BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
The amouut of wax obtained from old black combs by means of a press, as compared with the old method, is as three to one, while the time occupied is but one-tenth, and the wax obtained is ready for market if drawn off into suitable cooling vessels, such as the nonlocks shown in Fig. 6.
About 75 per cent. of the wax sold by produce salesmen is depreciated in value through having been wrongly treated at the apiary, Wax should never be overheated; it should always be melted or boiled with water. Wax boiled in rusty tins or iron vessels has a dirty brown apperance; contact with galvanized iron or zinc turns it grey, copper green. Bright, new tin or tinned copper vessels are the only ones which do not affect the colour and character of wax. Even the oldest comb will produce wax of a clear yellow or orange colour if properly treated. The size and shape of the blocks of wax seen on the market also leaves much to be desired. The moulds used by many bee-keepers are buckets, old milk-dishes, kerosene tins, wash-tubs, &e., into which the wax has been poured, and left to set quickly in contact with the metal instead
Figure 6: Metal Wax Press, set up.
of on hot water. The result is that the dirt, which will pass even through the finest strainer, is diffused all through the lower part of the wax instead of being in a separate layer, which can be scraped off. Quick cooling results in unsightly cracks and elinging to the moulds. Wax is often sent to market in bags, and the fibre and dust adhering to it still further spoil its appearance. Blocks or cakes should not be larger than 20 lbs.; 10 or 12 lbs., however, is the best weight.
Better attention to the saving, proper handling, and marketing of bees-wax would well repay the bee-keeper, and add considerably to the total annual value of production.
When an injury has been in existence for a number of years it becomes necessary to replace some of the old black brood combs. This should be done every season -- whenever an opportunity offers to withdraw them from the brood chamber. They should then be replaced with new ones.
A Langstroth comb, if built on a full sheet of foundation, contains about 2 ounces of wax when new, but somewhat more after it has been in use for some years, as the bees add wax after the foundation is first drawn out. When very old combs are boiled down for wax, not more than eight should be put into each tin with three gallons of water, otherwise the mass becomes too stiff and difficult to press clean of wax. Sometimes, hundreds of combs have to be cut out and boiled down and a great number of vessels would be required to hold the water and liquid wax coming from the press until the wax is set, unless it is skimmed off while hot, which is tedious work.
By the use of a separating tank, wax and water can be separated automatically, the wax being retained in the tank while the waste water,if not too thick and black, can be used for boiling down more combs or else at once disposed of. Waste water from boiling down combs or water containing honey should not be thrown out so that bees have access to it, but should be buried; apart from any risk of spreading disease it may start robbing or stinging.
This separating device (Fig. 8) consists of a plain box lined with tin. One corner of the lining is covered by an L-shaped piece of tin soldered to the side and end, open on top and reaching only to within half an inch of the bottom, with an outlet stud through the end board
of the case about four inches from the top. At the opposite corner of the case is another outlet stud two inches from the top.
Before allowing the wax to run into the tank from the press, sufficient hot water should be poured in to cover the end of the enclosed corner so as to prevent the wax escaping into it. After several lots of boiled comb have been put through the press, the wax and water will have risen in the tank to the level of the outlet tube A, and from now an amount of water, equal in weight to the water and wax coming from the press, will run over by tube A.
As wax is considerably lighter than water, it does not displace water by its own volume, and therefore rises in the main body of the tank as it accumulates until it reaches the wax outlet tube B. This is best kept corked till it is desired to draw the wax into moulds or a cooling vessel, when by opening the wax tube B and closing the water outlet A the whole of the accumulated wax flows over when more liquids run into the tank from the press or sufficient hot water is poured into it.
A serviceable tank of this description can be made out of a kerosene case and two tins by any one able to use a soldering iron. Cut the tops out of the kerosene tins, close to the rim, and hammer back the ent edges. Then cut the side out of one tin, as shown in Fig. 9, and the other as in Fig. 10; put the tins into the case, straighten out the pieces left for lapping over in Fig. 9 and the bottom piece in Fig. 10; then solder together. Withdraw the lining from the case, cut the holes for outlets A and B into lining and case, reinsert the lining and solder on the studs (which should be at least one inch in diameter) and the angle piece covering A. The work is then completed.
This receptacle, if emptied and wiped dry after use, will last for many years, as wax has a protecting influence on tin. It will save a great deal of labour by dispensing with skimming and remelting; water will also be economized, an important consideration to bee-keepers who are located in dry districts.
### Xxii.--Comb Foundation.
Comb-foundation consists of a thin sheet of bees-wax, impressed on both sides with the bases of the smaller or worker cells of honeycomb. It is given to the bees in the modern hive, suspended from the top bars of the frames, kept straight by means of fine wires embedded in the sheets, and is used by the bees as the midrib of, or the foundation upon which they build, the comb.
The advantages of using full sheets of foundation in the frames instead of allowing the bees to build comb in their own way are dealt with in another chapter. As comb-foundation is expensive, the very best use should be made of it, and this object is only achieved when the resulting combs are perfectly even and straight in the base, which, in turn, is only possible if the foundation is properly manufactured.
The comb-foundation sold by supply dealers is of the required standard of quality (Fig. 1, E.F.G.H.); but while the price is 2s. 3d. per pound, with 2s. per pound for large quantities, the apiarist only obtains, after allowing for freight and other charges, 1s. to 1s. 3d. per pound for the grade of wax usually made into foundation. In consequence many apiarists have purchased foundation rollers, and make their own foundation. It is, however, questionable, in some instances, at any rate, whether home-made foundation is not as expensive, and less satisfactory as to sagging and buckling, than that purchased from dealers, owing to the extra weight of the sheets and the imperfect embossing.
To turn out sheets, which, without making them too heavy, will be drawn out by the bees into nearly perfect combs, requires some skill, the proper appliances, and a knowledge of the properties of bees-wax under different temperatures during the process of manufacture. Most of the foundation made by beekeepers is either too heavy or imperfectly Figure 1: Comb Foundation.
inpressed, or it may be both. For brood or extracting combs, foundation, eight sheets to a pound, if well made (Fig. 1, A.B.) is quite heavy enough. Many beekeepers, being unable to obtain good combs from medium weight foundation, owing to the sheets being too faintly impressed (Fig. 1, C.D.) make then as heavy as five and a half to six sheets to a pound. This, to some extent, does away with sagging and buckling, but it raises the cost by about 1d. per sheet by unnecessarily using an extra amount of wax. If the rollers of the foundation mill are set close enough to completely fill the interstices between the cell cones of the rollers, while the cell bottoms of the foundation are quite thin and transparent, one pound weight will contain s.ven and a half to eight sheets Langstroth size. The extra wax in heavier sheets is in the cell bottoms, and adds but little to the freedom from stretching or buckling. To make good foundation, it is necessary to have the proper appliances and to keep the correct temperatures in the process of making the plain sheets as well as in passing them through the rollers.
Texture, Expansion and Contraction of Bees-wax.
If the wax used for foundation is absolutely pure and clean the shade of colour is immaterial if the foundation is intended for brood or extracting combs. For sections, if possible, only the palest white wax should be used. How to obtain bees-wax of the greatest purity and best colour from old combs is described in chapter XXI., page 99. To guard against infection of the colonies wax of unknown origin or from apiaries in which foil-brood exists, particularly when the solar wax extractor was used to obtain it, should always be first boiled with water, allowed to set and the blocks scraped clean before being re-melted for foundation.
To produce the best grade of foundation with a minimum of labour it is necessary to know the properties of wax at different temperatures. Wax is crystalline in texture, and comparatively brittle at ordinary temperatures. When kneaded its structure is altered, and it becomes and remains for a considerable time more or less pliable. Thus a thin sheet of wax, at a temperature of 60 degrees Fahr. is exceedingly brittle, but after being passed through the foundation mill at a temperature of 100 degrees it will be tough and pliable at 60 degrees, more or less, according to the degree of kneading it received from the rollers. The greater the pressure exercised the tougher will be the foundation. In the case of what is known as the weed process of manufacture the wax is subjected to a pressure of several hundred pounds to the square ineh, the wax becomes semi-transparent, and the foundation tough, a circumstance which has given rise to the erroneous suspicion that adulterants have been added.
At a temperature from 120 degrees upwards wax becomes friable, and the sheets stretch and tear in handling. At about 150 degrees wax becomes a liquid, and expands more and more as the temperature rises. The greatest expansion of volume takes place between 180 degrees and 212 degrees, which, latter, is the highest temperature wax heated on water can reach. In cooling wax does not contract in the way it expanded, the expansion reached at the high temperatures is retained nearly down to the point of solidifying; thus wax heated to 200 degreeswill contract considerably more on becoming solid than that which never reached more than 170 degrees; hence, wax to be cast in moulds for blocks should be heated to the boiling point of water so that it will easily leave the moulds, while, when intended for foundation, it should not reach more than 175 degrees in the final melting before dipping, otherwise the violent contraction of the sheets when immersing the dipped boards in water will cause cracking and splitting.
Making the Plain Sheets.
The first operation in the manufacture of comb-foundation is the production of the plain sheets of wax. It consists in the dipping of pine boards of given dimensions, and previously soaked in water, into liquid wax, cooling them in tepid water, peeling the sheets off the boards and trimming them ready for the foundation mill. The appliances shown in the illustration and described hereunder, as well as the method advocated, vary to some extent from those generally given in textbooks, but have been found by the writer, after years of experience
and experiments in the manufacture to be the best for the production of first class foundation at a minimum of cost in time and wax. The appliances used may be different in shape, and the working method may be varied to suit the person and the articles available, but the essential features of the appliances and of the method should be retained if perfect workmanship is desired in the finished foundation. The dipping boards should be of the best soft fine-grained pine wood. American shelving, free from knots, will be found the most suitable timber. The boards should be 17 inches long by 9 inches wide and 3-inch to 1-inch thick, planed smooth on both sides. The edges are best left straight and square, as then the sheets are easier to peel off than when the board is tapered or feather-edged. A wire handle (Fig. 2), made of steel wire, such as is found in bicycle tyres, is fastened into the ends of the boards. This will enable the boards to be completely immersed, turned end for end, without getting wax on to the fingers, and hung up on the revolving holder, shown in the centre
Figure 2: Dipping-board (end with wire handle).
of the illustration (Fig. 3), or on a rack of hooks placed in a convenient position.
The boards are first soaked in hot water of a temperature higher than that of the wax to be dipped, otherwise air bubbles, escaping from the boards during immersion in the wax, will blister the sheets. The quickest way of bringing the boards to the proper condition is to stack them with thin strips of wood between and a weight on top to keep them down in water in a tub or a vessel, as shown in the centre of the illustration (Fig. 3). When the water has been brought to the boiling point by means of a stove, the latter is turned down somewhat, and sufficient cold water poured into the vessel to reduce the temperature to 120 degrees, at which it should be kept. To prevent contact with the bottom of the vessel two narrow pieces of wood should be put under the lowest board.
These strips and the fine sticks placed between the boards should be soaked in water beforehand, so that no dry spots, to which the wax would adhere, may remain. When the wax is ready in the dipping tank, the boards are taken out of the water one after another as required, and hung up to drain off surplus water so that they are just evenly damp all over. Before plunging it into the hot wax each board is given a shake and turned end for end so that the drier end will enter the wax first. The board is pushed right under, except the top of the handle, quickly withdrawn, held perpendicularly over the dipping tank to drain for a few seconds, then turned end for end again, immersed in the wax, drained, for a moment plunged into water, and then hung up. The next board is then dipped, and so on, the stand being moved round from left to right, one board every time. When the first dipped board comes
Figure 3: Dipping and Peeling off Plain Sheets.
round to the operator on the left, the sheets have sufficiently set and contracted to peel off easily. The strips are pulled off the edges and ends, the hoards rinsed in the soaking water of 120 degrees and hung up to drain. As each board reaches the operator on the right, it is just of the right temperature and dampness for dipping. The dipped hoards are immersed in the dish behind the dipping tank, which is only in part visible in the illustration. The water should be from 90 to 100 degrees; if colder the boards cannot be stripped quickly; if too hot the sheets take too long to set. For two-handed working, as in the illustration, ten boards are required; for single-handed five. In the latter case the boards are all dipped first and then stripped.
The reversing of the boards produces sheets of more uniform thickness than when dipping several times from the same end. Even when reversing one end is smoother and somewhat thinner, and rolling should be from this end. When peeling off, the sheets should be placed on a board, evenly on top of one another with all the thin ends one way. When about thirty sheets have accumulated, and while the sheets are still warm, a straight-edge is put across the pack, and about \(\frac{1}{2}\)-inch cut off at the thin end with a knife or a disk cutter. This trimming of the ends greatly assists in getting a quick start when rolling.
As already mentioned, the wax should be pure and clean. The most convenient way is to melt it in two vessels, placed inside a larger one containing water. This will greatly reduce the risk of over-heating, and entirely do away with that of boiling over, while insuring a continuous supply. The temperature of the wax should never exceed by much that required for dipping, for reasons previously explained. A special tank, such as the soaking tank shown in the illustration, or a wash tub sufficiently large to hold two 60-lb. honey tins, the top of which have been cut out, may be used. A slow fire or a stove under it will supply the heat.
The dipping tank is a vessel oval in horizontal section, 12 inches wide one way and 3 to 4 inches the other, and about 21 inches in height. It is contained inside a similar tank of somewhat larger dimensions with hot water in the space between. The water is kept at a uniform temperature by means of a blue-flame stove, or other lamp contained in the stand, which supports the double tank, as shown in the illustration (Fig. 3). To obtain sheets of uniform thickness and correct weight, with a smooth surface, free from cracks or blotches, an even temperature of the wax during dipping, and after replenishing the tank is essential. This is accomplished by means of a thermometer, with the bulb in the hot water, and the turning up or down of the flame of the stove. When the dipping tank is first filled with liquid wax from the melting vessels it will take some little time before the temperatures of wax in the inner and water in the outer tank are the same. After that there will be but little fluctuation, unless the wax in the melting vessels from which the dipping tank is replenished is allowed to become too hot. When the supply of wax is exhausted what remains in the dipping tank may be worked out down to a few pounds by adding water of the same temperature as the wax whenever the level of the wax has to be raised to cover the dipping board.
When dipping for foundation seven Langstroth sheets (16\({}^{3}_{i}\) inches x 8 inches) to a pound, the temperature indicated by the thermometer should be 155 to 160 degrees, for eight sheets to a pound 165 to 168 degrees, and for section foundation 170 to 174 degrees, and the number of plain sheets in a 5-lb, pack, before trimming, about 28, 33 and 38 respectively.
The foundation mill, as seen in the illustration Fig. 4, consists of two type metal rollers on steel spindles, one above the other, running in bearings set in the cast-iron frame-work. To the projecting axle of the lower roller a crank handle is attached, by means of which, and the cog wheels at each end of the rollers, the latter are revolved.
The bearings of the lower roller are fast in the frame, while those of the upper one are capable of being raised or lowered and moved sideways. Rubber cushions, or, in the latest machines, steel springs, between the upper and lower bearings hold the rollers apart, the closer setting being accomplished by means of two vertical set screws, which force down the upper bearings and thus bring the rollers together.
It is absolutely necessary that the rollers should be perfectly parallel, both vertically and horizontally, otherwise good workmanship cannot be expected in the sheets of foundation. The horizontal adjustment is made with the vertical set screws, while the top roller is set true to the lower one, vertically with four lateral set screws at each end. By means of these screws the bearings can be moved slightly sideways. The
Figure 4: Rolling the Sheets.
machines as received from the manufacturers are correctly set for working, the only adjustment which may be necessary being the raising or lowering of the top roller according to the thickness of the sheets to be rolled and the grade of foundation to be made.
If, however, the rolls by some means should have become untrue in alignment, some exceedingly delicate adjustment of the lateral set screws controlling the upper bearings will be necessary before good work can be done. The rolls, as stated, are of type metal, and are engraved in such a way as to correspond to the cells of worker comb. Each of the multitude of little stamps is hexagon in shape, the top coming to a point formed by three inclined planes. The cog-wheels which connect the rollers are fixed on the spindles in such a way that if the mill is correctly set the point of each cell stamp on one roller falls evenly between the points of three of the cell stamps on the opposite roller; but if the rollers are not set true, holes will be torn in the wax sheet, and the rollers may be damaged, or the three planes which form the cell bottom of the foundation will be uneven in thickness, causing stretching or tearing of the sheet during rolling or sagging after the sheets are fixed in the frames of the hive.
When freeing the interstices of the rolls of particles of wax, or on first loosening the end of the sheet when it comes through the machine, metal priekers or tools of any kind should not be used, as type metal, being soft, is easily scratched. A tooth-pick or a piece of comb may, however, be employed.
The foundation machine should be securely screwed to a table of suitable height, or, better still, to a separate stand, with a flat water tank for warming the wax sheets immediately behind the mill, as seen in the illustration (Fig. 4). The water in which the sheets are warmed before rolling should be 110 deg. Fahr. for ordinary foundation, and 115 deg. to 120 deg. Fahr. for what is known as thin, surplus, or section foundation. The temperature is regulated by means of a stove or lamp under the water tank, and a dairy thermometer in the water. The machine will work best when the rollers are nearly blood warm--that is, when they feel neither warm nor cold to the touch of the hand. If the temperature of the room is less than 75 deg. Fahr., it may be necessary to first warm the rollers by pouring warm water from the tank over them while revolving them, and then allowing them to cool down to the required temperature. After work has been commenced, the continuous passing through of the warm wax sheets will maintain the correct temperature.
To prevent the wax adhering to the type metal a lubricant is necessary; soapy water is generally found to be the best, or an emulsion of starch may be used. This is either kept in a shallow trough, in which the lower roller revolves, or applied to the upper roller with a soft clothes-brush; care should be taken to do so after every sheet. Soap has been objected to as acting on the wax; it does not, however, affect wax in the solid form, and if the trinmings of the rolled sheets are washed in tepid water before being re-melted, the wax will be in no way affected.
The gripper puts an even strain on the sheet in pulling it off the roller. If one has not been supplied with the naehine, it can be made by any one. It consists of two pieces of pinewood, 9 inches long, \(1^{1}_{2}\) inches wide, connected at the ends by semi-circular pieces of clock spring, which hold the two pieces of wood apart till closed on the end of the sheet by pressure of the fingers.
The sheets as they come off the rollers are laid evenly end for end on top of one another, the curled end being smoothed down by hand till eight or ten have accumulated, when they are ready for trimming.
## Trimming the Foundation.
As the rolled sheets are 9 inches wide and 18 inches to 20 inches long, trimming to the required size (\(16^{3}_{4}\) inches x 8 inches for Longstroh frames) is necessary. This is best done while the sheets are still slightly warm, by placing a board of the proper dimensions on top of the sheets and cutting the edges and ends off close to the board with a suitable knife dipped in soap water or as shown in the illustration (Fig. 5), with a disc cutter warmed over a small lamp. This cutter consists of a circular piece of thin steel sharpened to a fine edge and fastened to an axle 3 inches long revolving in a fork piece fixed in the handle. A dummy cutter of the same size at the opposite end of the spindle insures straight and even cutting, which will be found of great advantage when the foundation is being fastened into the frames.