Foundation Making

This is a query aimed primarily at bee farmers and those beekeepers with quite a few hives.

Are there any of you that have or use a wax foundation mill, the ones with two metal embossed rollers, that feed out a sheet of foundation. I've seen hand cranked ones.

Are they any good?

Are they labour intensive?

Are they worth the money?

I'm looking at raising the number of hives I have to about 40/50 and wondered what the best and most economical way of putting foundation into super and brood frames.

thanks iann

I use a mangle and herring plates to make my foundation and I make all my foundation this way for running several hundred colonies.
I wouldn't call it the best, cheapest or most time efficient way as I only make thirty or forty sheets of an evening once the kids are in bed. I wouldn't want to cost it out paying myself minimum wage in normal working hours but it works for me.

If you trade in 60 lbs+ of wax and pay the conversion and wiring costs its not worth the effort and mess making the foundation yourself in my opinion. Similarly if your association buys foundation in bulk for the members. I suppose if you are one of those who worry about the risks of using foundation made from other peoples wax then maybe do it yourself.

Why do you use both,mangle and herring plates . Isn't one quicker than the other? I have got plates ready but I have not tried them just yet. Giving myself a break until after Christmas, it's been a hectic year.

I do save every bit of scrap wax over the year and render it down, thus have quite a bit of beeswax to trade in at autumn time. I suppose I'll carry on with the wax conversion Thornes do and take it when we go to the seaside on a day trip.
Thanks for the replies tho.

We have a press to make thins for cut comb

Tedious and time consuming... and the wax has to be filtered to queens jubilee candle quality....
But the wax is from our bees and free from all the toxic chemicals and sundry nastiness in * foreign stuff, after all our valued customers are going to probably eat it!( Defra tested it last season)

(E****pet told me their foundation was sourced in China)

Yeghes da

wightbees said:

Why do you use both,mangle and herring plates . Isn't one quicker than the other? I have got plates ready but I have not tried them just yet. Giving myself a break until after Christmas, it's been a hectic year.

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Herring plates are designed to be pressed through a mangle with a soft sheet of wax between them.
I've not used Fluvalinate or Amitraz or any other wax persistent chemical in my hives this century and I keep my bees in areas mostly devoid of agricultural chemicals so value my own wax and consider it a worthwhile endeavour to make my own foundation when looking at the price of organic wax foundation from elsewhere .

I'm getting mixed up with plates,I thought you was referring to the type that are pressed, these are what I have. I agree with your method though, of you can keep your wax it's best practice with nasty about.

iann41 said:

Are there any of you that have or use a wax foundation mill, the ones with two metal embossed rollers, that feed out a sheet of foundation. I've seen hand cranked ones.

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Go for motorized, hand cranked is really hard work, especially when using wax tablets.

thanks hivemaker

I was thinking of getting a hand crank mill then bolting a motor to it. Seen some on the bay for £350.

Do I need a set of plane rollers to flatten and soften the wax tablet to start with.

How do I make a wax tablet and how big and thick should it be?