I had five frames of capped honey - partly because I'm impatient and partly because it is derived from OSR, I decided to get on and try some honey extraction.
My extractor was from eBay and is old, but it's electric, stainless steel and will take 12 frames.
I tried de-capping with a hot air gun. As far as I can tell some of the wax ran down the comb but a lot of it just solidified once I took the heat off. There must be a trick to getting this right? Has anyone fathomed it out?
Next I tried a de-capping fork which seemed to work quite well.
And then I tried a knife - seemed to work well but a lot of wax and honey ended up in the de-capping tray.
I positioned the five frames in the extractor as evenly as I could. Turned on the power and one immediately fell to pieces - followed by two more where half the honey comb came out.
I've now got an extractor full of wax and honey. I'm slowly running it through a filter into a bucket. I'm hoping patience and gravity will in time work their magic.
So please... any advice on de-capping, forking and heating? There must be something I've done wrong to end up with such a mess or is this normal?
My extractor was from eBay and is old, but it's electric, stainless steel and will take 12 frames.
I tried de-capping with a hot air gun. As far as I can tell some of the wax ran down the comb but a lot of it just solidified once I took the heat off. There must be a trick to getting this right? Has anyone fathomed it out?
Next I tried a de-capping fork which seemed to work quite well.
And then I tried a knife - seemed to work well but a lot of wax and honey ended up in the de-capping tray.
I positioned the five frames in the extractor as evenly as I could. Turned on the power and one immediately fell to pieces - followed by two more where half the honey comb came out.
I've now got an extractor full of wax and honey. I'm slowly running it through a filter into a bucket. I'm hoping patience and gravity will in time work their magic.
So please... any advice on de-capping, forking and heating? There must be something I've done wrong to end up with such a mess or is this normal?