Beeswax as Lubrication

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PEAVY

CGF II, Certified Grumble Framer Level 2
Joined
Jul 27, 2002
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313
Loc
Wichita Falls, TEXAS
A third company I own is the Beeswax Company,
www.beeswaxco.com

I get a lot of orders comming in for beeswax that is used for lubricating screws, nails, and saw blades! Beeswax is also an essential ingredient in wood polishes. It also makes a great water sealant.

If this is something that is of interest to other framers out there. Let me know!

Peavy
 
For those framers that occasionally use nails for joining, stick the sharp end of the nail in beeswax before driving it and it will drive easier. Another trick is to cut the sharp end off of the nail, wax it and drive it. The wood will split less frequently. God bless the honeybee, a creature of many benefits.

Jack Cee
 
Would this work with v-nails into narrow hardwoods? I'm having trouble with a narrow ash moulding splitting out. (Don't laugh, Jana.)
 
Mel:

Give it a try, it should work, try melting the wax and apply with a brush to the v-nails. If you have never smelled them, try and find some beeswax candles. The odor is great.

Gosh, it sounds like I am trying to sell beeswax.

Jack Cee
 
I'd like to find a new condo for my swarm of honey bees!! They have gratiously set up housekeeping in one of the pillars on the front porch of my art gallery!! They haven't stung anybody but I have a few customers that are a bit wary of coming up on the porch when they see 40 or 50 honey bees swarming around that pillar.

I don't want to kill them but I have called the Dept. of Natural Resources and 2 local beekeepers and have had no luck in getting anyone out to look at them and give me some suggestions. I know that if you can find the queen and get her into a bee box that the rest of the hive will follow and you can then haul the entire hive away. But I can't find anyone to do it for me.

Anybody out there want a free source of honey AND wax??

FGII
 
I love beeswax. I always use it when attaching D-rings to frames.

One time I bought my kids some beeswax crayons imported from Germany. The colors were brilliant and the crayons smelled delicious, not like the sickening smell of Crayola crayons.

Peavy, nice website.

FGII, I hope you find a happy home for your honey bees.
 
OOOPS , i cut out too soon.

Then, douse with wasp and hornets spray.
Repeat as needed.

I can supply those in need with beeswax. Let me know if you are interested.

I use the beeswax on my drill. I put a nail in my drill, then drill the nail into a solid bar of wax. The heat from this melts the wax and coats the nail just enough. Then I drill the nail into the frame. Then I tap the nail into the lubricated hole. and Eurecka.....no splitting.
You can use this with screws too.

Thanks for the compliment on the website. I will make framers a great deal. It is compensation for the free tuition I gain on the Grumble.

Peavy
 
Hey Framer Guy, Peavy's husband here. I used to keep bees. Moving a bee hive is a difficult and usually hapless job. You must offer to pay the beekeeper to do this.I would say a minimum of
$100 ( this will get their attention). Everyone thinks that the beekeeper should do it for free because he is getting a free hive of bees. This is not true, more than likely the bees will swarm and leave whatever box he sets up for them. It is very difficult to get a wild hive of bees to set up neat and usefull housekeeping in a comercial hive.

If the whole pillar is removable, it would be best to let the beekeeper take the whole shootin match and be done with it or move it somewhere you would'nt mind having it for a conversation peice. It MUST be moved at least 5 miles or the bees will just return to the same site and start all over again. You must move the bees at night when they are ALL there. Bees don't fly at night except towards light so don't shine a light on them if you take this on yourself. Don't try it without a bee suit,(maybe you can get a loaner) bees crawl at night and they will find any hole in your suit and let you have it. This is not a task for the faint of heart, you should expect to get stung even with a suit on. It can get very messy. I would advise you to get a pro and pay him well.

Good Luck !

Peavy 2
 
I'm allergic, and this makes me swell up just reading it!!!!
 
Omar, Seriously, wait until a cool night, and spray the entire hive, or dip it, or otherwise soak the whole thing in gasoline. It will kill all the bees INSTANTLY!
We used to get rid of really huge wild hives AND wasp nests this way. They never know what hit them!
 
Please don't kill the bees, they are very beneficial insects, as are wasps.

Wasps eat other insects, if you have wasps, then you are infested with something that attracts them.

If you have to remove them, take the nests down in the winter and don't let them build in the summer.
 
I appreciate all the sympathetic responses to the beehive problem.

My gallery is located in a 105 year old 3 story house and the pillars aren't just plastic Home Depot fa&#231ades but are real pillars built out of many individual pieces of wood in the crown and base of each pillar. These would be extremely difficult to remove without destroying the pillar. I too don't relish the thought of killing the entire hive of bees simply for convenience but I may have no other option if what peavy says is true.

Someone emailed me and said to seal all the openings where I see bees going into the pillar but I think that I would use Charles' technique and kill them instantly if it came down to that rather than seal them in the pillar and let them starve or suffocate slowly. I know that this sounds all woosy for a guy to talk about but I know the benefit of bees to the ecology and I will give this all the consideration I can before I decide what to do.

Thanks peavy I and II for your advice on the handling of these bees. But finding the queen in a pillar that is inaccessible to anything but another bee would pose a real challenge.

(Maybe I could hire a "rogue" bee to kidnap the queen!!)


Framerguy
 
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