402 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



June 29, 1899. 



Home-Made Comb Foundation — How it is Done. 



BV ADKIAX GETAZ. 



LAST winter I found myself with about a hundred 

 pounds of wax on hand, of rather inferior qualitj', that 

 had accumulated little by little. I also needed some 

 foundation for brood-chamber purposes. 



Selling- was at some 18 or 20 cents a pound and buying- 

 foundation at twice or three times that price did not seem to 

 me a verj' promising- business. On the other hand,' buying- 

 a f30 mill to save S20 on the foundation business wasn't 

 very much better. 



Under such circumstances I thoug-ht of the once farnous 

 plaster molds, and proceeded to make a set. The directions 

 are as follows : 



Make a frame of wood the size of the foundation 

 wanted. Lay on a flat surface a sheet of foundation as a 

 pattern, put the frame on it, and pour plaster paste in it. 

 This makes one side of the mold. When the plaster is set, 

 turn it over, put another frame on it (leaving the founda- 

 tion), and pour in another batch of plaster, making thus 

 the other side of the mold. Unite the two frames bj' a 

 couple of hinges on one side, and j-ou have a mold in the 

 form of a book. 



To use it, open the "book," wet both sides with warm 

 water, pour melted wax on one side, and shut down the 

 other side on it. In a half minute or so open the book and 

 take off the sheet. Such are the directions given. 



In the first place it is necessary to rub the plaster paste 

 into the foundation sheet carefully, otherwise bubbles of 

 air will remain in the cavities of the foundation and spoil 

 the shape of the mold. 



It is better to join the two frames by hinges before 

 doing any casting, so as to insure exact c6rrespondence of 

 the two faces. Better use brass hinges and brass screws to 

 avoid rust. Have the screws long enough to go deep in the 

 plaster, so it will hold better. A few nails in the frame 

 sticking inside and holding the plaster will also help the 

 strength of the apparatus. 



Thus armed I proceeded. The first trouble I g-ot into 

 was the impossibility of pulling-, or rather peeling, out the 

 sheets without tearing them up. This is due to the fact 

 that I used for a pattern a Root sheet of foundation with 

 deep walls. Some other make with little or no side walls 

 should be used, if the melted-wax plan is to be followed. 



I then tried the sheeted-wax plan, that is, making wax 

 sheets and pressing them in the " book," or rather the mold. 

 Simplj' shutting the book is not sufficient, so I put in the 

 sheet, shut the " liook," and put it in a press, and prest suf- 

 ficiently to give the sheet a good impression. 



In pressing a sheet, unless a very strong pressure is 

 used, the wax will not be forced very deep in the depres- 

 sions forming the wide-walls, so I had no trouble in taking 

 out the sheet. But the trouble was, that the plaster is an 

 entirely too weak material to stand any pressure at all. So 

 I beg-an to study about finding a substitute. 



My experience in the building and contracting business 

 enabled me to decide at once that the Portland cement was 

 " the very thing wanted." The mold is to be made as with 

 the plaster, only the " paste " must be thicker — about the 

 consistency of the mortar used by brick-masons. After the 

 first side is filled, wait a day before filling the other, as the 

 Portland cement sets very slowly. There is, however, quite 

 a difference between the different brands in that respect. 

 Then fill the other side, keep the mold wet for about a week 

 or ten days, and then open it. You will find that the wax 

 adheres to the molds. Put the mold in a warm place, so as 

 to soften the wax, and force it open, but be sure that the 

 wax is not melted and absorbed by the cement. There may 

 be some trouble in taking the wax out. The mold is now 

 hard enough to use, but if kept wet, it will still harden 

 slowly during several months, and eventually be as hard as 

 the very best quality of stone, and practically indestructi- 

 ble. The cements of the Rosendale, Black Diamond, and 

 similar brands set and harden much quicker than the Port- 

 lands, but their ultimate strength and hardness is much 

 less. 



The mold and press could be easily combined in one 

 apparatus, and much easier to handle than the way I had 

 them. I would, however, retain the " book " form for the 

 mold, as it insures an exact correspondence of the two faces. 



Making foundation by the press process requires sheets 

 ofunii, -n thickness. In the roll process the inequalities 

 of thickn. are ■' laminated out '" by the rolling, but no 

 such thing takes place in the press. 



Dipping the boards endwise in the wax is unsatisfactory, 

 as the wax runs down and hardens in streaks. 



I use a dipping-board with a handle on one side. (See 

 Fig. 1.) I simply lay it on the melted wax in a slightly 

 rocking manner, so as to avoid having bubbles of air be- 



Fig. I. 



Fig. 2. 



tweeu the board and the wax, then take it out and turn 



over. (See Fig. 2.) This causes the melted wax to spread 

 over the board uniformly, and insures a very regular sheet. 

 As soon as the wax loses its transparency, I plunge the dip- 

 ing-board and wax into a vat of warmer water, which causes 

 the sheet to come off" of itself, and with less danger of 

 cracking than by cooling off' in the comparative!)' cold air. 



In cooling off, the wax-sheet shrinks, and unless it can, 

 so to speak, glide on the dipping-board, it will crack. When 

 I first began I noticed that the cracking was invariably in 

 a certain place, and in a certain direction, showing clearly 

 that it was due to a defect in the wood. It is necessar)' to 

 have the dipping-board made of fine-grained, perfect wood 

 kept as smooth as possible. 



I have not yet tried any substitute for wood. Whatever 

 material may be used should be porous, so as to retain 

 water (otherwise the sheets would not come off), and be as 

 smooth as possible so as to permit the contraction that takes 

 place when the wax cools off. 



The wax can be melted in a vessel, or rather a tank of 

 tin ; this .to be placed in another of sheet iron containing 





Fig- 3- 



water kept boiling all the time. I find that a little water in 

 the vessel containing the wax helps to melt it more rapidly. 

 A tank or vat can be made of tin or sheet-iron without 

 soldering or riveting, by folding the corners as shown in 

 Fig. 3, but it would be difficult to describe the process. 



SECTION SUPPORTS ON FENCE SEPARATORS. 



Somebody spoke about nailing- buttons (I suppose 

 square pieces) of tin under the fence separators to support 

 the sections in the supers, and dispense with T tins and 

 other contrivances to support the sections. I wish to say 

 that the ordinary tin is too weak, but the galvanized iron, 

 26 guage, used on buildings for gutters and cornices, would 

 be strong and stiff enough for the purpose. Scraps of it 

 can be procured at no cost at any tinner's shop where such 

 work is done. There is some danger when nailing in small 

 pieces of wood of splitting the piece into which the nails 

 are driven. This can be prevented by clamping the pieces 

 in a vi.se while the nailing is done. Knox Co., Tenn. 



The Premiums offered on page 401 are well worth work- 

 ing for. Look at them. 



