Forming the Wax Sheets, 309 
TO SECURE THE WAX SHEETS, 
The wax should be melted in a double walled tin vessel, , 
with water between the walls, so that in no case would it 
be burned or overheated. 
To form the sheets a dipping board of the width and 
length of the desired sheets, is the best. It should be made 
of pine, and should be true and very smooth. This is first 
dipped into cold water—salt in the water makes it easier to 
remove the sheets—then one end is dipped quickly into 
the melted wax, then raised till dripping ceases—only a 
second—-this end dipped into the cold water, grasped by 
means of a dextrous toss with the hands and the other end 
treated the same way. The thing is repeated if necessary 
till the sheet is thick enough. Twice dipping is enough 
for brood combs, once for sections. We now only have to 
shave the edges with a sharp knife, and we can peel off 
two fine sheets of wax. This is Mr. Jones’s plan, and is 
better than to dip only one end of the board, as in that 
case the wax runs down the board and the sheets are 
thickest at one end. With the device of Mr. Jones the 
wax runs to the ends, and to make the middle as thick, the 
board is lowered in the melted wax below the center. At 
Mr. Jones’s I saw one man dip the sheets as fast as two men 
could run them through the machine. Mr. Heddon, who 
has used nearly all of the roller machines, thinks Given’s 
press can be used more easily and rapidly than any of 
them. ‘This seems to me hardly possible, yet we must 
remember that the press puts the foundation right into the 
wired frames. Surely Mr. Jones’s accomplishment with 
the Dunham mill leaves little to be desired. Of course the 
press can only make thin sheets, as the wax sheets are 
thin, while with the roller machines we can reduce the 
thickness by simply approximating the rollers. 
For cutting foundation, nothing is so admirable as the 
Carlin cutter (Fig. 122, 2), which is like the wheel glass- 
cutters sold in the shops, except that a larger wheel of tin 
takes the place of the one of hardened steel. Mr. A. I. 
Root has suggested a grooved board (Fig. 122, 4) to go 
with the above, the distance between the grooves being 
