Having drained all the honey from the combs, wash these in clean water;
this liquid, by exposure to the sun and air, will make most excellent
vinegar; put them in a clean boiler with some soft water; simmer over a
clear fire until the combs are melted: pour a quart or so into a canvas
bag, wide at the top and tapering downwards into a jelly bag; hold this
over a tub of cold water; the boiling liquor will immediately pass
away, leaving the liquefied wax and the dross in the bag; have ready a
piece of smooth board, of such a length that one end may rest at the
bottom of the tub and the other end at its top; upon this inclined
plane lay your reeking bag, but not so as to touch the cold water;
then, by compressing the bag with any convenient roller, the wax will
ooze through and run down the board into the cold water, on the surface
of which it will set in thin flakes; empty the dross out of the bag and
replenish it with the boiling wax, and proceed as before until all has
been pressed. When finished, collect the wax from the surface of the
cold water, put it into a clean saucepan with very little water, melt
it carefully over a slow fire, skim off the dross as it rises, then
pour it into moulds, or shapes, and place them where they will cool
slowly. The wax may be rendered still more pure by a second melting and
moulding.