After tucking my big block of beeswax away in a box somewhere not to be found again after I moved, I gave up and bought some more.  Same price, but this time it came in ingots.  Nice.

I apply beeswax to my slings when they're braided from a cordage that's too fluffy, fuzzy, slippery, absorbent, or stretchy.  It tames the fuzz, improves aerodynamism, protects from moisture, improves grip, reduces stretchiness, and just plain smells nice.  I recently waxed a plain cotton string braided/woven sling that I couldn't hit diddly with, and immediately noticed an improvement in feel and accuracy.

Along the timeline of this forum, I've seen descriptions of how people apply it, melting, adding other oils, etc., but I'm content to just rub it on.  Between the warmth of my fingers and the heat from the friction, it gets satisfyingly gummy and sticks pretty well.  After that, I massage it in, maybe lay it out in the South Carolina sun for a while, and massage in some more.  That usually does the trick, but if not, repeat.

Sometimes if I'm working with a super fuzzy (I'm looking at you, cheap jute  ) or very slick (twisted nylon mason line), I'll rub a very light layer of beeswax on the line before starting to braid.  It keeps the fuzz from going up my nose and is tacky enough to give a nice tight braid.

Learn from my fail:  Do NOT rub a heavy coating onto acrylic yarn before braiding.  It turns into a sticky globby nasty mess before you can even get started. Yuck!

So my question is, how, when, and why do you all apply beeswax?

I havent taken any wax from my bees yet. They get pissy when i just open the hive right now.

I usually wax like a primitive bowstring. Heavy waxing, heat gun/blow drier, then light waxing, light heat.