Uncapping

[VEG]

Used a heated uncapping tray today did not like it much as I thought the honey got far too hot. I thought I would get on with it ok but think I will go back to uncapping into a bucket then strain it.

How do you do yours?

 

[Black Comb]

Cold uncapping tray works fine for me.

 

[MrB]

Used a heated uncapping tray today did not like it much as I thought the honey got far too hot.

I remember reading a wally shaw article in beecraft suggesting that a heated knife was (in his opinion) not a good idea as it gets the honey too hot.

My first extraction was about a month ago and i just used a bread knife and was suprised how easy it was, think i will stick to that

 

[burren]

I found a (cheap) uncapping fork perfectly adequate last night for the 24 frames in my two suppers. Great for taking a light surface capping off and less wasteful . I found a knife a bit of a hit and miss. Much prefer the uncapping fork.

 

[Busybee123]

I remember reading a wally shaw article in beecraft suggesting that a heated knife was (in his opinion) not a good idea as it gets the honey too hot.

That was the article that featured the cold uncapping tray. Looked like a great idea until I found out how much they were

Surely could improvise something similar for a fraction of the price?

 

[VEG]

Photos of any DIY uncapping trays most welcome!

 

[Busybee123]

I've been looking at the plastic storage boxes in the DIY stores trying to find one the right width to take a national frame so that the lugs rest on the edge of the box. If I find one the right size I thought that I could stack two together and drill holes in the top one so that the cappings would drain and the honey would end up in the bottom box.....not found any the right size yet!

 

[Black Comb]

The piece of wood with half drilled holes on top of tray is v useful to rest the end of top bar on and hold frame at a nice angle.

 

[tidymeup]

I have recently been using a hot air gun and it's been incredibly easy and quick with berry little mess. This jut shrinks the wax capping off and leaves the honey and comb unheated if your quick and works amazingly well.

 

[VEG]

Heat gun only works if the bees leave an air gap. Tried this many times.

 

[the naked beekeeper]

Also you lose the best quality wax there is.

Value added products, if you are efficient and have the time, help to make beekeeping mroe profitable.

 

[beeatshellards]

I use a double sided serrated uncappping knife which I warm up take cappings off and put these into a plastic container,for use later, works fine as it only skims the top of the wax off ready for extraction, I tried it without heating the knife but it doesnt work as well,

 

[Swarm]

Always found uncapping forks best as it was less wasteful, removed the cappings very neatly.
Recently tried the air gun and had the job done in a fraction of the time. Didn't seem to be a problem with air gaps, etc and though you don't end up with a bucket of cappings, you do still get very small quantities from the odd drip. Much quicker, easier and less mess.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

I have a plastic stroage box with a piece of wood over the top as an uncapping tray. The wood has a partly drilled hole in it to accomodate the super top bar. I use a cold uncapping knife. No need to use hot water.
In theory it seems quite simple. In practice I generally get gooped up with honey some way along the line.

A tip I read (somewhere) was to put plenty of newspaper down and the REMOVE it piece by piece as you drop honey rather than put one piece of paper over a sticky one time and time again.