Working with beeswax

[Bubbly Buddha]

I made my first solid perfume and a couple of lotion bars the other day. I had a lot of fun and LOVE the scent.
This was my first time working with beeswax and I was wondering if there was an easier way to cut it other than going at it with a knife? It is a solid block (I wanted to use local supplier) and when I cut it it splintered.

 

[Catmehndi]

Some people use a metal guitar string between two dowels or wooden spoons. It works great for soap and I would think it would work well with wax as well.

 

[lovetosoap]

I use a potato peeler

 

[carebear]

I put it in the freezer overnight in two ziplock bags then take ouside and slam down on the sidewalk. it kinda shatters. then I work with the pieces.

and sometimes when I'm bored and have time, I'll melt down big chunks and pour them into my metal cupcake pans to make little disks of the stuff. or pour onto foil-lined cookie sheets and break up into manageable sized pieces (after it's hardened - in the freezer as I'm impatient).

 

[krissy]

I put it in the freezer overnight in two ziplock bags then take ouside and slam down on the sidewalk. it kinda shatters. then I work with the pieces.

and sometimes when I'm bored and have time, I'll melt down big chunks and pour them into my metal cupcake pans to make little disks of the stuff. or pour onto foil-lined cookie sheets and break up into manageable sized pieces (after it's hardened - in the freezer as I'm impatient).

what a good idea! thanks for sharing!!

 

[Lindy]

I take a hammer to it to break it into little pieces - I've actually started buying the pellets.

 

[soapbuddy]

I put it into a old pillowcase and whack it with a hammer on the driveway. One way to get your frustrations out.

 

[donniej]

A cheese grater would work...

 

[Lindy]

I put it into a old pillowcase and whack it with a hammer on the driveway. One way to get your frustrations out.

 

[rszuba]

i love this post. lol

i started buying pellets also, but i have used cheese shredder and food processor with shredding blade.

 

[Earthchild]

These are all great suggestions. I've done the freeze and smash, and the melt into smaller pieces. Now I just buy the pellets from my local bee store. Whatever you do don't try to grate it in the food processor! I ruined two food processors this way. It worked for a few minutes...

 

[rszuba]

lol, i must have bought pellets just in time before burnout

 

[agriffin]

I buy pellets also. So if you had a huge chunk could you melt it down and drizzle it into a cold water bath so that it formed into manageable sizes? Just wondering...I'll probably keep buying pellets.

 

[SudsyKat]

I buy mine from WSP and it's pretty crumbly already. If I do have large chunks, I can easily break off smaller pieces with my bare hands. I learned quickly, after trying a cheese grater, that I would not be using that cheese grater for anything else in the future. I find beeswax impossible to get off of utensils. But if you're okay with dedicating a grater to wax grating only, then that's a good idea.

 

[Mandarin]

I always melt mine down and make them into small pieces. I bought candy molds years ago that are tiny cubes and it works great.

 

[carebear]

I bought some that wasn't adequately filtered, so after I broke it up I poured it into a candle mold (with mold release) so all the grainy bits fell to the bottom. MUCH easier than filtering through cheesecloth!!!

Then I melted again and poured into my mini muffin/cupcake pan. Any bits left could be scraped off the bottom of the beeswax disks/muffins it made.