paint hot air gun to uncap

[louiseww]

Has anyone else come across this? I went to local meeting for 'handling the honey harvest' and it was demonstrated. The heat from the slim attachment concentrates the heat in a line and it is moved down the capped hone..... just shrinks the capping back before the frame is put into the extractor......brilliant. Went to B&Q to buy one (currently on special at £20 but if you go on senior day there is another 10% off! that). I won't need it until next year as I had to harvest my few frames the fan oven way........ got 6lbs what fun for a new beek!

 

[Heather]

Fan Oven? I slice with a sharp knife- but like the gun idea- is it the one selling at £17:98. The mess with uncapping is the downside.

and you can kill the wasps maybe with the heat!!

 

[Tom Bick]

Yes did the hot air gun this year it worked a treat.
And yes Heather chased a number of wasps with the gun.

 

[barratt_sab]

Yup - dug my old one out last weekend and had a go. It took a little practice to get the right heat / distance, but it worked a treat.

 

[Rosti]

Hot air gun, works a treat, I'm a complete convert, see other threads for detail. R

 

[Heather]

Just when I have finished extracting... -Oh well, on my Xmas list - Oh, I am so easy to buy for

 

[milkermel]

is there a video of it being done anywhere? sounds like a really good idea to me!

 

[newportbuzz]

does this effect the hmf level ??? as i thought heat did that? sounds like a good cheap alternative to a heated knife. and having a wasp gun in the uncapping room has gotta be handy

 

[Tom Bick]

Thats a good point but it is so fast perhaps one or two seconds to do one side of a frame and I doubt that it affects the honey but you are right should be taken into consideration.
The bit I liked was practically apart from the odd drip no mess.

 

[Black Comb]

One of my mentors uses this method and swears by it.
It's certainly cleaner and easier than the knife.

The other thinks it's too hot and will "afffect" the honey and anyway uses the wax from the cappings.

I've seen it said one here that the honey from the hot air gun method tastes "waxy" but hey some people like waxy honey.

Next year i'm going to split my crop and try both methods - about 500lb with the gun and 500 lb with the knife (as if)

 

[fatshark]

I used a hot air gun last week very successfully ... just one thing to watch out for are tiny blobs of 'vapourized' wax that fall away from the frame. Vapourized isn't really the right word ... molten drops really. Inevitably they end up on the floor. I didn't notice them, but my wife did . Overall I found it faster and easier than using an uncapping knife (and much less messy).

--
fatshark

 

[Mike a]

Bought a B&Q hot air gun today after reading the previous thread about them and tested it on an old brood comb just to see how quickly the wax would melt.

Dry Caps
I found on dry cappings it worked very well and quickly melted enough of the capping to extract all of the honey in about 15-20 secs per side with a single pass of the gun.

Wet Caps
I found it was terrible the outer layer of wax quickly turned to liquid and started to run down over the lower cells but it still left a thin layer of wax covering the cells, not wanting to risk damaging the honey with too much heat I went back to using a knife and uncapping fork.

I was pleasantly surprised with how well this method worked and I am converted after extracting several super's of varying amounts in each and collecting about (forgot to take my scales) 5.5 - 6 gallons of medium/dark honey.