Has anyone tried one of these slit uncappers?
http://beekeeping.honeypaw.fi/Slit-uncapping.php (http://beekeeping.honeypaw.fi/Slit-uncapping.php)
It uses steam that runs through the head of the uncapper to heat the metal, the metal then melts slits into the caps.
We got one in yesterday and hopefully will get a chance to use it shortly. I just need to plumb the steam generator hose to the uncapper hose and pull some honey.
What sold me on it was eliminating the need for a way to deal with cappings and the ability to uncap frames that were not drawn out past the wood (so you just need 1 tool). Hopefully it works out like I envision.
keep us posted. i'd be interested in hearing about it.
The uncapper I have cuts slits. The honey comes out just fine. Very little capping wax. Good luck.
I was pleased with the uncapper.
We extracted 4 deeps this weekend. All the wax that ran through the extractor resulted in about 1 cup of wax that was caught by the wire strainers.
The new combs uncapped quickly. We had some older combs that had brood in them in the past that took longer to melt through.
I think it was a little slower than using a hot knife, but there was no need to get a capping scratcher to hit the low spots. There was no waiting for the capping honey to drain out of the cappings (since there were none). The uncapper itself did not get sticky. I think we could speed up and maybe not have the slits as deep next time.
I could uncap 10 frames in the time it took to spin 10 frames, so things rolled along.
You do need to work through a hose management matter. You have a steam hose and a water vapor hose to work with. It took just a few minutes to engineer something in the basement to keep the hoses high so that your hand was not on the steam hose and you were not dragging the hoses across the frames as you uncapped.
All in all, I was pleased with the first time of using the uncapper.
It cost 170.73 Euros plus 35 Euros for shipping to Alabama from Finland. So, 205.73 Euros total (about $280)
It was a minor ordeal at the bank to wire the funds from a non-business account. It took a week from the time they shipped it until it arrived.