Several list members admitted to (no, BRAGGED about)
saving money by using "urinal cakes" rather than the official
beekeeper's form of PDB crystals.

A question for all of you:

   If you did that for a few years, and then melted down some
   combs to make beeswax candles for a relative's wedding
   service, what odor would the candles emit?  Would it be
   that nice smell of pure beeswax, or a smell reminiscent of
   a Texaco men's room on a back road in Arkansas?

   Do you want to find out only when you are sitting in a pew
   holding the church bulletin that thanks you by name for
   making and donating all the candles?

While we are forced to accept as a "given" that US-made foundation
will  have a higher and higher PDB "trace level" every year, must
we also now be mildly disgusted by the thought that some of it came
from "scented" urinal cakes?  I can't think of anything more certain
to be the exact opposite of "food-grade" than something intended
to be placed in a urinal.  And what is in that "perfume" they add,
anyway?  Is certainly has a strong odor, which means that it is
a "volatile" that has a good chance of being yet another trace-level
contaminant of wax.

There's a good chemistry problem - one that likely will require
something you do not have, like a High Performance Liquid
Chromatograph.  Not to worry, the new one I just bought for our
lab only set me back $200,000.00 or so after the trade-in on our
old one.  You might be able to find a used one for about $150,000.00
But, gosh, think of all the money you will be saving on PDB!

We all have no choice but to "trust" that our fellow beekeepers are
following "best practices".  Every time we buy foundation, we are
buying wax that might have come from YOUR hives.  You have no
right to take such chances with everyone else's foundation.

And just how far afield can a "good knowledge of chemistry" lead one?
There may be lots of stuff that can be bought "off label", that might be
very close to what is used in beekeeping, and much of it may well be
cheaper than buying from a beekeeping supply house.

Just where does one stop, once one starts down the road of thinking
that they know "better"?

Come on, fellows!  Please don't screw up and turn beekeeping into a
field where product liability insurance becomes a requirement. If you want
to save money, do a bulk buy with a few other beekeepers on a bigger
container to get a cheaper price on the CORRECT form of the chemical.

Dadant lists a 1-lb container of PDB for $25.50, which works out to $1.50
per ounce, but they also sell a 35-lb container of PDB for $120.95, which
works out to only $0.21 per ounce.

Do you REALLY need to get that cost under $0.21 per ounce so much
to take the risk?  Is it going to bankrupt you?

        jim

        farmageddon  (where we know the difference between
                                  a bathroom and a honey house)