Beeswax How Bees Make It
Beeswax and It's Benefits
Why you should always be careful when sourcing your beeswax.
Our beeswax at eBeeHoney is 100% Natural Pure Beeswax!
Did you know in the United States, the law doesn’t stop a product from being labeled “beeswax” or “pure beeswax” if the wax content is at least 51% beeswax. That means a manufacturer could legally blend other waxes (like paraffin, soy, or other cheaper waxes) into the product and still call it beeswax as long as the beeswax portion meets that 51% threshold.
We've had so many customers over the years buy their beeswax from other companies and platforms only to discover that the so called beeswax they bought was not 100% beeswax. Beeswax has a higher melting temperature - beeswax will melt at 145 degrees while soy wax melts at 120-140 degrees. So if your so called beeswax melts at 130 degrees, it's not pure beeswax.
Beeswax also burns clean with no black plume when it burns - other waxes will give off a plume as the wick burns. (Remember to always use cotton wicking with beeswax when making a candle). Beeswax will also feel tacky to the touch never greasy.
Benefits of Buying Direct from Beekeeper
✔ No more guessing if your beeswax is "real" beeswax - ours if 100% beeswax with no other waxes EVER added!
✔ Our beeswax is double-filtered providing you with exceptional beeswax for any project - it's ready to go.
✔ Your purchase goes a long way in supporting our small beekeeping family - we work hard every day to care for our bees and produce high-quality products, and we’re proud to offer you the opportunity to buy directly from a beekeeper.
✔ Better value for artisans and crafters - no middle man involved.
✔Natural Variations & Unique Properties - Beeswax from different hives can have subtle differences in scent, color, and character - it's truly incredible what bees produce.
✔Personal Connection & Transparency to us the eBeeHoney family.
Why is Beeswax So Special
Beeswax is a gift to you from nature. It is the purest and most natural of all waxes. Beeswax candles offer a golden flame, the longest, cleanest burn of any candle.
When beeswax candles made with a cotton wick burn - they burn cleaner than paraffin or soy candles as beeswax candles produce no soot. It is also reported in a number of places that burning beeswax candles produces negative ions, though we have been unable to find any scientific studies on this aspect of beeswax candles.
For each pound of beeswax provided by a honey bee, the bee visits over 30 million flowers and they will eat 10 pounds of honey. They secrete the beeswax from their abdomens, and then use the wax to construct a honeycomb. Us Beekeepers recover the wax from the comb by heating it in water where the melted wax rises to the surface and can be removed.
Hundreds of years ago, most candles were made of beeswax. But over the centuries, beeswax candles were gradually replaced by tallow (animal fat) candles, and then in the last century by paraffin candles, which are probably the kind you have in your home right now. It sounds innocent enough, but paraffin is made from the sludge at the bottom of barrels of crude oil, which is then treated and bleached with benzene and other chemical solvents to “clean it up” for use in candles.
Beeswax is produced by bees in the form of tiny scales which are "sweated" from the segments on the underside of the abdomen. To stimulate the production of beeswax the bees gorge themselves with honey or sugar syrup and huddle together to raise the temperature of the cluster. To produce one pound of wax requires the bees to consume about ten pounds of honey.
IMPORTANT: You can buy a wax melter for beeswax - if you do not have one, then you always need to use a water bath by placing the container of wax into a small saucepan - this saucepan will then sit inside a larger pan of water. Never place a pan of wax directly on a hot plate or gas ring. Beeswax can easily become damaged by localized overheating and if it ignites can burn more ferociously than any chip pan fire. Beeswax does not boil - it just gets hotter and hotter until it ignites.
The uses for beeswax are many but these days the most common are for better quality candles, soap products, skin care products, hair care products, fly fishing lures, coatings for sweets and pills, furniture polish, batik art, putting on drawer runners to make them slide smoothly, in quilting and heavy sewing it's put on the thread to ease its passing through tough materials. We also have industrial companies buying beeswax to help lubricate their machines. You name it, beeswax is used in many home projects and in industrial applications.