"cost" of crush and strain

[Michael Bush]

>In y'alls' experience, is it faster to crush and strain a super as opposed to removing the cappings and extracting in a 2-frame junior bench extractor (which I was lucky enough to have a brother give to me)?

Yes it's faster to crush and strain. But you'll get more honey next year if you have drawn comb... if you have more honey than you need anyway, it probably doesn't matter. If you need more wax, then crush and strain would be better.

[tommyt]

If you have a local club see if they loan out

Also don't think it was mentioned but with cs you get more wax to render

[cerezha]

In my opinion, crush-and-strain works great for foundationless approach. Extraction by centrifugal force is suitable for classical frames with foundation. I also noticed that in my case, foundationless frames have always thicker comb than frames with foundation in the same beehive - thus, more honey per frame since I am mostly foundationless. It is amazing how little wax is in freshly made honey-comb! Another advantage of the crush-and-strain method is that it is easy to scale - from kitchen pot to barrel if necessary. Sergey

[mac]

Yes it's faster to crush and strain.

Not sure how it's faster ????

[Michael Bush]

I can cut out a comb and mash it in a matter of seconds per comb. To uncap it takes longer than that, and then I still have to extract it, which at best takes several minutes. I can crush and strain a super of honey much faster than I can extract it.

[cerezha]

Not sure how it's faster ????

Uncapping, loading into extractor, unloading, cleaning extractor when done... it seems to me - just more steps and more equipment...

[Widdy]

my $.02

Almost nothing new gets cheaper over time. Buy what you can afford today, because you might not be able to afford it tomorrow. If something happens you can always sell it for most if not all of your money back.

[Tom Davidson]

Uncapping, loading into extractor, unloading, cleaning extractor when done... it seems to me - just more steps and more equipment...

Cool, thanks. I forgot about the time it takes to load, flip the frames over and clean everything out. I will give crush & strain a try this year, hope I don't get my wife angry for dripping honey and/or using her kitchen equipment, and see how it all works out.

[NasalSponge]

Extraction by centrifugal force is suitable for classical frames with foundation.

My foundationless extract just fine however I did cross wire them. 8)

[cerezha]

My foundationless extract just fine however I did cross wire them. 8)

Sure, why not? With my 2 beehives permitted - it just does not make any sense to have a whole extraction "facility"
Sergey

[cerezha]

... hope I don't get my wife angry for dripping honey and/or using her kitchen equipment...

Yes, very important point! Our house already sticky but I feel that my wife easier tolerate usage of her pot rather than mechanical extractor in the center of the kitchen... we do not have much space...
Sergey

[Tom Davidson]

My foundationless extract just fine however I did cross wire them. 8)

Being committed to "lazy beekeeping", I didn't cross-wire my spring foundationless and didn't have a single blowout. Just wait until the combs are "cured" and you're good to go, as long as you start from slow and work up to fast.