Uncapping Honeycomb

The bees are still feverishly working as the honey flow continues. Wally Frank unloaded two honey supers from the back of his big dodge pick-up truck. Ken, Don and Kevin were there to help. The club stainless steel extractor sat on top of a wooden base that Wally had made to put it at the right height for filling a five gallon bucket, and filling a five gallon bucket with golden honey is what followed.

After unwrapping the new electric uncapping knife, Ken attempted to set it to the correct temperature. Since this was a demonstration, speed was not the goal. The warmer the knife, the faster the cut, but not so hot as to scorch the honey.

The results from our new toy were favorable and Ken showed how to get the low spots on the comb with the knife, no scratcher necessary. The assembly line, or rather, extraction line proceeded with Wally loading the uncapped frames into the extractor.

Kevin, the club president, explained how to flip the frames over 3 times to coax all that delicious honey out from the wax cells.

The club extractor is the tangential type which requires the frames to be flipped, extracting from one side at a time. A radial extractor places the frames much like the spokes of a wheel and extracts from both sides at the same time.

With one good arm, Wally flipped the frames with the zest of any good bee farmer reaping the fruits  of his and his bees labor. This is the pay day for many of us when we get to see the results of a year of beekeeping.

It can be heavy work, so it is always good to have a friend or spouse to lend a hand.

The work seemed to go fast and Kenny’s son, Gerry took over with the uncapping.

I think everyone who does not have an extractor of their own saw the benefits over crushing wax comb. And I saw a sign out form for the extractor Wally had with him.

If you are a club member and interested in using the club extractor, give Wally Frank a call, or email members@mainehoneybees.com.

We may also arrange a group honey extraction you can participate in…. why not share the clean up work with your fellow club members!

Thanks to Ken, Wally, Kevin, Gerry and all who made this a successful event. Special thanks to George Robinson for bringing his smile to our meeting. Welcome back George!