How beeswax is made and collected
A kilogram of wax costs the bees 6.66 to 8.80 kilograms of honey, by one 1946 estimate.
- stations
- 5
- things upstream
- 1
- raw source
- 1
- step from the ground
- 1
The short version
Worker bees secrete wax as tiny scales from glands on their abdomens, and build honeycomb from it. Beekeepers collect the cappings sliced off cells at extraction time, plus old and surplus comb. That material is melted and filtered to separate wax from debris, then cast into blocks.
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Let the bees build comb
Workers chew their secreted wax scales into the comb cells where honey and young bees are kept.
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Collect cappings and old comb
Beeswax comes from cappings cut off the cells during honey extraction, from scrapped old comb, and from burr and brace comb trimmed from a hive.
Goes in -
Melt the comb out
Wax melts at a low 62 to 64 °C. Heating above 85 °C discolors it, so makers keep it gentle.
melts at 62 to 64 °C
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Strain out the debris
Molten wax is filtered to leave behind honey residue, pollen and propolis. The wax color ranges from nearly white to brown, depending on purity and flowers.
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Pour into blocks
The clean liquid wax is poured into molds and cooled into cakes. These are sold to makers of candles, polishes and cosmetics.
Worth repeating
- Beeswax melts so low, at 62 to 64 °C, that heating it past 85 °C is already enough to discolor it.
- One kilogram of wax is enough comb to store about 22 kilograms of honey.
Back to the ground
Follow every input upstream and beeswax starts as these 1 raw source.
Open the whole family tree
Where it comes from
- India38% of world production
2020 world beeswax production of 62,116 tonnes (Wikipedia).
Where it goes next
Beeswax feeds 5 lines directly.
Keep walking
Sources
Cite this page: "How beeswax is made and collected." Assembly Line, 2026-11-03. https://assemblyline.org/make/beeswax