# Best uncapper



## AHudd (Mar 5, 2015)

I have decided to try the "Simple Harmony Farms Uncapper" this year. My experience thus far is limited to a fork and a hot knife, time for a change.

Alex


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## e-spice (Sep 21, 2013)

AHudd said:


> I have decided to try the "Simple Harmony Farms Uncapper" this year. My experience thus far is limited to a fork and a hot knife, time for a change.
> 
> Alex


I have the Simple Harmony Farms. I used it for two years and really like it! I've processed about 120 supers with it. It's fast, simple, quiet, relatively inexpensive, and seems pretty durable. I wish it was just a little wider though, maybe one additional groove on both ends. I generally have to run a frame through twice to get it all uncapped. I highly recommend it though.

I've never used a chain uncapper. My impressions are they're very fast but loud. I've also heard stories where they're hard on frames but I'd imagine they can be adjusted.


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## Tim KS (May 9, 2014)

I have a Maxant chain uncapper that works well, and I haven't noticed it being hard on frames at all.


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## AHudd (Mar 5, 2015)

e-spice said:


> I have the Simple Harmony Farms. I used it for two years and really like it! I've processed about 120 supers with it. It's fast, simple, quiet, relatively inexpensive, and seems pretty durable. I wish it was just a little wider though, maybe one groove on either end. I generally have to run a frame through twice to get it all uncapped. I highly recommend it though.
> 
> I've never used a chain uncapper. My impressions are they're very fast but loud. I've also heard stories where they're hard on frames but I'd imagine they can be adjusted.


Thanks for the assurance.

Alex


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## psm1212 (Feb 9, 2016)

My review of the Simple Harmony Farms uncapper

Simple Harmony Farms Uncapper Product Review


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## My-smokepole (Apr 14, 2008)

Maxant fan here. With the wax spinner. Works for me.


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## AHudd (Mar 5, 2015)

psm1212 said:


> My review of the Simple Harmony Farms uncapper
> 
> Simple Harmony Farms Uncapper Product Review


Thanks for the video. 
I pulled the trigger this morning.

Alex


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## psm1212 (Feb 9, 2016)

Hope you like it AHudd. I am still very impressed with it and using it exclusively. Over 400 frames last season.


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## max2 (Dec 24, 2009)

I wish they would hava demo using a FD frame.
The demo on a small frame is not nonvincing. I can do a frame faster with an electric knife. Looks pretty messy too.


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## bucks-bees (Jan 21, 2021)

I have the Simple Harmony Farms Uncapper too. It works very well and the price is great verses alternatives.


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

bucks-bees said:


> I have the Simple Harmony Farms Uncapper too. It works very well and the price is great verses alternatives.


Is it suitable for uncapping 1000 frames? I think aran is looking at the next step up.


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## massbee (May 11, 2020)

I think simple harmony is great. Especially for someone that wants something faster and easier than a knife and can’t afford a chain uncapped. I think it’s a good step up.


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## bucks-bees (Jan 21, 2021)

JWPalmer said:


> Is it suitable for uncapping 1000 frames? I think aran is looking at the next step up.


I use it for 750 frames and others have mentioned using it for 120 supers (1200 frames). It's great for that gap when using hand tools aren't efficient and a chain uncapper makes financial sense.


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## AstroZomBEE (Aug 1, 2006)

Chain uncappers are simple and efficient. They will take their toll on frames. Negligible to new frames but the older the frame, the more they be affected. We use Gunness uncappers, we send hundreds of thousands of frames through them yearly. the uncappers are in charge of quality control for the frame. If it has honey we send it through and extract. But we recycle any frames that aren't quality after extracting.


Aaron


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## psm1212 (Feb 9, 2016)

1000 frames in a single harvest is a grind with an SHF or a single-feed chain uncapper. With the SHF, you will only have a couple of gallons of cappings to drain and process. With a max ant chain uncapper, you will have buckets of cappings to drain and process. You will really need a spinner. So add another $2,000 to your $3,000 uncapper. The chain uncapper and spinner will be less labor. But the SHF is $500 compared to a $5,000 system that is, by no means, labor-free.

A chain uncapper is inevitable if you continue to grow beyond the 1000 frames a season. I am hoping that my next step will be from SHF to a multi-frame uncapper like a cowen silver queen. My current solution cost me $500. Yes, I work my behind off, but don’t we all? I don’t want to take a $5,000 step two years from now, only to have to take a $15,000 step 4 years from now. I don’t know the right answer for myself, much less anyone else.

How big do we want to be and how fast to we want to get there? I spend an inordinate amount of time pondering this question.

Good luck and keep us posted on what you decide. I want to hear your experience with it.


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## aran (May 20, 2015)

psm1212 said:


> 1000 frames in a single harvest is a grind with an SHF or a single-feed chain uncapper. With the SHF, you will only have a couple of gallons of cappings to drain and process. With a max ant chain uncapper, you will have buckets of cappings to drain and process. You will really need a spinner. So add another $2,000 to your $3,000 uncapper. The chain uncapper and spinner will be less labor. But the SHF is $500 compared to a $5,000 system that is, by no means, labor-free.
> 
> A chain uncapper is inevitable if you continue to grow beyond the 1000 frames a season. I am hoping that my next step will be from SHF to a multi-frame uncapper like a cowen silver queen. My current solution cost me $500. Yes, I work my behind off, but don’t we all? I don’t want to take a $5,000 step two years from now, only to have to take a $15,000 step 4 years from now. I don’t know the right answer for myself, much less anyone else.
> 
> ...


this is precisely how we feel. No point spending good money more than once. Will be expanding to 80+ colonies this summer which will mean 240 supers of more next year. Went with steam knife uncapper and added a second 20F maxant extractor.
Now the bottleneck will likely be at the clarifying tank. If that proves to be the case may just extract into large settling tanks directly.


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## aran (May 20, 2015)

bucks-bees said:


> I use it for 750 frames and others have mentioned using it for 120 supers (1200 frames). It's great for that gap when using hand tools aren't efficient and a chain uncapper makes financial sense.


 For me doing 1 frame at a time is going to be too slow. Looking for a faster 8-10 frames/minute uncapping without having to do them one at a time.
Looks like a good product but SHFU isnt for me. My wife also uses the cappings wax for various products .


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## Amibusiness (Oct 3, 2016)

I'm not sure what the upper limit is for the shfu. I do like how fast and quiet it is. It does not work well with more difficult frames, hard cappings, or crystalized honey, but nothing really does. And with anything that is more efficient or more automated it becomes more important to have straight comb, otherwise you will need to spend more time working on the dips. We have yet to see how many supers we can do per day with it but on good comb it takes about 10-15(?) seconds per frame to uncap. Yes each frame must be handled individually. So for anyone looking to increase efficiency and still handle each frame it's a fine tool. I have not tried but if you are wanting to uncap 10 frames per minute I think you would want a deboxer as well. Otherwise you are still handling each frame. And I expect about 7-10 minutes run time on the extractor plus a couple minutes to load 80-100 frames. I think it would be a tiring sport for a person to scrape and loosen frames and load into an uncapper at a constant rate of 10/minute all day without a deboxer. But if you are not quite at that level yet, the short and long of it is if you are loading each frame into the extractor the shf uncapper is likely quicker because you are not handling each frame 2x on the front end. And if you can load 20 frames into a horizontal extractor at once (ie a 40 frame extractor) I think one person uncapping with shfu could keep up. With gnarly frames that need extra attention with a knife or fork maybe not. And there would not be much or any time for the person uncapping to do anything else like scrape boxes or missed spots. For a one person operation using a 27 frame extractor the shf is the best unit I've seen or used, from a time and cost perspective. Based on my bit of experience if you could uncap a full extractor load while the extractor is running you would save between 1 and 2 minutes per super, over uncapping with the shfu as you fill the extractor. While the extractor is running I can scrape boxes for the empty combs and scrape top bars and loosen frames for the next round. Then when extractor is empty, pick up the frame, "dunk" it through the shfu and load into extractor. I have not tried running 2 extractors but it would speed it up a bit but I would not catch a break. Theoretically I think it would not be hard for 1 person to extract 50 boxes of warm honey per day and maybe up to 100 with this system. But thankfully we do not have that much to extract.


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## ericweller (Jan 10, 2013)

aran said:


> The two options im considering are the maxant chain uncapper or the lyson steam knife uncapper. Ive heard that chain uncappers can be hard on frames.


I have a Maxant chain uncapper and never had an issue with it being hard on the frames. Even on the odd occasion when the frame is tilted a bit and the chains hit the frame, it doesn't harm them. I imagine if you left the chains hitting the frame for extended periods of time, it would wear down a frame but in normal use, I've never had a problem. I do several hundred frames in a season and it really saves my wrist. 
Won't a steam uncapper heat the honey excessively?


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