Hot air gun - less good for radial extraction?

[enrico]

Are you meaning scrape whilst still molten?

I don't think you stand a chance of doing that.

 

[Sutty]

I don't think you stand a chance of doing that.

That was my thought!

 

[madasafish]

I have extracted 500lbs of honey this year using a hot air gun.. and about 100lbs using a knife.
Time taken to dewax with hot air is halved ,no cappings,

BUT you need a cardboard screen behind the area where you decap as drops of hot wax go everywhere. Hardly onerous.

When I see the mess with capping, no choice. Only trouble is my hot air gun is temperamental and I need a better one.

 

[Amari]

BUT you need a cardboard screen behind the area where you decap as drops of hot wax go everywhere. Hardly onerous.

Question about the heat gun. I did try it once last year but found tiny splatters of wax on the paintwork of the wall of the shed. I decided I couldn’t do that inside the house and didn’t try again. Does this happen to anyone else, was I doing something wrong or do you all do it outside or in a honey shed…?

Strangely I haven't noticed any splatter while wielding the gun on the kitchen table. Rest assured that if there was as much as a single splat then SWMBO would notice immediately and voice her opinion....

 

[Mabee]

Strangely I haven't noticed any splatter while wielding the gun on the kitchen table. Rest assured that if there was as much as a single splat then SWMBO would notice immediately and voice her opinion....

You must have a better technique than me!

 

[enrico]

I've yet to hear of any large scale hobby beekeeper/sideliner small scale beefarmer/full time beefarmer use a hot air gun.
Cold knife/fork, hot knife, flail uncapper, semi-automated and automated knives yes, but hot air gun not seen or recommended to the best of my knowledge.

No one is saying it is the right or wrong way to do it but if it suits you then fine. If it doesn't work for large-scale honey production the that's why they don't use it! It's just another way to use a means to an end!

 

[enrico]

You must have a better technique than me!

And me, mine goes all up the adjacent wall so I have to cover it.

 

[drdrday]

I don't get any splatter anywhere using a heat gun (mine just blows hot air gently), and I don't need to scrape the comb at all either.
I simply pass the heat gun back and forth over the frame, from the top to the bottom (with the frame held vertically on it's short edge) and put it straight in the extractor. If there are any wet cappings I pluck these off with an uncapping fork, but I don't get many.
When I uncap with a knife or fork I find I have to keep swapping the double sieve for a clean one as it bungs up with the wax cappings (I pass the honey through the sieve between the extractor and storage bucket). With the heat gun I get barely any wax in the sieve.
There's hardly any mess, and personally I find I get a greater honey yield with heat gun uncapping than knife/fork. The only downside is no cappings wax, although that also means I don't have to strain off any honey from cappings either. However, when I've finished extracting I tend to trim back and neaten up the comb before it goes back on the hives, so I get a nice bit of wax from that.
The heat gun wins hands down for me.