Winter Wax Processing, Yorkshire Style!
Richard Senior During the winter months, one of the jobs that I like to get out of the way is processing all the cappings and old combs from the previous beekeeping season. I've been using an old kit from Thornes for many years. Whilst this is well built, I often find that, if I have lots of cappings that I need to process, it struggles to cope. So I decided to create a new steaming system on a Yorkshire budget. Not truly Yorkshire, as I did buy one new component (sorry dad). Because the hole in the bottom is small and the barrel is airtight, the constant stream of steam coming through the hole stops the wax solidifying and blocking up. If you haven't got a wallpaper stripper steam generator, or can't get one from the charity shop, I would go large capacity (5L) and with thermal cut out so that it doesn't boil dry. Even if you have to buy all the bits, it surely will be cheaper than one of the commercially available units. It's early days and I'm sure there will be modifications that make the system more efficient. I'm already thinking of how I could incorporate my usual nappy-liner straining into the system to finish the cleaning process. If you have any constructive criticism, feel free to email me (). Richard Senior, BIBBA Trustee When we closed our boarding cattery, we had some unused, clean litter trays which make a great molten wax catcher at the ...
