Wow! Great research and analysis. Beeswax rules. My favorite use for beeswax though is for treating wooden handle tools, expecially axes, hatchets, tomahawks, hammers, and hoes. It seals/preserves the wood, improves the grip, and is good for your hands. Some people oil wooden handles and though that preserves them, it makes them slippery. Wooden handles treated with beeswax are not slippery even when wet. Beeswax will even improve the grip of plastic and fiberglass handled tools. I don't know the science behind it, it just works. When I get or make a new wooden handled tool, I sand off the the slick varnish (put on by manufacturers for appearance only because it is slippery and raises blisters when you sweat) then I melt as much beeswax as I can into the wooden handle with my wife's hair dryer (when she's out shopping). After that I will occasionally rub down the handle with a block of beeswax I keep in my shop. I also use beeswax to treat leather sheaths I make for my axes, knives, and tomahawks. A pliable piece of leather becomes very stiff when it is saturated with melted beeswax. Leather sheaths treated in this manner are also waterproof. Carbon steel will rust if stored in a sheath of leather that is acid tanned, but the beeswax treatment eliminates that problem. I would love to hear other uses for beeswax.