Differences in Old and New Wax, Melted

Below you can see the product from my first two uses of the solar wax melter this year. The top disk came from Lenox Pointe, all new drawn honey comb; the bottom one came from Stonehurst, again all new drawn comb.



Yesterday I had the wax from some frames that included some old comb (also from Lenox Pointe). BTW, here's a useful tip in squeezing the wax into a ball: Put the wax in a plastic bag and use that to help you form the ball. Your hands won't get all sticky with honey.



You can see the pieces of older comb mixed in with the new comb on the paper towel below. This wax is ready to go outside.



At the end of the day, here's what the wax looked like - much brighter and darker in shade.


The color isn't so good in the picture below but you can easily see the contrast in old wax (on the left) and new comb (on the right). When people who use extractors melt capping wax, they get the results on the right. If you go foundationless and do crush and strain with the all new comb, your results should also look like the comb on the right.

Comb is also affected in terms of color by the type of pollen in the honey.  The wax on the left came from honey that I would define as medium to medium/dark.  The comb on the right was a very light honey.



If you are entering a honey show with your wax, the judges will give more points to a lighter wax. All wax should retain the smell of the beehive, which is why you need to use this year's wax in wax melting for a honey show.