Uncapping Knife

[Russ]

I have an Pierce uncapping knife that I don't think is getting hot enough. Is there any to test it or replace the thermostat in the knife??? Can I wire a thermometer to the knife and check it that way or would that be good enough?

[concrete-bees]

im sure that the knife is ok - most go by 20 degrees above room temp - as in the room you are using it -

so -- if your room is 70 - the knife will be about 90 - if the room is 100 - the knife will be 120 -

something to keep in mind

[jjgbee]

All of them I ever saw would be about 160 f. A capping fork works just as well.

[Buffalolick]

Maybe I haven't used an electric knife enough. Just once at a class. Wasn't really impressed. In fact a little turned off by the scorch factor. I've just used wife's big bread knife. Is there really a worth while benefit to heated knives? I also run honey supers 9 frames that makes things easy too.

[MWillard]

I have never used a heated uncapping knife before, but I have used Maxant's heated uncapping plane. I will never go back to a standard knife. The heated uncapping plane is a thing of beauty, it cuts like butter, nice and smooth. The guided copper blade allows you to control the depth of the cut as you draw it across the surface of the frame.

[fish_stix]

If you have 100 supers stacked up to uncap, a bread knife is not going to hack it, pun intended. The knife should get hot enough to glide through the cappings without forcing it. Work fast and you won't get scorching. BTW, lean your frame towards the knife so that the cappings fall off into your cappings receptacle. As long as you lean the frame over you won't get cappings covering the top of the blade which will cause the scorching.