This thing is amazing. My partner was just at EAS, saw this, and told me to get it. First I watched your video, then I was sold. Tried it out last night, and holy crap this thing does as advertised! OK, the only issue is that I did have to swipe each frame several times, canting towards each side. No biggie. Literally less than 45 seconds per frame. As a test, I weighed one of the capped mediums and marked it. Then I extracted in my hand cranked 3-frame. Full weight: 4lb 8oz Done weight 1lb 4oz. That's a pretty complete extraction. And virtually no cappings at all. My other vice: mountain biking, rarely has a gizmo hit the market that is as much of a game changer as this. Yea, it's a bit pricey at first glance, but consider the time saved, strain on your back hunched over the uncapping tub, and virtually damage free comb for the bees to get right back to filling, and anyone with like 4 or more hives will see a return in the first season.
Nice review. Especially the shot with the light behind it to show the remaining comb. I reuse all my super comb, so it's important to me that it's in good shape. The only thing I don't like about it is no wax. I use the wax to coat my plastic brood chamber foundation and make candles and lip balm. I do like how fast it is though. Like you, I'm always bottle necked at the uncapping. I only have a 9 frame extractor too. Thanks for the video and I subscribed to your channel. To the 8 people with thumbs down, you are clueless. Take care.
That was a really good video. You done good! I wish Richard Taylor was still alive so that I could read what he would have to say about this product ! I run 8 frames in all my ten frame supers. This makes for super thick combs that are easy to uncap. It seems like this device does not take all that excess wax . . . . . . which is very valuable and which I want to take. How much wax does it take?
Are you still happy with this unit? Like you I am a small sideliner and want an effective, speedy but inexpensive solution to the uncapping bottleneck!
Westernwilson We absolutely love our decapper! It takes a few minutes to uncap frames, throw them in the extractor, & get the liquid gold flowing. We definitely still recommend this unit!!!🐝
If using Hoffman frames, it won't work. Only works with straight sided frames. Also, not too happy with BN frame sizes but seems to work well with non Hoffman langstroth frames.
@@oisinhanrahan9106 I've decided to make a prototype that works on Hoffman and National frames. please contact me! i'd like to see the SHF version - will buy it off you and make a working one for you?
@@oisinhanrahan9106 there is a new one available on the market in the UK. I designed it after reading your comments. www.youtube.com/@TheNationalUncapper
What value do you put on your time? My target is 150lbs honey per hive and I sell 1 lb glass jars with fancy labels for $15ea from my front porch. Doesn't take much to earn $400. And if it saves time--both uncapping AND processing less cappings, that's time I can use to make up salable nucs or play with my kids or whatever. Even with only a couple hives, you'll do better thinking from a business perspective. That said, I trialed this machine in 2019 and gave it back. I have too many inconsistent frames--both fat shouldered and the skinnies next to them. I ended up having to hand-pick the low spots and wrestle the thick shoulders through this machine. So I'm back to the toothed hand plane, which is pretty fast but still not fast enough. I'm convinced there's no perfect tool, due to inconsistencies in the drawn comb itself....but I'm still on the hunt! Best, @HoneyOnWales
@@drewt3210 $15 per 1 lb jar? You must live in a very different area than I do. 1 lb of the same stuff in my area can't fetch more than 8 bucks for a 1 lb jar. If you're not commercial then you're doing it for the fun of it, not to produce as much as you can. People don't pay that kind of money for honey around here when they can get local raw honey at Sam's club for $6 per jar! It would be stupid to do so.
@@MasterKenfucius True. I actively choose not to have Sam's Club clientele. Just as my commission furniture clients are not IKEA customers. I seek out and find clients who appreciate quality over quantity. I'm a farmer and an artist, but I will not be a broke farmer nor a starving artist. If you believe you can't charge a Fair Trade price, you're not only hurting yourself, you're hurting the industry. Even if we're "just hobbyists," we have a responsibility to educate the public as to how labor actually goes into producing honey. Stand up for ourselves and get paid a living wage--we darn sure earn it!
@@MasterKenfucius Send samples of your honey from your hives and samples of "Local Raw" honey from Sam's to be analyzed at Texas A&M's bee lab, which is the only U.S. lab currently doing pollen analysis. I guarantee they're not the same product. I'm not sure where you live. I'm in Charlotte, NC. I hear fellow local beekeepers say they could never charge what I charge. Well if they believe that, they never will. I've only had two customers question my price. I invited both to come work bees with me in July. After about an hour, both tapped out and said I'm giving my honey away at $15/lb and that I should charge $100/lb for the hard work that goes into it! Those two "Gentlemen" are now my best advertisers. I've no idea how many customers they've sent my way! It all starts with education, my friend. I'm pulling for you.
@@drewt3210 You're preaching to the choir my friend. I know that my honey is not the same as other people's honey. I'm the hobbyist who puts nothing bad in his hives and who actually lets the bees feed with their own honey in the winter and give them no sugar water. I don't get 150 lbs per hive. I get half of that from not exploiting them. I don't really know your area, but here it's supply and demand, plain and simple. Local beekeepers announce their harvest on the local internet groups and it hardly sells. You can spend a lifetime looking for the elusive customers you're referring to and you'll never find them either. I'm not in it for the money, so it doesn't really make sense for me to go looking for customers. My regular job is too profitable for me to worry about profits from honey, and I sell it so I don't have to put it in a bucket and store it in a closet forever. It would be the same as me charging $10 for a banana because that's what it cost me to grow it. It already gave me $10 worth of happiness, so I'm ok with giving them away.
I've got one and for a number of reasons, I would not recommend it. It does not work with Hoffman type frames - I'm in the UK and most people use hoffman type frames - I think about 70% in all. When I found this out, I asked SHF to mention this on their site as it's an expensive item and useless if you have Hoffman type frames but, to date, I don't see this references so I'm posting a warning here. It works reasonably well if your frame sides are completely straight and are parallel AND if the cappings are well proud of the frame sides. However, it needs two passes at right angles to each other (i.e. to create a 'cross' cut) to enable honey to flow. For this reason, I would recommend that supers with wide spaced castellations be used. It is difficult to puncture cappings that are not proud of the frame sides. I resorted to scrapping with a knife blade to puncture low patches of cappings. Another point - a lot less honey is extracted through the perforated cappings than those uncapped with a bread knife. - I haven't done a controlled test but observationally, a lot more honey 'sticks' in the frames after extraction compared with frames uncapped with a bread knive. About 75% of my super frames are hoffmans so I had to raid the kitchen for a knive to uncap them so the visual comparison was easy. I also found that I had to spin frames for much longewr than bread-knife uncapped frames to get any reasonable extraction. Finally, and this will only be proven next year, but the uncapper fairly shreds the comb that extends beyond the frame sides. I suspect that when the bees try to repair this comb for re-use next season, it will result in very uneven cappings which will make the process next year less efficient. Not recommended - a nice idea in theory and well designed and constructed but unfortunately, quite poor in execution. Also, v expensive!
Oishin, it is a product for the American market, where they predominantly use Langstroth hives and frames. Looking at the geometry of the rollers, the "cutting blades" run the length of the two rollers but fit between the sidebars of all the frames being uncapped. Our British National hives have a shorter frame geometry which would mean the blades roll up the sidebars, not between them. This would explain why "standard" or straight sided frames get uncapped, and why the bottom section of a Hoffman frame would work but as the Hoffman shoulders are wider it would keep the blades away from the capping wax as they approach the top bar. If i am correct then the answer is to reduce the number of blades to fit a National frame.
@@martingodet9382 Excellent point Martin. I have raised this issue with the manufacturers, who have ignored it. I would like them to acknowledge it on their website so people would not buy it when it does not work with their frames. The issue is not that the British National or British Commercial frames do not work with it - as long as they are straight frames and the width is sufficient, it should work as designed. There are Langstroth Hoffman frames available as well and it would not work with them. Even if the blades were limited to the width of the foundation excluding the side frames it would not work as the wider sections of the Hoffman frame sides would still force the rollers away from the foundation meaning that the top halves of the foundation would not be touched so a complete re-design would be needed to accommodate non-straight/parallel frames. About 30% of my frames were straight and it works well. This issue is Hoffman frames. For those who do not know, Hoffman frames (an American design) have self spacing 'shoulders' built into the shape of the frames meaning that the sides get wider towards the top. This shape simply will not work with the SHF capper and playing with the width will not effect it. t is simply a `100% fail and the manufacturers owe it to their potential customers to clearly state that This capper is unsuitable for Hoffman style frames or other frames where the side bars are not straight and parallel". I eventually disposed of mine at considerable discount on E-bay having made sure the purchases was aware of this. It's just basic courtesy as well as good business practice.
This thing is amazing. My partner was just at EAS, saw this, and told me to get it. First I watched your video, then I was sold. Tried it out last night, and holy crap this thing does as advertised! OK, the only issue is that I did have to swipe each frame several times, canting towards each side. No biggie. Literally less than 45 seconds per frame. As a test, I weighed one of the capped mediums and marked it. Then I extracted in my hand cranked 3-frame. Full weight: 4lb 8oz Done weight 1lb 4oz. That's a pretty complete extraction. And virtually no cappings at all. My other vice: mountain biking, rarely has a gizmo hit the market that is as much of a game changer as this. Yea, it's a bit pricey at first glance, but consider the time saved, strain on your back hunched over the uncapping tub, and virtually damage free comb for the bees to get right back to filling, and anyone with like 4 or more hives will see a return in the first season.
im buying one today....thanks for the review!!
Nice review. Especially the shot with the light behind it to show the remaining comb. I reuse all my super comb, so it's important to me that it's in good shape. The only thing I don't like about it is no wax. I use the wax to coat my plastic brood chamber foundation and make candles and lip balm. I do like how fast it is though. Like you, I'm always bottle necked at the uncapping. I only have a 9 frame extractor too. Thanks for the video and I subscribed to your channel. To the 8 people with thumbs down, you are clueless. Take care.
Best review so far
youtooclash lmao Thank you! We really appreciate it!!
I like the way it works, but I am pretty disappointed they don't have the frame work to attach it to the tub.
How does this do with capped honey that is just below the wood of the frame
That was a really good video. You done good! I wish Richard Taylor was still alive so that I could read what he would have to say about this product ! I run 8 frames in all my ten frame supers. This makes for super thick combs that are easy to uncap. It seems like this device does not take all that excess wax . . . . . . which is very valuable and which I want to take. How much wax does it take?
Are you still happy with this unit? Like you I am a small sideliner and want an effective, speedy but inexpensive solution to the uncapping bottleneck!
Westernwilson We absolutely love our decapper! It takes a few minutes to uncap frames, throw them in the extractor, & get the liquid gold flowing. We definitely still recommend this unit!!!🐝
easy clean up??
Did the bees clean the frames up just fine?
Brandon Tai The bees clean the frames up great!! 🐝
It may work great but you are not going to get as much wax capping now to do your candles etc. with this uncapped . 🤷♂️🤷♂️
What are the rollers made out of?
They're machined billet aluminum. That's where the price is coming from.
really like this uncapper, but the delivery to the UK they are charging 132 dollar?
If using Hoffman frames, it won't work. Only works with straight sided frames. Also, not too happy with BN frame sizes but seems to work well with non Hoffman langstroth frames.
@@oisinhanrahan9106 I've decided to make a prototype that works on Hoffman and National frames. please contact me! i'd like to see the SHF version - will buy it off you and make a working one for you?
@@oisinhanrahan9106 there is a new one available on the market in the UK. I designed it after reading your comments. www.youtube.com/@TheNationalUncapper
Hello could you tell What shaft diameter? The thickness of the disc that cuts? And the length of the work piece?
That's nice, but $400??? That's only for serious commercial beekeepers who haven't already purchased the automated uncapper.
What value do you put on your time? My target is 150lbs honey per hive and I sell 1 lb glass jars with fancy labels for $15ea from my front porch. Doesn't take much to earn $400. And if it saves time--both uncapping AND processing less cappings, that's time I can use to make up salable nucs or play with my kids or whatever. Even with only a couple hives, you'll do better thinking from a business perspective.
That said, I trialed this machine in 2019 and gave it back. I have too many inconsistent frames--both fat shouldered and the skinnies next to them. I ended up having to hand-pick the low spots and wrestle the thick shoulders through this machine. So I'm back to the toothed hand plane, which is pretty fast but still not fast enough. I'm convinced there's no perfect tool, due to inconsistencies in the drawn comb itself....but I'm still on the hunt! Best, @HoneyOnWales
@@drewt3210 $15 per 1 lb jar? You must live in a very different area than I do. 1 lb of the same stuff in my area can't fetch more than 8 bucks for a 1 lb jar. If you're not commercial then you're doing it for the fun of it, not to produce as much as you can. People don't pay that kind of money for honey around here when they can get local raw honey at Sam's club for $6 per jar! It would be stupid to do so.
@@MasterKenfucius True. I actively choose not to have Sam's Club clientele. Just as my commission furniture clients are not IKEA customers. I seek out and find clients who appreciate quality over quantity. I'm a farmer and an artist, but I will not be a broke farmer nor a starving artist.
If you believe you can't charge a Fair Trade price, you're not only hurting yourself, you're hurting the industry. Even if we're "just hobbyists," we have a responsibility to educate the public as to how labor actually goes into producing honey. Stand up for ourselves and get paid a living wage--we darn sure earn it!
@@MasterKenfucius Send samples of your honey from your hives and samples of "Local Raw" honey from Sam's to be analyzed at Texas A&M's bee lab, which is the only U.S. lab currently doing pollen analysis. I guarantee they're not the same product.
I'm not sure where you live. I'm in Charlotte, NC. I hear fellow local beekeepers say they could never charge what I charge. Well if they believe that, they never will.
I've only had two customers question my price. I invited both to come work bees with me in July. After about an hour, both tapped out and said I'm giving my honey away at $15/lb and that I should charge $100/lb for the hard work that goes into it! Those two "Gentlemen" are now my best advertisers. I've no idea how many customers they've sent my way! It all starts with education, my friend. I'm pulling for you.
@@drewt3210 You're preaching to the choir my friend. I know that my honey is not the same as other people's honey. I'm the hobbyist who puts nothing bad in his hives and who actually lets the bees feed with their own honey in the winter and give them no sugar water. I don't get 150 lbs per hive. I get half of that from not exploiting them. I don't really know your area, but here it's supply and demand, plain and simple. Local beekeepers announce their harvest on the local internet groups and it hardly sells. You can spend a lifetime looking for the elusive customers you're referring to and you'll never find them either. I'm not in it for the money, so it doesn't really make sense for me to go looking for customers. My regular job is too profitable for me to worry about profits from honey, and I sell it so I don't have to put it in a bucket and store it in a closet forever. It would be the same as me charging $10 for a banana because that's what it cost me to grow it. It already gave me $10 worth of happiness, so I'm ok with giving them away.
$455 on Amazon
I've got one and for a number of reasons, I would not recommend it.
It does not work with Hoffman type frames - I'm in the UK and most people use hoffman type frames - I think about 70% in all. When I found this out, I asked SHF to mention this on their site as it's an expensive item and useless if you have Hoffman type frames but, to date, I don't see this references so I'm posting a warning here.
It works reasonably well if your frame sides are completely straight and are parallel AND if the cappings are well proud of the frame sides. However, it needs two passes at right angles to each other (i.e. to create a 'cross' cut) to enable honey to flow. For this reason, I would recommend that supers with wide spaced castellations be used. It is difficult to puncture cappings that are not proud of the frame sides. I resorted to scrapping with a knife blade to puncture low patches of cappings.
Another point - a lot less honey is extracted through the perforated cappings than those uncapped with a bread knife. - I haven't done a controlled test but observationally, a lot more honey 'sticks' in the frames after extraction compared with frames uncapped with a bread knive. About 75% of my super frames are hoffmans so I had to raid the kitchen for a knive to uncap them so the visual comparison was easy. I also found that I had to spin frames for much longewr than bread-knife uncapped frames to get any reasonable extraction.
Finally, and this will only be proven next year, but the uncapper fairly shreds the comb that extends beyond the frame sides. I suspect that when the bees try to repair this comb for re-use next season, it will result in very uneven cappings which will make the process next year less efficient.
Not recommended - a nice idea in theory and well designed and constructed but unfortunately, quite poor in execution. Also, v expensive!
Oishin, it is a product for the American market, where they predominantly use Langstroth hives and frames. Looking at the geometry of the rollers, the "cutting blades" run the length of the two rollers but fit between the sidebars of all the frames being uncapped. Our British National hives have a shorter frame geometry which would mean the blades roll up the sidebars, not between them. This would explain why "standard" or straight sided frames get uncapped, and why the bottom section of a Hoffman frame would work but as the Hoffman shoulders are wider it would keep the blades away from the capping wax as they approach the top bar. If i am correct then the answer is to reduce the number of blades to fit a National frame.
@@martingodet9382 Excellent point Martin.
I have raised this issue with the manufacturers, who have ignored it. I would like them to acknowledge it on their website so people would not buy it when it does not work with their frames. The issue is not that the British National or British Commercial frames do not work with it - as long as they are straight frames and the width is sufficient, it should work as designed. There are Langstroth Hoffman frames available as well and it would not work with them.
Even if the blades were limited to the width of the foundation excluding the side frames it would not work as the wider sections of the Hoffman frame sides would still force the rollers away from the foundation meaning that the top halves of the foundation would not be touched so a complete re-design would be needed to accommodate non-straight/parallel frames.
About 30% of my frames were straight and it works well. This issue is Hoffman frames. For those who do not know, Hoffman frames (an American design) have self spacing 'shoulders' built into the shape of the frames meaning that the sides get wider towards the top. This shape simply will not work with the SHF capper and playing with the width will not effect it.
t is simply a `100% fail and the manufacturers owe it to their potential customers to clearly state that This capper is unsuitable for Hoffman style frames or other frames where the side bars are not straight and parallel". I eventually disposed of mine at considerable discount on E-bay having made sure the purchases was aware of this. It's just basic courtesy as well as good business practice.
@@somersetbees2587 i'm sure there is a design solution to this
I've made on e that works for the UK National frames - www.youtube.com/@TheNationalUncapper
@@somersetbees2587 i went ahead and designed on for National frames. It is now on sale: www.youtube.com/@TheNationalUncapper