I have a beehive and I was thinking about using some of the extra beeswax from when we harvest honey to make my own beeswax. I've googled the process and it doesn't sound too terribly hard. When I saw the title of this post I thought it was about processing the beeswax and I was hoping to get some tips.

I thought the reason for using wax over oil was that it didn't require as many applications. Sounds like you've gone through quite a bit of wax in a short period. I'm just a bit into the 3rd 12 oz bottle of mineral oil after 18 months and find I now seldom need to oil.

I stopped oiling after several months. Gone naked ever since, and never looked back.

Almost three years now, and love the 'au naturel' patina.

After going 'au naturel' (as cookncarpenter puts it) since our counters were installed 5 years ago, I for some unknown reason decided to oil/wax our counters a few months ago. I had some mineral oil and I had a paste that was for our butcher block and was a combination of beeswax and mineral oil, and I used both on different parts. Then I decided to make my own and used about 50% of each, but I didn't find that to be very successful in that it solidified rapidly (after melting the wax and mixing the 2) and was hard to apply.

So if anyone has a successful recipe, let us know. There have been a few threads about this on GW, including a great one in which Florida Joshua did a test trial of a few different things to see which lasted the longest, but the pics he included are gone.

Here's the link to that post:

What keeps soapstone darker the longest

I read that thread this afternoon! After posting this one I caved and ordered his top pick since I want to do the counters asap but am interested in making my own for when this is through.

quadesl: I don't feel like I'm waxing an unusual amount... you've gone through over 24 oz of mineral oil in 18m, I went through 20 oz of wax in two years. Plus we sanded to take it to a different grit a few months ago so that has made for increased waxing.

(Why do I feel like I'm talking about personal grooming?)

I'm glad the folks who like their counters naked are happy but it's not for us. Not trying to start a debate, just hoping others have info to share on homemade wax.

I have no experience with wax and soapstone. I just wanted to mention that if it were me, I would avoid nut oils in case an allergic visitor came over.

Here's a link with instructions although I haven't personally tried it: http://www.creative-culinary.com/wood-butter-helps-renew-wood-utensils-and-bowls/ it's one part beeswax to four parts mineral oil.

In the interest of instant gratification I bought Clapham's Beeswax 870-3008 Salad Bowl Finish but I vow to (try to) get around to making my own before this runs out.

So far it seems virtually identical to Alberene's dry wax but it's cheaper: $20 for 8 oz instead of $24 for 5 oz. ($2.50/oz v $4.80/oz)

cevamal-Thanks for that link to the "recipe"! Maybe I can salvage what I made simply by adding more mineral oil after melting the glop I have . . .

I would second the opinion of staying away from nut oils. I have peanut and tree nut allergies (to everything they tested for) so I opted to avoid soapstone altogether for now. I'd literally be in tears if I found out the stone that was installed that was supposed to have never been oiled with walnut accidentally got oiled and was causing problems. (For example I'm having an unknown systemic reaction with a rash for the first time in many years at the moment, and I'd be sick if I had to somehow rule our new counters too!)