Historical use

Historical use

• Beeswax was ancient man's first plastic, and for thousands of years has been used as a modeling material, to create sculpture and jewelry molds for use in the lost-wax casting process, or cire perdue.^[9] Lost-wax casting of metals involved coating of a wax model with plaster, melting the wax out of the resulting mould and filling the space with molten metal. The technique is still used today by jewellers, goldsmiths and sculptors, in dentistry and even in the industrial manufacture of complex components by investment casting of metals.
• Wax tablets were used for a variety of writing purposes, from taking down students' or secretaries' notes to recording business accounts.
• Traces of beeswax were found in the paintings in the Lascaux cave.
• Traces of beeswax were found in Egyptian mummies.
• Egyptians used beeswax in shipbuilding.^{[citation needed]}
• In the Roman period, beeswax was used as waterproofing agent for painted walls and as a medium for the Fayum mummy portraits.^[10]
• Nations subjugated by Rome sometimes paid tribute or taxes in beeswax.
• In the Middle Ages beeswax was considered valuable enough to become a form of currency.
• Used in bow making (see English longbow).
• Used to strengthen and preserve sewing thread.
• As a component of sealing wax
• Beeswax is the traditional material from which to make didgeridoo mouthpieces and the frets on the Philippine kutiyapi, a type of boat lute.
• Beeswax has been used for hundreds of years as a sealant or lubricant for bullets in cap and ball and firearms that use black powder. It is often mixed with other ingredients such as olive oil (sweet oil) and sometimes paraffin. Beeswax was used to stabilize the military explosive Torpex before being replaced by a petroleum-based product.
• Beeswax from Timor island in the south-east Asia archipelogo was used for Javanese batik in the early 1500s, with a significant trade continued by European companies into the late 1700s