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Some of you have seen the videos where folks use a heated blow dryer of some sort to melt the wax on capped honey. Personally, I'm fond of the "Easy Peasy" video, mostly because the commentator used such a cool phrase. My question is this to those that have actually tried it. Did you encounter any "negatives" using this approach other than it is not the accepted practice used by the majority of beekeepers.
I have to admit the "pros" seem pretty good:
- A lot easier and faster than using the more conventional hand tools such as an uncapping knife or a capping scratcher.
- Minimal damage to the comb resulting in less work for the bees to rebuild.
- Don't have to mess with straining the honey from the decappings.
- Don't have to mess with the wax from the decappings, especially if you have no desire to make anything with the resulting pile of beeswax.
I asked my friend who actually used this technique the other day if he felt the honey might be damaged by the heat of the blow dryer and he didn't believe so since the individual cappings weren't individually exposed for very long.
For those of you that have tried it, did you run into any negatives or did you like it so much you switched to using this approach exclusively. Now I have 10 hives and I usually have about 7-10 boxes of frames to decap at a time, so it's not like I have 100's of frames to decap in one sitting. If I did, I'd get an automated decapper. No question.
Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated.
I have to admit the "pros" seem pretty good:
- A lot easier and faster than using the more conventional hand tools such as an uncapping knife or a capping scratcher.
- Minimal damage to the comb resulting in less work for the bees to rebuild.
- Don't have to mess with straining the honey from the decappings.
- Don't have to mess with the wax from the decappings, especially if you have no desire to make anything with the resulting pile of beeswax.
I asked my friend who actually used this technique the other day if he felt the honey might be damaged by the heat of the blow dryer and he didn't believe so since the individual cappings weren't individually exposed for very long.
For those of you that have tried it, did you run into any negatives or did you like it so much you switched to using this approach exclusively. Now I have 10 hives and I usually have about 7-10 boxes of frames to decap at a time, so it's not like I have 100's of frames to decap in one sitting. If I did, I'd get an automated decapper. No question.
Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated.