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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Mike Rossander <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 14 Dec 2005 14:10:50 -0800
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Mike Stoops <[log in to unmask]> wrote about lightening wax by letting it "sit in the sun for a few days".

  I had heard that before and decided to run a small-scale test of my own this past summer.  I took two one-ounce bars of beeswax that were as close in color as I could determine (using the naked eye).  The wax used to make them had been previously filtered (using coffee filters).  The color was a rich yellow.  One bar went into a ziplock bag and stayed in a dark corner inside the house.  The other went into a small foil-lined plastic tub (about pint-size).  I covered the top with clear Saran-Wrap to keep out bugs, dirt, rain, etc.  I left the container outside in the sun for about 4 weeks in northeast Ohio.  I don't have a good count of the hours of full sun but we had a nice summer.  There were more sunny days than not in that period.  The wax outside regularly got hot enough to soften and occasionally to melt so I have confidence that it got enough sun to test the original hypothesis.  At the end of the period, I compared the two samples.  If there was any lightening in c!
 olor, it
 was not perceptible to the naked eye.



Mike Rossander

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