Cleaning can be a pain. I let it sit out and let the bees and the sun work on it. Once you have nothing left but the dried and crusty cappings stuck in the roller bars, you can take an air compressor and blow it out. Doesn’t work great when wet and sticky. If no air compressor, I take a single chop stick and manually pull all of it out. It takes some time, but overall, a great time saver.
Hi Patrick- after 3 years, do you still like this uncapper? Has it held up- staying sharp and functional? Does it cause more wax cappings in the extractor vs the uncapping tank?
Yes, I do. It has held up well, but I have purchased some spare bands just in case it gives. I still use it exclusively. Extracted roughly a 1 1/2 tons last season and will be doing roughly the same this season. Still very happy with it. There probably are more callings in the extractor than with a hot knife. That is because you are really just breaking the callings open with the SHF while you are removing them with the knife. I have about six 400-micron filters that I keep rotating in order to speed up the process. I also got a settling tank and pump this year so I will be experiencing with that this season.
Now that you've recycled the frames back into the hives from last years' video, have you noticed any difference in the bees ability to store honey in the comb? I've seen these types of 'uncappers' before and have wondered if the left over wax gets in the way of the bees storing honey. Thank you for any information you can provide.
Bee Bob: This is going to be a long response. Sorry in advance. I had the exact concern that you did last year. That was a relatively small run (58 frames) in the last week of August. I put the frames back on the hives for about a week. The bees “cleaned them up” but the faces of the comb were wavy. So, they sort of built them back, but I believed they were largely ignoring their supers because there was no flow and they had no incentive to make wax and build back. So I pulled off my wavy super frames for the year and waited until this year. This season I ran a total of 310 frames through the SHF uncapper in two pulls on June 2, 2019 and July 7 2019. (1,200# of honey). I put the combs back on the hives after both pulls. Within a week each time, the combs were repaired and the bees back in business storing nectar. There was no wavy or half-built out comb. When I saw this, it made me going from really liking the product, to loving it. I have a theory which I cannot prove so take it for what it is worth: The “blades” of the uncapper do not sever the wax from the comb. It seems to crush and displace the capping while leaving it in place. I believe (and I have believed a lot of things in beekeeping that have turned out to be false) that when the frames are returned back to the hives, the bees can chew these crushed-but-attached capping with their mouthparts and reuse the wax to rebuild the damage caused to their combs. IF . . . IF . . . IF . . . This is in fact the case, that is an ENORMOUS amount of energy and food stores saved by not having to create all that new wax for repairs. I have now uncapped over 360 frames with the SHF uncapper. I am a bigger fan today than when I made that video almost a year ago. BTW, I do not know these people (SHF people), have never been contacted by them, and I paid full price for the uncapper. Never received a dime. Just a beekeeper trying to work out a bottle neck in my process. My uncapper now waits on my extractor (opposite problem from the problem that was solved by the uncapper). So my next purchase is either a Maxant MUTT uncapping tank, or just buy a second 18 frame extractor to speed up the process. Sorry for the length. Happy beekeeping!
@@patrickmccalman207 Awesome! Thank you so much for the information. I've seen one type where the person hand cranks the frame through but has to do it numerous times to crush the cappings. That thing was over 1200.00. A bit too pricy for my operation. I use a friends certified facility which is basically a shed. Not a lot of room for uncapping using a knife. Also, I have to take all the cappings home that day and drain it for the next day. This will rid me of that aggravation. I guess the only negative to this whole thing is no beeswax for candles or other wax products. Big deal. I've got a hundred pounds of wax sitting in storage for when I actually start making candles. So, to your long and very informative response to me, I'm leaving a positive response to you. I've also subscribed. Thanks again.
Thank you for the review.
Suggestion...try putting phone/video horizontal.
Great video and helpful and honest. I'm sold. Especially the part about the repair work being easier on the bees.
Excellent, thorough review - Thank You. Just what I needed to pull the trigger on getting one
Man you need a motor for that extractor. Nice video thanks
That was the last harvest I made without one. You are very correct.
Having trouble cleaning mine.
Yes I let the bees try. But man it’s not suppose to be this hard. Lol
Cleaning can be a pain. I let it sit out and let the bees and the sun work on it. Once you have nothing left but the dried and crusty cappings stuck in the roller bars, you can take an air compressor and blow it out. Doesn’t work great when wet and sticky. If no air compressor, I take a single chop stick and manually pull all of it out. It takes some time, but overall, a great time saver.
All good except for wearing the Auburn shirt. :)
I was kind of wondering about that too!! Ha Ha, Woof Woof!
Hi Patrick- after 3 years, do you still like this uncapper? Has it held up- staying sharp and functional? Does it cause more wax cappings in the extractor vs the uncapping tank?
Yes, I do. It has held up well, but I have purchased some spare bands just in case it gives. I still use it exclusively. Extracted roughly a 1 1/2 tons last season and will be doing roughly the same this season. Still very happy with it. There probably are more callings in the extractor than with a hot knife. That is because you are really just breaking the callings open with the SHF while you are removing them with the knife. I have about six 400-micron filters that I keep rotating in order to speed up the process. I also got a settling tank and pump this year so I will be experiencing with that this season.
Cappings auto corrected to “callings” above.
Where does this come from?
simpleharmonyfarms.com/uncapper
Now that you've recycled the frames back into the hives from last years' video, have you noticed any difference in the bees ability to store honey in the comb? I've seen these types of 'uncappers' before and have wondered if the left over wax gets in the way of the bees storing honey.
Thank you for any information you can provide.
Bee Bob: This is going to be a long response. Sorry in advance. I had the exact concern that you did last year. That was a relatively small run (58 frames) in the last week of August. I put the frames back on the hives for about a week. The bees “cleaned them up” but the faces of the comb were wavy. So, they sort of built them back, but I believed they were largely ignoring their supers because there was no flow and they had no incentive to make wax and build back. So I pulled off my wavy super frames for the year and waited until this year. This season I ran a total of 310 frames through the SHF uncapper in two pulls on June 2, 2019 and July 7 2019. (1,200# of honey). I put the combs back on the hives after both pulls. Within a week each time, the combs were repaired and the bees back in business storing nectar. There was no wavy or half-built out comb. When I saw this, it made me going from really liking the product, to loving it. I have a theory which I cannot prove so take it for what it is worth: The “blades” of the uncapper do not sever the wax from the comb. It seems to crush and displace the capping while leaving it in place. I believe (and I have believed a lot of things in beekeeping that have turned out to be false) that when the frames are returned back to the hives, the bees can chew these crushed-but-attached capping with their mouthparts and reuse the wax to rebuild the damage caused to their combs. IF . . . IF . . . IF . . . This is in fact the case, that is an ENORMOUS amount of energy and food stores saved by not having to create all that new wax for repairs. I have now uncapped over 360 frames with the SHF uncapper. I am a bigger fan today than when I made that video almost a year ago. BTW, I do not know these people (SHF people), have never been contacted by them, and I paid full price for the uncapper. Never received a dime. Just a beekeeper trying to work out a bottle neck in my process. My uncapper now waits on my extractor (opposite problem from the problem that was solved by the uncapper). So my next purchase is either a Maxant MUTT uncapping tank, or just buy a second 18 frame extractor to speed up the process. Sorry for the length. Happy beekeeping!
@@patrickmccalman207 Awesome! Thank you so much for the information. I've seen one type where the person hand cranks the frame through but has to do it numerous times to crush the cappings. That thing was over 1200.00. A bit too pricy for my operation. I use a friends certified facility which is basically a shed. Not a lot of room for uncapping using a knife. Also, I have to take all the cappings home that day and drain it for the next day. This will rid me of that aggravation. I guess the only negative to this whole thing is no beeswax for candles or other wax products. Big deal. I've got a hundred pounds of wax sitting in storage for when I actually start making candles.
So, to your long and very informative response to me, I'm leaving a positive response to you. I've also subscribed. Thanks again.
WAR EAGLE !!!!!
$455 seriously?
Extract a couple thousand pounds of honey using a capping scratcher and get back to us on that...
@@larrybenedict4984 Good point Larry, but most of us don't extract thousands of pounds. Maybe in a lifetime.
Jim Cole Good point, but some of us do. And those that do may not find a chain decapper at $1000+ so economical either.
It’s worth at least double that amount