🕯️ Wax Cappings Yield Reference Chart
A quick reference for how much beeswax you can typically expect from cappings, relative to the amount of honey extracted.
The four figures on this chart
Nothing is entered here; the page prints one fixed table of wax yields, keyed to how the honey comes off the frames:
| Method | Typical wax |
|---|---|
| Cappings only, uncapping knife or fork | About 1 lb per 75-100 lbs of honey |
| Crush and strain, whole comb rendered | About 1 lb per 20-30 lbs of honey |
| Cut comb or chunk honey | Minimal - most comb is sold intact |
| Old dark brood comb, rendered | About 1 lb per frame, quality varies |
Turn them round and they are simple division:
cappings only: wax lbs = honey lbs / 75 to 100
crush and strain: wax lbs = honey lbs / 20 to 30So a 90 lb extraction gives roughly 0.9 to 1.2 lbs of cappings wax. Crush the same 90 lbs out instead and you get 3 to 4.5 lbs - four times as much, because you have rendered the whole comb rather than the thin caps off the face of it.
Reading the numbers honestly
- The gap is a trade, not a bonus. Crush and strain destroys drawn comb the colony spent a flow building; extracted frames go back to be refilled.
- Raw cappings are not wax. What comes off the uncapping tray is wax plus honey plus debris. These figures are the clean rendered weight, well under what the bucket weighs.
Frequently asked questions
How much beeswax do you get from 100 lbs of honey?
Roughly 1 lb if you extract and keep only the cappings. Crushing and straining the same honey renders the comb too and yields nearer 3 to 5 lbs.
Why does crush and strain produce so much more wax?
Because the comb is the wax. Uncapping shaves off a fraction of a millimetre of caps and leaves the cells standing; crushing renders every cell wall.
How much wax is in one old brood frame?
About a pound, with quality varying. Dark comb is heavy with cocoons and debris, so a good deal of what goes into the melter comes out as slumgum rather than wax.