Wax Instead
Wax Instead changes how honeycombs are used, letting players turn them into usable wax for crafting candles and copper blocks with a recipe that yields more candles per honeycomb.
What it does
Honeycombs are smelted into hard wax, and hard wax is then processed into usable wax that can be placed directly into crafting recipes. Wax Instead adds a copper wax recipe for the crafting table, so copper blocks can be waxed without other steps. Candles are made by stacking two wax on top of another wax with string, and the recipe yields two candles.
The mod reduces wax waste: one honeycomb produces two candles, and a wax item is left over as a replacement. It also introduces a small set of new item tags, including waxmod:waxes for wax states and honeycomb, waxmod:softwaxes for only smelted or soft waxes, and waxmod:hardwaxes. Vanilla waxing recipes accept the waxmod:waxes tag, so modded wax items can be added through the tags.
Wax Instead is a Fabric mod for 1.21.1 only, released as the 1.1 file on 2025-09-08. It runs on the client and the server, so both need it. The code is released under All rights reserved, so it is not open source.
Key features
Hard wax smelting
Honeycombs can be smelted into hard wax, which then becomes usable wax in crafting.
Copper wax crafting
A crafting table recipe applies wax to copper blocks directly from the wax item.
Two candles per honeycomb
One honeycomb yields two candles, and the recipe leaves one wax as a replacement.
New wax item tags
The mod adds waxmod:waxes, waxmod:softwaxes and waxmod:hardwaxes tags for wax items.
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.
Use cases
Candle production
Players who build with candles can make more of them from the same honeycombs.
Copper decoration
Copper blocks can be waxed at a crafting table without a separate waxing step.
Modpack compatibility
Modders can use the new tags to add their own waxes, since vanilla waxing recipes accept the waxmod:waxes tag.
Who it’s for: Players who want more candles or waxed copper from honeycombs, and modpack authors who want new wax types to work with vanilla recipes through tags.
Questions
Does Wax Instead need to be installed on both sides?
Which loader and game version does Wax Instead support?
How does a mod add new waxes to vanilla recipes?
In the catalog
Wax Instead is one of 36,990 Utility mods on ModsFinder, and one of 25,772 Utility mods for Fabric. 32,366 mods support Minecraft 1.21.1.
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What the author says
Turn honeycombs into hard wax (x3), smelt the hard wax to get a useable wax! The usable wax can be used directly on coppper to wax it, or in a crafting table with copper blocks, just like honeycombs. One honeycomb now yields two candles (when using wax as a replacement), with one wax leftover.
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/wax-instead
- Owner
- DeadlyEssence01
- Published
- 2025-09-03
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2025-09-08
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15