I am forwarding this to the list, since I feel unqualified to deal with all the questions, altough I have made a few suggestions. In particular, I have paid no attention to the question of making foundation by hand... Please relpy direct to Bryan as well as the list, since I don't know if he has gotten subscribed yet. ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- To: [log in to unmask] From: Bryan Butler <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Hand powered equipment Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 22:24:48 -0700 Yesterday I visited the Beemaid facilities in Spruce Grove. While there, Ian Henry gave me your e-mail address as a possible source of answers to several of my questions. For the last two years I have been looking at various uses for a water weed in Lake Victoria (East Africa). This last summer I spent two months in Uganda looking at the weed and other possibilities. One of the very real possibilities is working with honey and with beeswax. We have lived for 8 years in Africa and seek ways to move back there to live and work. In reading an older book on bee keeping I found that there were hand operated machines for making a foundation sheet (similar to ones used in the craft industry). Do you know where I could find such a machine? Do the still exist? Are there alternatives? As well, Ian mentioned that there is a company in Italy which makes bee keeping and honey processing equipment. Would you know how I could track that address down? I am wondering if there are by-products that can be made from very dark honey. Uganda has a great deal of dark honey and my understanding is that this is not too marketable. Maybe that is an incorrect assumption. I wondered if we could break it down into basic sugars or something which could then be more marketable. Almost all the honey (maybe all) in Uganda is produced in traditional or semi-traditional hives. This means it is harvested in chunks of comb that need to be crushed (I think??) before extraction. Do you have any comments? I very much hope to be moving to Uganda this year and would like to pursue something with honey while there. This would be in conjunction with some of my other ventures but could easily turn into full time work. Thank you for your patience with these questions. Yours truly, Bryan Butler [log in to unmask] Regards Allen W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper VE6CFK RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 Internet:[log in to unmask] & [log in to unmask] Honey. Bees, & Art <http://www.internode.net/~allend/>