> I can roughly translate Allen's
> recipe to a single pound of Crisco vegetable oil to a pound of
> menthol crystals to soak a single roll of BSTs.  I would be inclined
> to cut the roll of BSTs in half and divide the Crisco/menthol between
> the two half-rolls.  I am not altogether comfortable with my
> conversions, especially to publish in a newsletter.

Many recommend a half-roll, but also, many of them also mention bees driven
off the brood, brood damage, etc.  We found 1/3 was right for us, and our
conditions are fairly cool, so in warmer places, beware.

As it happens, I was at an oxalic research discussion/demo today, and in the
discussion, menthol came up.  A new commercial beekeeper had made up the
towels, but found that they were hard to separate (he had stored them in a
cold place, I gather) and therefore decided to make them on the spot as he
went next time.  He did, and it was not nice.  I also gather that this
(liquid, hot Crisco and menthol) was killing bees on  contact and driving
them out, too.  Ugghhh!

It is important IMO to use Crisco, and not some other brand, since some are
not as flexible when cold.  Also I can assure you no other towel but the
blue shop towel works well.  I've tried fooling around a bit with the
formula.  What I present on the pages works well for me and for others who
have followed the instructions.  The problem is that it is very hard to
mention every detail and anticipate every misunderstanding readers might
have.

In a nutshell, about 6 grams of menthol and 6 grams of Crisco saturate a 1/3
roll of towel.  I think Bob described here on BEE-L how to melt the Crisco
and then the menthol in a coffeee can, then soak the roll.  It is that
simple.  I think there should be a link to his BEE-L post from somewhere in
my shop towel pages. See the third ref, below.

http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/articles/blueshoptowels.htm
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/2001/diary041701.htm#Blue
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/articles/blue2.htm
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/articles/blue.htm

There are about 55 sheets per roll, so about 330 g of each is required for a
1/3 roll.  A half roll takes 10 grams of each for 550 g menthol and 550 g
Crisco.  Otherwise the process and details are just as described for our
washtub amounts.

allen
A Beekeeper's Diary: http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/

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