I have just been sent this query off-list . As it is an interesting subject, lets start another thread.
"You just mentioned using THICK foundation in the U.K., do you have the
dimensions and weight per sheet? Do you utilise embossed (i.e. with
hexagonal cell formations), or flat blank foundation? Do you make your own
foundation from cappings and/or old comb? I may be too curious for my own
good, but I'm always looking to experiment with new ideas for additional
success."
Foundation is produced in UK to fit all four ranges of frames in current use, with 3 depths in each range - so 12 sizes of sheet. UK beekeeping is a hobby pursuit!
The largest suppliers no doubt use state-of-the art machines that fuse together 3 separate plies of (now a days) pure beeswax to produce a sheet that is less liable to sag when warmed within the brood nest. I say, trustingly, that foundation now has no contamination from vegetable waxes as it did when 3-ply founds was first invented by Root in 1923. However, wax recovered from older brood combs still seems to contain some transparent component that sinks to the bottom when wax is melted into water - which I have not noticed when the wax comes only from cappings. Perhaps someone has information here?
I personally prefer to buy from small suppliers who make small batches - it suits my romantic notions of a cottage industry. One advantage (which I have not yet used myself) is that the machines are so small that an association can supply its own residue-free wax for conversion to their own foundation - the wax left over in the sump are returned for candle making.
You could also, presumably specify your own thickness, as the machines must be adjustable within limits - but the stuff on offer works fine. U get 5 sheets 14inches by 12 inches per pound.
UK foundation is offered pre-wired, diagonally top to bottom. This minimises sag when warmed - but it does still happen to an extent. The problem is caused by forcing bees to draw out complete sheets comb base, which means they tend to work the two sides unevenly. In nature, a new comb emerges from the centre of a wax-making cluster - the comb-base or midrib is extended downwards with the cells on the two sides being completed at the same time. Perhaps we should chop connecting holes through the foundation to help the cluster form both sides of the foundation/midrib, and accept the irregularities and drone cells that would feature in the finished comb - has anyone tried that?
The rationale for supplying foundation is that it speeds comb building and the combs are artificially flat and uniform - 'down with Nature', we say. Bee biology however seems to include bees making some wax as they go through a particular age - so trying to save ALL comb building may not be economic. A growing practice in UK is to put merely strips of foundation in spring supers in oil-seed rape (canola) areas - leaving the bees to build down. When the supers are removed (perhaps in autumn, to ensure the bees have had adequate exposure to natural stores all summer), any spring honey remaining is treated as the true surplus and the new clean combs are melted at the beekeepers convenience during winter and re-waxed for spring (we do not yet have SHB, which will force immediate extracting of removed supers).
Playing with wax can be great fun - it appeals to children aged about 10 to 13 at the school where I teach beekeeping and also to all children aged 50+. The feel, the plasticity, the aroma (provided the wax does not get to hot). Having a go at making your own foundation (from un-contaminated wax) is definitely to be recommended. There are many ways:
1.. Pour resin onto a sheet of bought foundation to make a pair of plates embossed with the cell bases. Pour liquid wax onto a wetted wooden tray to get a sheet of plain wax. Emboss the sheet by placing it between the tow resin sheets and pressing with a rolling pin - better an old clothes mangle. Use lots of soapy water to stop wax sticking to the moulds.
2.. Put a sheet of bought foundation in a tray and pour on plaster of paris. Turn over and coa the other side. Hinge the two trays together as a book. Separate and remove the bought foundation. Soak the whole mould in soapy water. Pour liquid wax onto one side of the mould and close the other side on top. Open and remove your casting of an embossed sheet. (This foundation is softer than the rolled as it misses out the tempering due to applying pressure).
3.. Alternatively, you can just use unembossed flat sheets - the resultant combs are anything but uniform. But lovely.
For those who do not feel up to making a mould at home, UK suppliers sell a stainless steel book mould fitted with silicone rubber face moulds - for 258GBP (350 times the cost of a single medium sheet of bought foundation at 0.80 GBP) . Or a set of embossed rollers for 740GBP. Hardly economic. If you swop your own wax, the cost of a single medium sheet drops to 0.20 GBP and if you first buy bulk wax from beekeepers to trade in, the final all-in cost is about .40 GBP for per medium sheet of professionally made all-wax foundation.
Home made sheets are too soft for serious beekeeping - so many ways of strengthening have been tried. H H Root listed 16 in an 1922 article in Gleanings: aluminimum, resin, bristol board, cardboard, cellophane, celluloid, cloth, hard fibre, metal foil, mineral wax, paper, tin, vegetable wax, wood veneer, zinc. A member of my association regularly uses computer print-out paper or newspaper - but it has never worked for me ( I find the bees just chew the wax off, then throw out the paper).
The chief strengthener today (apart from embedded wires) is of course to replace the mid-rib completely with embossed plastic. No doubt further trials will be made with complete cells of plastic. Being an old fogey, I remain deeply suspicious. There is the issue that the bees do not readily work plastic foundation and have to be forced onto it by creating an artificial flow through feeding sugar - some of which will end up in supers as 'sugar-honey'. But their is also the biological issues. Humans could wear plastic clothing - they would wash easier and dry quicker. But we don't, because the microenvironment between our skins and the plastic (hot, humid, sweaty) would favour bacteria and other nasties. What happens when a bee enters a (part) plastic cell and stays there for weeks within the winter cluster? Bees also 'sweat' water through their exteriors (I know it is not the same as human sweat but still). Some will be quick to rubbish any suggestion (I am getting to know this list!) that bees have not been waiting for 92 million years for the genius of man to provide them with plastic foundation - but has anyone actually explored the effects of plastic on the micro-environment within the cell?
Anyway, do have a go at making your own pure beeswax foundation. You have nothing to lose except a lot of time! Wax is conveniently melted within a plastic jug inserted in an electric slow-cooker (put a little water in the cooker to increase heat transfer). Then u get no mess all over the stove. Spouses can be surprisingly discouraging towards flights of the imagination - or attempts to recreate the path of history for ourselves.
Robin Dartington .
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