Home-made foundation

[John B]

I was helping an older beekeeping friend get her house ready to sell and was given a beautiful old AI Root handcranked foundation mill.
There is not much I haven't done in beekeeping over the years but I have never made my own foundation so this winter I think I will give it a go. I will still be getting 99.9% of my foundation from New Zealand beeswax but it would be nice to at least make a few sheets and tick it off my bucket list.
Has anybody ever attempted this themselves?

 

[yesbut]

I have been known to spend hours making a silicon rubber foundation mould. Which didn't really work.

 

[Mummzie]

I have a foundation press which requires melted wax to be poured, pressed and lifted from the silicon using compressed air.
The temperature of the wax is important, and often the sheets are more brittle than what I believe would be achieved by rollers.
I wish you every success and hope you can keep us posted on the result.
Pretty sure @bighands makes his own.

 

[southbee]

Never used a roller to make any foundation, but we did make a silicon press for drone comb many seasons ago. We used a special type of silicon which was liquid and then set. It did work, but oh what a glorious mess. And yes, the temperature of the wax was important and you needed the right amount of wax for a decent sheet. Haven't done any for a long time now. Using a roller sounds like a satisfying project, good luck with it!

 

[Trevor Gillbanks]

Fat Bee man has a couple of youtube videos on how to do it.

 

[Grant]

Fat Bee man has a couple of youtube videos on how to do it.

you can post examples in the topic, or great examples could in the media gallery

 

[Trevor Gillbanks]

Here is one of the Fat Bee Mans videos on making wax foundation and putting those sheets thru a hand roller.

The hand rolling is important as it puts flexibility into the wax foundations.

Best wishes.

 

[bighands]

I have made small cell size foundation using a roller out of Poland with no problems at all. Any questions just ask.

 

[yesbut]

I have made small cell size foundation using a roller out of Poland with no problems at all. Any questions just ask.

Can I have your roller please ?

 

[Hector Wong]

Can I have your roller please ?

You can if you can get it off him.

 

[bighands]

Can I have your roller please ?

you can borrow it no problem but it must be returned in the same condition it was lent

 

[bighands]

There is another roller down here from the 1900's but do you think I can borrow it. No chance.I will have to wait until the guy dies then his family will get rid of hios beekeeping gear

 

[John B]

I don't know how old my foundation roller is but it is pretty old.

 

[Wknz]

Here is one of the Fat Bee Mans videos on making wax foundation and putting those sheets thru a hand roller.

The hand rolling is important as it puts flexibility into the wax foundations.

Best wishes.

I was looking at nz wax and saw their requirements for not reheating wax or over heating wax. It seemingly changes the composition.
Does keeping your wax as virgin as possible make a difference when making your own foundation? Or the bees uptake of the foundation?

 

[Trevor Gillbanks]

I was looking at nz wax and saw their requirements for not reheating wax or over heating wax. It seemingly changes the composition.
Does keeping your wax as virgin as possible make a difference when making your own foundation? Or the bees uptake of the foundation?

I don't know. I just posted the Fat Beeman video. Maybe @bighands can answer this.

 

[bighands]

I was looking at nz wax and saw their requirements for not reheating wax or over heating wax. It seemingly changes the composition.
Does keeping your wax as virgin as possible make a difference when making your own foundation? Or the bees uptake of the foundation?

I have never had any problem at all reheating the wax. I did my board in liquid wax to make the sheet for the foundation. As long as there is an adequate honey flow you will have no problem with the bees drawing wax foundation.