Category: Material

Beeswax (cera alba) is a natural wax produced by honey bees of the genus Apis. Chemically, beeswax consists mainly of esters of fatty acids and various long-chain alcohols.

Uses

• Plastic
• Wrap  – see featured image (by infusing cotton with beeswax, jojoba oil and tree resin)
• Candle
• Cosmetics
• As a modelling material in the lost-wax casting process, or cire perdue
• For wax tablets used for a variety of writing purposes
• In encaustic paintings such as the Fayum mummy
• Portraits
• Bow making
• To strengthen and preserve sewing thread, cordage, shoe laces, etc.
• As a component of sealing wax
• To strengthen and to forestall splitting and cracking of wind instrument reeds
• To form the mouthpieces of a didgeridoo, and the frets on the Philippine kutiyapi – a type of boat lute
• As a sealant or lubricant for bullets in cap and ball firearms
• To stabilize the military explosive Torpex (before being replaced by a petroleum-based product)
• In producing Javanese batik
• As an ancient form of dental tooth filling
• Surfboard wax,
• Lubricant for furniture joints, doors and windows,
• Used by NASA with an enzyme to mop up oceanic oil spills
• Bleed control from bone surfaces
• Surgical bone wax
• Shoe polish and furniture polish

Potential Uses

No new uses as yet identified by author’s. Your contributions welcome.

Processes

• When beekeepers extract the honey, they cut off the wax caps from each honeycomb cell with an uncapping knife or machine. Its colour varies from nearly white to brownish, but most often a shade of yellow, depending on purity, the region, and the type of flowers gathered by the bees. Wax from the brood comb of the honey bee hive tends to be darker than wax from the honeycomb. Impurities accumulate more quickly in the brood comb. Due to the impurities, the wax must be rendered before further use. The leftovers are called slumgum.
• The wax may be clarified further by heating in water. As with petroleum waxes, it may be softened by dilution with mineral oil or vegetable oil to make it more workable at room temperature.
• CAUTION – BEESWAX IS FLAMMABLE. Do not let the water boil when melting wax. If beeswax should boil over or flow onto the burner there is danger of a violent fire. When handling beeswax, low heat and careful attention are advisable

More Information

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beeswax
• http://matteroftrust.org/5044/101-uses-for-beeswax
• https://www.beeswrap.com/pages/about-us
• [Featured Image] https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/aplus-seller-content-images-us-east-1/ATVPDKIKX0DER/A0252963B0X1OB20Q9CI/B00B3U0FW4/7qvbs9jfQA2Y._UX899_TTW_.jpg

Found under the skin of the plant, cactus wood is hidden behind cacti’s layers of spines which provide protection from animals and the sun. These spines are attached to the thick green or grey skin of the plant so that transpiration, or evaporation can be prevented, thus moisture retained.

Many cactus species exhibit polymorphic wood growth, meaning different types of wood are grown at different stages of their development. Meanwhile, all large species of cacti possess wood with high fibre content, which makes the the material extremely strong.

Direct correlation between the types of fibre and size of water conduction and storage vessels found is also found in cactus wood, meaning the larger the cacti, the longer and wider the water vessels and fibres.

Uses

Furniture makers in regions like the American Southwest use cactus wood as a construction material, particularly the wood from the saguaro and cholla species. The Seri American Indians used cactus wood for making fires and also fashioned wooden drills used to create sparks for starting fires from cactus wood. Generally, cactus wood is collected dead from the desert floor to minimize the danger and tremendous work effort required of culling wood from a living cactus. (Retrieved from https://www.hunker.com/12542590/what-is-cactus-wood)

Herb Wood, a desert dweller who is also a cactus craftsman, has been making cactus wood furniture since 1931. He even invented his own cactus-wood-dust-based glue to ensure better matching of wood pieces.

Potential Uses

None identified by author’s yet. Your contributions welcome.

More Information

• https://books.google.com.hk/books?id=PSEDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA104&lpg=PA104&dq=cactus+wood&source=bl&ots=uPD2JaEtXc&sig=zqJ-bpqil3JFLPkYhQTB5YYVldU&hl=zh-TW&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiun5_f1I3VAhWBMJQKHccQAcc4ChDoAQhtMAg#v=onepage&q=cactus%20wood&f=false Githens. (1946). Cactus Craftwork. Popular Science, 148(3), 104-105.
• W., Gesh. (n.d.). What Is Cactus Wood? . Retrieved July 16, 2017, from https://www.hunker.com/12542590/what-is-cactus-wood

Reindeer moss can be used dried for decoration, crafts and as an alternative to bubble wrap in packaging.

The reindeer moss is actually a lichen, latin name Cladonia rangiferina. It grows mainly in Alpine regions although it can grow in warmer climates. Harvest should be done conscientiously given lichen is slow growing (3–11 mm per year) and may take decades to return. [1]

Uses

Predominantly used for decorative purposes in floristry and crafts.

The dried moss is also an effective product protector in packaging.

Process

Need more information

More information

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cladonia_rangiferina

[2] http://www.polarmoss.fi/

Other names: Natural rubber, Crepe Rubber, India rubber, Caoutchouc

Natural rubber consists of polyisoprenes (polymers of isoprene), with minor impurities of other organic compounds and water. In most of its useful forms, it has a large stretch ratio, high resilience, and is waterproof.

It is mainly harvested from the Hevea brasiliensis ‘rubber tree’, and we us more of it globally each year than synthetic rubber. Originally from Brazil, the major producers are now Thailand, Indonesia, and other countries in South and East Asia. Rubber plantations have resulted in significant loss of rainforest.

Other plant species bearing rubber and rubber-like hydrocarbons:

Guayule (Parthenium argentatum),  Rabbit-Brush (Crysothamnus nauseousus),  Rubbervine (Cryptostegia grandiflora), Taraxacum krim–saghyz, Taraxacum kok-saghyz, Scorzonera tau-saghyz, Scorzonera Uzbekistanica, Scorzonera taka-saghyz, Milkweeds (Asclepias incarnata, sub-lata, syrica, et al), Goldenrods (Solidoago altissima, graminifolia, leavenworthii, rigida, et al), Sow thistles (sonchus arvensis, oleraceous, et al), Rosin weeds (Silphium species), Mountain Mints (Pycnanthemum species), Cacalia atriplicifolia

Uses

There are countless uses of rubber including:

• Car tyres
• Shoe soles
• pencil erasers
• birthday balloons
• condoms
• protective gloves
• adhesives (such as sticky white PVA)
• paints
• roofing membranes
• waterproof butyl liners in garden ponds
• rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) used by scuba divers
• jacketing material for electrical cables, fiber-optic cables, and heat pipes
• artificial hearts (in the rubber diaphragms that pump blood)
• waterproof gaskets that seal the doors on washing machines

Potential Uses

No new uses identified by authors. Your contributions welcome!

Processes

Currently, most rubber is harvested as latex (a sticky, milky colloid) from the rubber tree. It is drawn off by “tapping”; making incisions in the bark and collecting the fluid in vessels, which is then refined into rubber ready for commercial processing. Rubber trees must reach 8 to 10 years of age before producing latex. The trees are usually felled after 30 years of harvesting as the yield drops off.

Rubber is harvested by making incisions in the bark and collecting the latex fluid, a process known as tapping. The latex is a sticky, milky colloid. The latex is allowed to coagulate and processed, including several stages of washing and heating.

Ancient Mesoamerican civilizations used the sulfur from the juice of the Morning glory plant to vulcanize the latex from the Castilla elastica tree and the guayule plant to produce bouncing balls for games, amongst other uses.

More Information

• http://www.explainthatstuff.com/rubber.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_rubber
• https://www.heddels.com/2018/02/crepe-rubber-what-is-it-and-where-does-it-come-from-2/