Easy uncapping for the hobby beekeeper?

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nelletap

House Bee
Joined
Jun 9, 2010
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Location
Great Kingshill, Bucks, UK
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
2 - and a promising bait hive
Hi everyone - looking to pick experienced brains as is my wont.

Uncapped my first honey and made a pigs ear of it. Used a bread knife which I had heated in hot water. Tried the uncapping fork I had bought way back with the hive - seemed a little easier but more hit and miss so went over a few times. I have seen the prices of all sorts of fancy equipment at an all too huge cost. Then I saw an uncapping roller. This seemed a good idea. Presumably, there is less detritus of mixed cappings and honey with this which means there is less need to think of ways to cope with such a volume of it? The extractor and strainers can effectively deal with it?

Has anyone tried this uncapping roller? the one I saw was from from Pay***

Tricia
 
Our local beekeeping supllies place Claro Bees in Harrogate recommend a hot air gun to uncap the frames. Not tried it myself but I fully intend to come harvest time.
 
We use a hot air gun. You can probably get it cheaper elsewhere, but if you search the homebase website for "Bosch Heat Gun" you'll see what I mean.

One person holds the frame up, shuts their eyes and hopes for the best; the other runs the hot air gun over the frame. Ours has three heat settings - the middle setting is perfect. A BS super is uncapped in two quick passes (maybe 5 seconds per side?).

There are no cappings as the wax melts and draws back to the edge of the cell and there's very little to filter out from the extracted honey.

The upside is that there is _very_ little mess in the extracting room (or "kitchen" as we used to call it).

The downside is that there aren't any cappings, so no wax to use / sell / recycle - see here:

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=11096
 
Otleybee said:
Our local beekeeping supllies place Claro Bees in Harrogate recommend a hot air gun to uncap the frames. Not tried it myself but I fully intend to come harvest time.
Click to expand...
The hot end of a hot air gun usually has a heating element wrapped on a mica former!. This being a brittle laminate material tends to shed tiny mica flakes after a little usage , no real problem for it's intended use but I don't fancy blowing the stuff into any honey of mine :).

VM
 
Has anyone tried this uncapping roller? *** Tricia[/QUOTE said:
I was told by an experienced keeper that these clog up
Click to expand...
 
I have been using a cheap 'World's sharpest knife' for uncapping for years. It stays sharp because that's all it is used for, and has two meat-spearing prongs at the end which can be used as a fork to get into depressions and odd corners.

Most new keepers I have helped tend to be too timid when uncapping. There is no real need to be neat and tidy, but the knife needs to be sharp to cut and not tear too much. A sawing motion is usually best. Slice off as much as you wish, the bees will restore things afterwards. The cappings can be drained and strained, so honey will not be lost even if you take off a thick slice.

Work in a warm and bee proof place, things flow more easily. :)
 
Scratch with an uncapping fork (trailing motion rather than an advancing motion as you'd do with drone brood) Do this over the the extractor. Two passes at 90 degrees. Make sure you bruise all the cappings

Extract, let the mass settle for a few hours either in the extractor or a settling tank, the vast majority of the debris floats to the top, pass the rest through a two stage filter, feed the wax and honey debris back to the bees in a miller or ashforth feeder to which they have full access (on top of a crownboard with a deep lip works too)

After a week or so recover and wash the remaining debris and melt the wax for recycling.

No huge bucket of cappings to separate honey from, no sharp knives, no hot jug of water for the uncapping knife, no electricity needed for a hot air gun, no uncapping tray needed.

If the combs are uneven then straighten them out after extraction, again the fork works fine for this.
 
heat gun

I use an ancient Black and Decker heat gun on a low setting with a deft touch.What a boon! I've used it for 3 years now works a treat for me. This was recommended by two local bee inspectors ....its very quick (takes a fraction of the time of an uncapping knife), much less messy and NO mica flakes!

No doubt some "Doubting Thomas" will come back saying HMF, HMF !!! but the uncapping takes jut a few seconds a frame and I am assured that being so brief this cannot affect the product.
 
victor meldrew said:
The hot end of a hot air gun usually has a heating element wrapped on a mica former!. This being a brittle laminate material tends to shed tiny mica flakes after a little usage , no real problem for it's intended use but I don't fancy blowing the stuff into any honey of mine :).

VM
Click to expand...

Isn't Mica one of the old testament prophets? In which case no problem- everyone knows there's no prophet in honey.



I'll go now.
 
victor meldrew said:
The hot end of a hot air gun usually has a heating element wrapped on a mica former!. This being a brittle laminate material tends to shed tiny mica flakes after a little usage , no real problem for it's intended use but I don't fancy blowing the stuff into any honey of mine :).

VM
Click to expand...

you learn something new every day not worthy
 
Roller tried and then sold on Fleebay, actually got more than it cost me.

If heat guns generate flakes, has anyone used a blow torch with a quick pass over loaded frame?
 
I have noticed a few flakes from my old Bosch heat gun, but only briefly after it has not been used for a while, along with dust and dead insects. - A quick tap cleans it.

Are 'micro flakes' of Mica likely to be toxic or harmful?
 
Sorry everyone that I didn't search the threads before I posted - somehow thought the uncapping roller was new and so would not feature. So, the kitchen devil serrated knife seems very popular and also the hot air gun. need a long drink to weigh up all the advice - and perhaps an afternoon kip, too.
Many thanks for all the wisdom.
Tricia
 
viridens said:
I have noticed a few flakes from my old Bosch heat gun, but only briefly after it has not been used for a while, along with dust and dead insects. - A quick tap cleans it.

Are 'micro flakes' of Mica likely to be toxic or harmful?
Click to expand...

Higher concentrations of suspended flakes or dust can cause respiratory problems... but mica dust is used as a base to hold colouring agents in certain powder-based cosmetics, I beleive. :confused:
 
I use a Ham knife and the bits I miss, I get them with a lazer cut uncapping fork, they are very sharp and very strong...

Brian
 
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