1581. Italian Method of Bleaching Bees' Wax

1581.    Italian Method of Bleaching Bees' Wax. The yellow wax is first melted in a kettle, and then is dipped out into a long tin vessel that will hold 2 or 3 gallons, and

BEES' WAX.

Which has a row of small holes, about the diameter of a knitting-needle, in the bottom. This vessel is fixed over a cylinder of wood 2 feet in length and 15 inches in diameter, which is made to revolve like a grindstone, in one end of a trough of water 21/2 feet in width, 10 to 15 feet in length, and 1 foot in depth. | As the melted wax falls in small streams on this wet revolving cylinder, it flattens out into a thin ribbon and floats off toward the other end of the trough of water. It is then dipped out with a skimmer (that may be made of osier twigs), spread on a table (with a top made of small willow rods, covered with a clean white cloth), and then exposed in this way to the sun until bleached.

1582. To Detect Spermaceti in Wax

1582.    To Detect Spermaceti in Wax. The presence of spermaceti in what is sold as virgin wax, is shown by its reduced melting point, its bending before it breaks, and by its flavor when chewed.

1583. To Detect Japanese Wax in Bees' Wax

1583.    To Detect Japanese Wax in Bees' Wax. According to Hager, this is determined by their different behavior in a concentrated solution of borax, at the boiling point. Bees' wax is totally insoluble in such a solution, while Japanese wax dissolves, and on cooling forms a milky white, gelatinous mass. From a mixture of the two the latter is dissolved out, carrying with it a portion of the former, while another portion rises and congeals on the surface.

1584. To Refine Bees' Wax

1584.    To Refine Bees' Wax. Crude wax, especially that imported, is generally loaded with dirt, bees, and other foreign matter. To free it from these substances, it undergoes the operation of refining. This is done by melting the wax along with about 3 per cent, of water in a bright copper boiler, preferably heated by steam, and after the whole is perfectly liquid, and has boiled for a few minutes, withdrawing the heat, and sprinkling over it3 surface a little oil of vitriol, in the proportion of about 3 or 4 fluid ounces to every 100 pounds of wax. This operation should be conducted with great care and circumspection ; as, if done carelessly, the melted wax will froth up, and boil over the sides of the pan. The acid should also be well scattered over the whole surface. The melted wax is next covered over, and left for some hours to settle, or till it becomes sufficiently cool to be drawn off into the moulds. It is then very gently skimmed with a hot ladle, and bailed or decanted into basins, where it is left to cool. Great care must be taken not to disturb the sediment. "When no more clear wax can be drawn off, the remainder in the melting pan is allowed to cool, and the cake or foot, as it is called, is taken out, and the impurities (mostly bees) scraped from its under surface. The remaining portion is usually reserved for a second operation, but, if required, may be at once melted, and strained through canvas into a mould. The great art in the above process is to produce a wax which shall at once be bright or semi-translucent in thin pieces, and good colored. The former is best insured by allowing the melted mass to settle well, and by carefully skimming and decanting the clear portion without disturbing the sediment. It should also not be poured into the moulds too warm, as, in that case, it is apt to separate, and the resulting cakes to be streaky, or of different shades of color. It should also be allowed to cool very slowly. "When cooled rapidly, especially if a current of air fall upon its surface, it is apt to crack and form cakes full of fissures. Some persons who are very nice about their wax, have the cakes polished with a stiff brush when quite cold and hard. It is necessary to have the cans, ladles, and skimmers used in the above process kept quite hot, as without this precaution the wax cools, and accumulates upon them in such quantity as to render them inconvenient, and often quite useless, without being constantly scraped out.