Beeswax Handlotion:
    Beeswax cosmetics can be heated and melted (in disposable glassware)
in a microwave oven.
        I do not know whether a microwave oven would eventually ignite the
wax and oil.  I assume it could, so be careful.
  Filtering honey during extraction:
     Use a plastic trash can with a plastic honey gate at the bottom as a
holding tank.  Fit the top of the trash can with a platform on which a
five-gallon plastic bucket (with plastic honey gate) can sit and drain
into the holding tank.  Honey drains through a hole in the platform into a
nylon net bag (used for washing delicate fabrics in a clothes washer)
which holds the nylon stocking filter and keeps the filter from sagging
into the bottom of the tank.
      The holding tank is set on a platform high enough so that the gate
at the bottom of the tank can be used to bottle honey and low enough so
that someone can hoist the five-gallon bucket and transfer honey from the
extractor to the tank.  (A platform three hive bodies high works.)
       The five-gallon bucket can be marked on the outside to show
one-two-three-four gallons and a measured amount can be moved each trip
from the extractor to the holding tank.  The size of the crop can be
measured this way.  Three gallons of honey is easier to lift to the top of
the holding tank than five.
       If the platform on the top of the holding tank is made flush with
the rim of the tank and made to fit under the lid, the lid can be used to
keep bees from showing up early the next morning to reclaim their honey.
Tim Sterrett
Westtown, Pennsylvania, USA
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