Eagle Eye Teaches me how to extract!

[LazyBkpr]

 
   Unfortunately a lot of the frames I knew were full of honey are no longer full.. so instead of having 4 deeps and 8 to 10 mediums I ended up with about the equivalent of one deep and two and a half mediums.. almost not worth extracting.. but I needed the honey, and I needed to revamp a few hives with honey too low or in the center of the brood nest etc..  Ted managed to spot the queen before I did on at least one of the hives we went through..  Hes getting good at it!
   So with the help of Eagle Eye Ted we pulled the frames necessary, and hauled them up to the the store..   Then set about spinning them out..
   Ted took over at one point.. said..   "Just.. let me show you how to do that, your working WAY too hard..."
   So I stepped aside and he took over the hot knife...







   In no time flat I had the extractor loaded... but...  it didnt want to turn..   I have not used the monster extractor before, so figured something was wrong with a bearing etc, and started to unload it.. but Ted stepped in JUST in time and pointed out I had cranked the speed adjustment handle down too far...  I backed it off, reloaded the frames.. and moments later the golden nectar of the gods was pouring from the spout..
   Two or three of the frames were foundation-less and they extracted just as smoothly and nicely as all the rest..   The old AI root Goliath extractor performed flawlessly, and we ended up with about 8 gallons of honey..    It is now settling out after we ran it through a screen. Minus what I and Ted took with us..
  Thanks for the help Ted!!  Next time, Bring Josh, so we can sit and have a beer while we watch HIM do all the work!
   Scott

[Perry]

A second pair of hands and a second pair of eyes always comes in handy..............................as long as they bring their own beer. 
One of these days a few of us will manage to get together for a bit of an "extracting" party. 

[tedh]

How cool was that!?  My only experience with uncapping (until yesterday) was videos I had watched on this forum and YOUTUBE.  From what I'd seen, the knife just slid right through the wax and on down the frame.  WRONG!  For some reason it put me in mind of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.  You know, where Jim was in the river wrestling the 400 pound anaconda and Marlin Perkins stayed on the bank holding the bag.  It looks a lot easier than it is.  But, worth it?  The two jars Scott sent home with me tastes GREAT!  Thanks, man!  My dear sweet wife's response was a smile and the comment, "Now THAT tastes like REAL honey!".  Lessons I learned?  I need a hot knife.  Look into 9 frame supers. 

Also there were a couple of honey frames with some wonky comb while we were pulling frames.  I ran to the truck and found a bowl, (lesson here? Never clean your truck!).  Lazy dropped the wonky comb honey into the bowl and back in the truck it went.  Lesson here?  Make sure BOTH windows are closed!  After we were done extracting, we broke out the comb honey.  The two of us standing there gnashing on fresh comb honey, the bees all flying around, man, what a beautiful world!

I called Josh when I got home and had to go through the whole day, step by step.  Josh's response?  "See if he's going to extract again!".  "Tell him I've got a PTO day I can take!".  Scott, can you see it?  Me and you kicked back listening to tunes, Josh working his guts out while we point out how slow he is and all the mistakes he's making.  Makes me smile just to think of it!

Oh yeah,  I seem to be missing my gloves and hive tool.  If you see them... heck...put them to use!  Thanks again!  Ted

[LazyBkpr]

I'll look about and see if I can find them.

   Only issue I see is that HE will have the hot knife..   but if we each have a bucket of water handy in case he comes after us with it...
   And... I think I have been called Marlin Perkins...   But then.. I am OK with holding the bag while Jim wrestles the Anaconda!!

[LazyBkpr]

Yep.. tool and gloves are in my truck. I'll set them in the shed with the bee stuff.
   Off to go look at a new location for another outyard!!   Excited!!  20 acres of goldenrod infested pasture and about two acres of sunflowers..