I dont need it yet.. but to help me cut the research shorter what brand extractor are better than others?
Im running medium frame hives, not deeps, but would rather be able to do both... i do not want a hand crank, i want a motor on it, stainless steel, itd be great if it had built in filters to ease bottlung process...
What am i looking for? Im not spending several grand, but +- $1000 or so would fit the budget fine.
Id just like to find a good one, buy once cry once...
Same goes for a hot knife, what brands are better?
My wife and i agree to buy good stuff first that will last along time vs buying cheaper stuff that last a year or two or breaks easy..
Mann Lake are good extractors and filtration is as simple as a panty hose.
Quote from: Sniper338 on December 30, 2016, 05:58:35 PM
itd be great if it had built in filters to ease bottlung process...
You should witness the filtering process before you try to combine it with the extraction process.
Quote from: Acebird on December 30, 2016, 09:22:41 PM
Quote from: Sniper338 on December 30, 2016, 05:58:35 PM
itd be great if it had built in filters to ease bottlung process...
You should witness the filtering process before you try to combine it with the extraction process.
No argument there! Just pushing the point of wanting good equiptment over bad equiptment..
I have the Mann Lake 9/18 all stainless steal motorized extractor. I like it a lot. If you get one, keep the top piece of plywood. I have 3 1/2" stainless screws that I use to screw the legs to it to make it more stable while extracting.
Jim
I don't use anything hot on my honey - it changes the flavor somewhat.
Quote from: GSF on January 02, 2017, 08:04:59 AM
I don't use anything hot on my honey - it changes the flavor somewhat.
Please explain what you mean by hot. Your tongue is around 98 degrees so I assume with every taste you are warming the honey by eating it.
if your looking at a good starter one check this out . it has the spinner you can attach a cordless drill to and has the filte sreen in it. it's compact for easy storage and seems priced nice for a complete unit.
john
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Honey-Extractor-Two-2-Frame-Centrifugal-Bee-Honeycomb-Spinner-ORIGINAL-/221050622441?hash=item3377a4d1e9:g:P3gAAOxy79VRetao
for uncapping knife i like these. they don't get stuck and it cuts very cleanly.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Rapala-Electric-Fillet-Knife/19426423
I did without an extractor for the first 26 years I kept bees... and when I bought one, I bought a 9/18 radial. I would do it the same if I were doing it over again... wait 26 years and then buy the 9/18...
as micheal said. i also went several years without one till i built the one I wanted. it is a 8 frame radial one in woodened barrell i made. barrell and all with a 1hp motor with speed control. but if you want one to get started
with it looks like a pretty good one and can be sold down the line to another new beekeeper to help them get started.
john
Quote from: Michael Bush on January 02, 2017, 02:26:51 PM
I did without an extractor for the first 26 years I kept bees... and when I bought one, I bought a 9/18 radial. I would do it the same if I were doing it over again... wait 26 years and then buy the 9/18...
So how did you take the honey off ?
>So how did you take the honey off ?
Cut comb and crush and strain.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesharvest.htm
I just ordered a Maxant 9 frame power model. Don't need that big yet but hopefully I will some day.
Please explain what you mean by hot. Your tongue is around 98 degrees so I assume with every taste you are warming the honey by eating it.
Hey Brian, Hot as in a hot blow gun or uncapping knife. It doesn't ruin the taste but it does alter it. I used the comparison once at taking it from tasting extremely good to just good.
I have been used an older Maxant extractor for a couple of years. It held three deeps, or 6 mediums, tangentially. I modified it to run radial. Hand-cranked, but you can upgrade to motor. Maxant has very well-made extractors. You can get larger models. Last year I borrowed a 10-frame stainless home-made extractor, powered by a corded drill. It works great. Super simple.
Hot-knife... I can uncap a frame with a cold bread or fillet knife, just as quickly as I can with a hot knife. That's just me. I could possibly get a little faster with the hot knife with practice, but not enough to make a big difference. So I don't spend the extra money on a hot knife, and I don't have to worry about the effect to flavor, or about being careful not to burn wax or myself with the hot knife.
Quote from: GSF on January 05, 2017, 12:05:56 PM
Please explain what you mean by hot. Your tongue is around 98 degrees so I assume with every taste you are warming the honey by eating it.
Hey Brian, Hot as in a hot blow gun or uncapping knife. It doesn't ruin the taste but it does alter it. I used the comparison once at taking it from tasting extremely good to just good.
Last year I literally kept my capping honey separated from my extracted honey and I could not taste any difference at all. And last year I did not have the control of the heat of the uncapping knife that I have now. So this year I did not bother to separate it. I clean my knife with a wet paper towel and then alcohol to remove the film of wax and propolis. If it comes back to the original chrome finish it is a good indication that the honey didn't burn on the knife. I am sure that a very small percentage of the honey gets warmed by the knife such that it degrades the taste or health benefits where I have to worry about it anymore.
Quote from: chux on January 05, 2017, 03:26:43 PM
I can uncap a frame with a cold bread or fillet knife, just as quickly as I can with a hot knife.
If every frame is perfect there probably isn't much of a difference in time. New foundation is the problem because you can't space the frames wide enough to get the comb beyond the wooden structure. That being said I find the biggest advantage of the heated capping knife is when the comb is not deep enough to just slice with a sharp knife. A fillet knife is pretty much worthless for uncapping the shallow parts. Most people have to switch to a scratcher for these areas.
What is good for one person may not be good for another.
I think you can say that about extraction equipment too. Some people are alright buying more capacity then they need up front and others are shopping for price to do what they have to do now.
I favor redundancy. Increase capacity by buying two rather than buying one bigger one.
The serrated cold un-capping knives most supply houses sell work very well, far better than any hot knife I've used.
If you don't have a lot of hives and are uncapping one frame at a time, forget the hot knife would be my advice.
Has anyone tried a plastic uncapping needle roller and did you like it vs a hot knife ?
Quote from: Tommy on January 05, 2017, 08:53:39 PM
Has anyone tried a plastic uncapping needle roller and did you like it vs a hot knife ?
I never used a hot knife but did use the roller. It left a lot of small bits of wax in the honey but did uncap it ok. I am going to try something different this year. Just not sure what yet.
Quote from: Tommy on January 05, 2017, 08:53:39 PM
Has anyone tried a plastic uncapping needle roller and did you like it vs a hot knife ?
I prefer the roller over a cold knife; haven't used a hot one. It eliminates the scratcher. The drawback is it doesn't level the comb. Minimal wax to deal with.
Does anyone have any experience with the honey paw slit uncapper?
https://hiveworks.com.au/products/honey-paw-slit-uncapper
They look to work pretty well for smallish scale beekeepers, similar in price to an uncapping plane I guess so expensive vs knives.
They seem to have two "advantages"
1. Can handle uneven and low comb surfaces with ease
2. Don't remove the cappings so you don't have to deal with them. ..
but you also don't get the wax and i have a lot of use for it so this is the main bit holding me back. Oh as well as the price and need for steam.
In regard to extractors. I'm at the opposite end of the scale to Michael.
I want the extraction excercise over and done with in a single process and minimal cleanup and minimal effort. So... get the biggest electric, radial extractor you can afford and fit through door is my motto :-)
Having to spend several hours each evening repeatedly setting up, extracting and cleaning up because I chose to buy a small manual, tangential extractor too small to do the job in one go took the fun out of it and put me off beekeeping for a few decades
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Quote from: chorrylan on January 06, 2017, 07:11:46 PM
Does anyone have any experience with the honey paw slit uncapper?
350 in place of a 10 dollar scraper? Have you ever seen more perfect frames?
Quote from: Acebird on January 06, 2017, 09:03:36 PM
350 in place of a 10 dollar scraper?
Yes it seems expensive but "if" it's faster, easier and does a better job and the bees refill frames faster as they're less damaged then a comparison needs to put a value on that to determine whether it justifies the capital cost difference.
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I consider a knife (hot or cold) to be an advantage because it cuts the high spots off and make the frame even rather then follow the undulations of the comb. As the bees reuse the frames they fill in the low spots and the high spots get cut even again. If you don't take the high spots off you can get interlocking frames in successive years.
I believe it is the size of the colony and how strong the flow is that determines how fast bees fill frames even if there is no comb in the frame.