I confess there isn't any lace content in this at all, except it may help
clarify the discussion that has been ongoing on the Lace board.
The different colours of beeswax are dependant on how long it's been in the
hive. The freshly built comb and the cappings (the wax the bees use to seal
the chambers,) are very nearly white. The longer it stays in the hive the
darker it gets as it crystallises and gets discoloured by day-to-day bee living
and
with propolis, the dark amber coloured 'stuff' that bees use to seal up gaps
in the high. If the wax is whitened again by industrial processes it is being
bleached.
The wooden frames in the hive have a thin, man-made foundation of golden wax
fitted into them, with the hexagon shapes lightly embossed. The bees then
build their comb onto both sides of this, with fresh, nearly white wax. The
queen is kept in one storey of the hive and the honey is stored by the bees
away
from the brood, so you can take frames from the other storeys and scrape off
the caps and spin the honey out. As the wax building is labour intensive, you
then replace the empty frames ready for the bees to refill, so they can
concentrate on collecting nectar for honey and pollen to feed the brood. It
would
not be sense to remove that wax unless you were getting a very good price for
it, as the bees can refill it several times over two or three years.
The 'wild' comb I am referring to is when on the odd occasion a swarm of bees
take over an empty hive (attracted by the honey/propolis smells in the wood).
If this hive isn't full of frames, or if some of those frames have damaged
foundation in them, the bees revert to nature and fill the spaces with wild
comb which is a back-to-back cells on an oval or vaguely circular chunk of comb
which hangs down from the top board of the hive or in gaps in the frames. When
the beekeeper realises there are bees in the hive, these stray bits of comb
are removed and replaced by 'proper' frames.
If you want genuine, natural 'pale as it comes' beeswax you probably need to
buy direct from a bee keeper who will take the trouble to separate their
cappings and any bits of 'wild' comb from the bulk of the 2 or 3 year old wax
from
damaged or due-to-be- replaced frames. If you ask for some, it is perfectly
possible that they can put some through their steamer/separator for you.
However, mostly they don't bother because the golden colour of beeswax is what
most
people expect.
Acid is only actively acid in water, so in wax it won't be active if that
makes sense. The acidity in wax is low anyway. Therefore it seems
unscientifically possible to conjecture that waxed thread has more protection
from the
acidity in the atmosphere than unwaxed.
Jacquie in England
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