A> From: Ann Dougherty <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Egg
 A> moving
 
 A> I've been melting old combs in my solar melter and have noticed
 A> that the older the comb the less wax is recovered.  Newer combs
 A> provide more wax. Can someone give me an answer as to why this is
 A> so.
 
 A>                         Thanks,
 A>                                 Ann
 
Quotes from BEEWAX Second Edition by Ron Brown:
Page 27 and on. It is important to appreciate the limitations of a solar
extractor, which is very good indeed on odd combs and wax scraps, and excellent
on dried cappings obtained when extracting. On the other hand it will not get
any worthwhile amount of wax out of old, black combs. This is because the wax,
on melting, is soaked up by the layer of old cocoons and pupa cases embedded in
each cell. ...... A great deal of weight of these old brood combs is not wax at
all, but layers of old pupa cases with debris at the base of each, plus
propolis. W.F. Reid (1924) quoted actual wax content of some very old black
brood combs as only 10% by weight, and some not quite so old as 15%..... Silk,
whether from actual silk-worms or from cocoon spun by bee larvae, has great
affinity for wax, and once wax has soaked into the silk cocoons no amount of
boiling water or pressing will get it all out again. On the other hand, if the
cocoons are first soaked with water, they will not then absorb the wax.
The book with lot of valuable information is issued by BEE BOOKS NEW & OLD,
Tapping Wall Farm, Burrowbridge, Somerset, UK.
Kind regards Gunnar Thygesen
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