I?m assuming most people use electric capping knives. I?m going to assume maybe all are not created equal. I don?t really like mine. It seems like it gets cool easily. Takes a long time to de-cap a frame as it starts out great for the first couple inches, then it struggles getting finished.
Are there any other ways to easily remove cappings from honeycomb?
I only have a couple hives, but I bought a roller that has little spikes that pierce the caps. No extra wax collected during extraction, it's was quick and simple to go over a frame even a couple times.
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I use a long blade serrated edge bread/cake knife
I've got an electric knife that I've never used. I started using a long filet knife when I just had a few frames to uncap. It works really well as long as the comb is built out past the frames.
I use filet knife like cao By removing one frame and spacing frames wider apart the comb is built wider then frame making uncapping easy.
Quote from: Aroc on August 25, 2018, 10:46:55 PM
It seems like it gets cool easily. Takes a long time to de-cap a frame as it starts out great for the first couple inches, then it struggles getting finished.
Some uncapping knives have a tiny little set screw that adjust the temperature. Keep in mind the higher you go the faster the honey will burn on the knife when not in contact with the comb and honey. I made a foot switch to turn off the knive the instant the knife is through the comb. That way I can "pour the coal" to it at the start. The more mass the knife has the better it will melt through the wax by not cooling down so quickly. Note that a heated knife should still be sharp.
I have an old kitchen knife I found in a parking lot at a trail head. Probably some backpacking camper lost it. It's a 10 inch blade with fine serrations. Handle is cracked, but it's sharp and cuts through the caps like butter, as long as I keep it moving. If I stop in the middle of a cut, it will gum up and quit on me.
Any uncut caps get the cappings fork.