Uncapping Roller

[Slowmodem]

I'm always open to trying a new gizmo.  Has anyone ever used an uncapping roller?  This one is from WT Kelley:

http://www.kelleybees.com/Shop/16/Honey-Harvesting/Honey-House-Uncapping/4123/Uncapping-Needle-Roller

[tecumseh]

we had an uncapping/extraction demo at our bee club's last meeting.  the club's president did the presentation and compared an ordinary capping scratcher with a 'honey punch'.  a comparison was done after the frames were removed from the extractor.  it was decided that the honey punch did a poor job when compared to the capping scratcher.

[Perry]

Thanks tecumseh. I always wondered about those.

[Riverrat]

The uncapping roller or has some call it hackler honey punch. Is best suited for (and I'm drawing a blank here on the name) frames that are all plastic including the cells. When using these frames it is sometimes impossible to uncap the honey if the capping is below or even with the plastic..  Using it on wax frames will create a mess as tec said.  Bill vinduska uses the plastic frames and the hackler punch it works great for him.   He runs plastic in both brood and honey supers.

[robo]

(and I'm drawing a blank here on the name)

Permacomb  or Honey SUper Cell (which are the 4.9 deeps)

[apisbees]

They are an invention and came over from Europe. They are used when extracting the Heather (Calluna) honey that is collected in the Moorland and Heathland. It can not be uncapped and extracted like normal honeys because of it's special properties. It has to be crushed and pressed, or the frames rolled so the honey will release and flow out of the frames while being extracted.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calluna

From the Southampton & District Beekeepers Association Link below

The comb can be spun but after uncapping it needs to be needled with a perforextractor, (this punctures the midrib/foundation in the comb & in the process agitates the honey so liquefying it temporarily). The comb is then spun in a tangentially arranged spinner, (a radial spinner doesn’t quite do the job as the honey is still so thick)

http://www.southamptonbeekeepers.co.uk/index_files/notes/heatherpress.pdf

Heathland Beekeeping - 7 - Harvest of Heather Honey in a Skep Apiary


Extracting Heather honey from Langstroth frames with a press.

[Beeracuda]

Those were interesting videos.  Thank you for posting them Apis!

[tecumseh]

from what I have read> heather honey can be uncapped and extracted but it take a special device between these two processes to get it out of the comb.  I seem to recall that heather honey has the properties that left alone it thickens into something that appears to be something like jello but when stirred becomes liquid for a time.... like riverrat my mind is drawing a blank but something like the term thickatropic comes to mind.  so it is my understanding that part of the process for removing heather honey is a device that stirs the honey in the comb.

[apisbees]

from the Southampton & District Beekeepers Association
www.southamptonbeekeepers.co.uk

Processing Heather honey, (Ling heather).
As heather honey is thixotrophic, (jelly like, but liquefying on agitation/stirring), it is difficult to spin out in the normal way. The comb can be spun but after uncapping it needs to be needled with a perforextractor, (this punctures the midrib/ foundation in the comb & in the process agitates the honey so liquefying it temporarily). The comb is then spun in a tangentially arranged spinner, (a radial spinner doesn’t quite do the job as the honey is still so thick).
An alternative way to extract the honey from the comb is to press the honey out using a heather press. I used a vigo fruit press, (these can be hired from a good homebrew shop), last year with the addition of a packing block in the barrel part of the press, which worked to great effect. The barrel is lined with straining
cloth, (I use butter muslin), & then loaded with mashed up comb.
It is then pressed in a slow but steady manner. This processing has the benefit of straining the honey at the same time so removing pieces of wax & bits of pollen. The resulting honey has lots of air bubbles trapped in it, which is a recognised sign of quality, so the jars need to be filled almost to the top to reach the right weight. The easiest way is to of course to leave it in the comb & cut it out as comb honey, but you need to ensure unwired foundation is used at the start, or just use starter strips.

full article http://www.southamptonbeekeepers.co.uk/index_files/notes/heather.pdf

[Barbarian]

Uncapping roller.

A similar question about using this device was posted in 2012 on a UK forum.

There were no posts saying "I use one and am happy to carry on". One post said "Tried it then binned it".

Most of the posts were saying they were happy to use knives/ hot air guns/ cappings scrapper.