"Of course wax can become very pliable at temperatures well below "melting"."

Lots and lots of materials can do this.  It is called plastic deformation sometimes.  Below some pressure the material behaves as a solid.  Above that pressure it flows as a liquid.  Mayonnaise is an example.  So is wet clay.  The wetter the clay the less pressure it takes to make it flow.  Some metals also behave this way.  Gold and silver are both infinitely deformable at room temperature until you reach the point you have a film only two or three atoms thick and they become too fragile to handle.  The pressure it takes to just start deformation is called the yield point.  At pressures below the yield point the substance behaves as a solid.  Above the yield point the substance behaves as a liquid.  For things like gold and silver that liquid is still very viscous.  For clay the liquid is only modestly viscous.  It can even be poured if it has enough water in it.  For water based flowable pesticide formulations the liquid is very nearly as non viscous as water as the act of pouring it is a force well above the yield point.

My point is simple.  Bees wax behaves in a perfectly normal and well understood manner.  At low pressures and temperatures it is a solid and does not flow at all under normal use.  But, at either higher pressures (think a foundation wax press) or a higher temperature and very modestly higher pressure (think a bee making comb) it flows just like any liquid because above the yield point it is a liquid.

Dick

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