Beeswax

[drdavid]

Hi
having been told by a couple of forum members that the Mandau that I have has a beeswax ferrule and then looking at a fairly ordinary piha ketta I have, I realised that the handle repair job on that was probably also beeswax. What suprises me is how hard that stuff can get. Can anyone enlighten me as to how this stuff is used and how it is 'cured' to make it so hard and strong.
cheers