essential oil, 5 drops
• Tea tree oil, 3 drops

What You Need to Do:
Start with melting the beeswax pellets in a double boiler and then transfer it into a cooking pot. Next, pour in the avocado and the emu oils onto the wax. Make sure the flame is on low and then keep stirring until you get a rather well mixed concoction.

Now add the sweet almond oil, the lavender oil, the lime essential oil and the tea tree oil one after the other and blend till you are left with a uniform liquid. Now, transfer this concoction into smaller containers using a nozzle. Let it stand for a day before you start tending to your dry lips with this awesome and natural beeswax lip balm.

The things you need to gather are:
• Beeswax, 6 tbsp.
• Olive oil, 8 oz.
• Orange flower oil, 10 drops
• Orange water, 4 oz.
• Vitamin E capsules, 20

What You Need to Do:
Melt the beeswax, stir in the orange water thoroughly and puncture and ooze out the contents of 20 capsules of Vitamin E into this mixture. See to it that each capsule has a strength of 500 units. Now add the orange flower oil to this for fragrance.

Blend it well and when it has absolutely cooled, you can use it to salve and soften your skin optimally!

For this absolutely pain relieving ointment, you must have:
• Beeswax, 1 oz.
• Kiwi fruit seed oil, 1 oz.
• Emu oil, 3 oz.
• Menthol crystals, ½ oz.
• Mango butter, ½ oz.
• Aromatherapy oil, 2 oz.
• Chamomile oil, 10 droplets

What You Need to Do:
Again start by melting the beeswax. Simultaneously in another vessel, start heating the emu and kiwi oils on a relatively low flame. To this, add the mango butter and allow it to acquire the molten state completely. Next, throw in the menthol bits, stir for a while and then pour in the beeswax.

Do not stop running your ladle through the mixture. Move on to adding the chamomile and other aromatherapy oils. Quickly decant into a spotlessly clean and dry glass jar, cover tightly and allow it to stand undisturbed for a day, in a cool dry place.

This ointment will not only act as a top coat for your wooden furniture, but the inedible oils will get soaked in and treat as well as nourish the wood. Please gather,

• Beeswax bar, 1 pint
• Linseed oil, 1 pint (boiled)
• Turpentine, 1 pint (odorless)

What You Need to Do:
Begin by placing fine shavings of the bar into a double boiler and wait for it to melt completely. Now mix the turpentine and the linseed oil with the molten beeswax. Next, take a small portion of the mixture on to a very soft cloth (preferably cotton as it has no lint) and apply it on the wooden surface gently.

Remember, you should not be making the coat too thick. Once the entire object has been polished with this concoction and the treatment has been soaked in, let the polish dry. You may choose to go in for a second coating, but only after the first coat is completely dry.

Caution: 
This polish should only be used on wooden items that are never used for eating or culinary purposes.

• It is believed that Icarus, the son of Daedalus, who tried to escape from Crete on the wings his father sculpted for him and then fell and drowned in the Aegean Sea as he flew to close to the sun and attracted its wrath, had wings made of beeswax.

• Earlier, any letter was secured in its envelope with a seal of beeswax. Since it indicated some amount of privacy to be maintained in the way that only the specified addressee should read it, resulting in the creation of the much used phrase, "It's none of your beeswax" which later went on to become more precise with the phrase "It's none of your business".

• As indicated in the previous point, in 1215 AD, replicates of the Magna Carta, the royal charter of political rights given by King John to resisting English barons, were sent with a beeswax seal securing the treatise.

• Between 23 AD to 79 AD, there lived a health care provider by the name of Pilyn, who had claimed that the ingestion of a particular concoction using beeswax could cure dysentery completely.

• After vanquishing the Corsican army in the year 181 BC, the Romans had levied a 1,00,000 pounds of beeswax tax. Similarly, in the 14th century, each farmer paid the government at least 2 pounds of beeswax, per annum, as tax.

• The Greeks used beeswax to make sculptures whereas the Egyptians used beeswax as a sealer, whether for their amphorae of liquor or for the coffins of mummies.

• The Romans caked tablets for writing, made of wood, with beeswax and etched their message unto the wax using a pointy stylus. Once the addressee was done reading the message, he could warm the tablet to erase the document and then write his response on it. Rather economic, I would say.

• Egyptians used beeswax for building sea vessels and as displayed by the paintings in the Lascaux caverns, in southern France, ancients coated the drawings with beeswax to ensure longevity.

Evidently, beeswax uses have been known to mankind for a very long time now. However, I feel that as a material of such immense functionality, beeswax is rather underrated. So, you can do a little bit for the publicity of something so natural and versatile by making simple room freshening statuettes with beeswax and gifting it to your pals.

Simply, melt 1½ oz. of beeswax and add a teaspoonful of lavender oil, a cupful of applesauce and 1½ cup of cinnamon powder in the molten wax. Then cool and roll out the pliable dough like wax on a surface.

Now take out sections from it and make tiny and cute statuettes with it. Allow it to dry and consequently harden and then gift it to someone who'll not only appreciate your efforts but also take to beeswax herself!