Hot air gun to uncap honey frames?

[Ringlander]

Hi, I was chatting with a friend recently and he suggested flashing the capping off full super frames using a hot airgun instead of using a knife. I tried it on one frame and it seemed to work brilliantly, just the quickest of waves with the gun and the wax pretty much vanished. Has anyone else tried this, is it a good idea? It certainly makes a lot less mess and is much quicker, but does it do any harm? The honey isn't even warm to the touch immediately after using the gun so I don't think it is burning. Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

[Codford]

I use the same method. Quick, easy and no mess. As you say, the honey doesn’t even get warm.

 

[pargyle]

The only downside is that you lose all that lovely (and valuable) capping wax ...

 

[madasafish]

My method of choice..

Does not work if no air gaps under cappings.

 

[Ian123]

I tried the air gun and personally prefer the knife but get a decent 1 I use a large commercial type bread knife with a large blade and decent grip/handle so your not mucking about with a crappy little thing from thornes. If you do it like you mean it it’s faster than the gun and you gain the wax.

 

[enrico]

But you don't have to go through all the faff of draining the cappings so you get more honey with less effort. Actually I use both. I use the hot air gun most of the time but when the frames start to get untidy I use the knife to bring them back into a nice shape! You also need a knife on bruised cappings.
Horses for courses really
E

 

[gmonag]

The only downside is that you lose all that lovely (and valuable) capping wax ...

I don't think you lose it, it is still there and will solidify and get filtered out with all the other solids.

Another option is the spikey roller - works for me.

 

[thedozzer]

We used paint striping gun too.
As others have said, quick, easy and no mess.
Did try normal uncapping fork, one of the new capping fork planes and a bread knife, just sticky, messy and leaves the bees with more work to do when you put the supers back on!

 

[youngyoungs]

My method of choice..

Does not work if no air gaps under cappings.

Agreed - no mess, no sticky cappings.

 

[North End Bees]

My method of choice..

I've never tried this but have been considering it after someone else mentioned it recently.
There is quite a difference in hot air guns on the market re heat/speed.
Would you advise going for the most powerful for quickness? Or would that risk heating the honey?

 

[Angry_Mob]

I've never tried this but have been considering it after someone else mentioned it recently.
There is quite a difference in hot air guns on the market re heat/speed.
Would you advise going for the most powerful for quickness? Or would that risk heating the honey?

The gun is aimed at the cappings for such a short amount of time that there is no risk of heating the honey.

I give the heat gun a couple seconds to get to temperature before waving it over the frames, the wax pops instantly. My heat gun wasn't a particularly expensive model and works well.

 

[madasafish]

I use a 30 + year old Black and Decker heat gun... As Angry Mob above, when warm 2-3 seconds to melt capping under the hot air, then move on...

 

[ShinySideUp]

I have a heat gun but I've never thought to try it on cappings. Thing is though, the wax hasn't disappeared, it's still there and now you have to do a lot more filtering. The filters get blocked more quickly and filtering the honey I would have thought becomes a bit of a chore. You save time with the uncapping but lose it in the filtering perhaps? I have two more supers to extract so I'll give it a go on them before throwing my fork in the bin.

 

[enrico]

I have a heat gun but I've never thought to try it on cappings. Thing is though, the wax hasn't disappeared, it's still there and now you have to do a lot more filtering. The filters get blocked more quickly and filtering the honey I would have thought becomes a bit of a chore. You save time with the uncapping but lose it in the filtering perhaps? I have two more supers to extract so I'll give it a go on them before throwing my fork in the bin.

I don't think anyone meant use them on cappings already taken off. When they say they use them on the cappings I think they mean the actual cappings while they are on the cell!!!! I may be wrong but......

 

[drdrday]

I have a heat gun but I've never thought to try it on cappings. Thing is though, the wax hasn't disappeared, it's still there and now you have to do a lot more filtering. The filters get blocked more quickly and filtering the honey I would have thought becomes a bit of a chore. You save time with the uncapping but lose it in the filtering perhaps? I have two more supers to extract so I'll give it a go on them before throwing my fork in the bin.

I've actually found completely the opposite to be the case. When you use a heat gun the capping wax melts and flows down the frame, it doesn't mix into the honey, but just cools and solidifies and stays on the comb. So you actually get barely any wax at all in the filter. I never have to unclog my filters at all - of course I'm only doing 3-4 supers at a time, and I find that the whole thing is completely mess free.

Although I now use a heat gun to uncap all of my supers, I have occasionally uncapped using a knife/fork etc. and in that case, you do get lots of little bits of the cut off wax cappings mixing in with the honey and clogging up the filter.

 

[ShinySideUp]

I don't think anyone meant use them on cappings already taken off. When they say they use them on the cappings I think they mean the actual cappings while they are on the cell!!!! I may be wrong but......

Never thought they did. The gun is used to expose the honey in the cell.

 

[madasafish]

I find far FEWER wax cappings in the filters.
Like 90% less.

When you decap using a knife, you cut off cell walls and leave wax residues in the honey - it is unavoidable.

When you melt cappings, the molten wax solidifies on the sides of the cells.

I speak from experience having used both methods in volume..

And as far as honey dripping on the floor.. no comparison.. far less mess.

 

[enrico]

Never thought they did. The gun is used to expose the honey in the cell.

In which case the wax never reaches the filter. As drdrday says, the wax stays on the frame.

 

[Jeff Buzz]

I have processed 1/2 ton of honey this year using a heat gun I also keep a spiky comb for odd areas that have the capping touching the wax as the heatgun will not melt these

 

[Anthony Appleyard]

The only downside is that you lose all that lovely (and valuable) capping wax ...

If a hot air gun is used, the caps likely melt and flow across and become merged into the edges of the cells.

When an uncapping knife is used, the cappings are derived from the caps and also from up to a millimeter or two of the side walls of the cells.

Some may say that the caps only become cappings when they have been cut off from the sides of the cells.