332 
EXTRACTING 
gravity into the straining or settling tank, 
which must be, of course, in a lower room. 
Where this is impossible the lioney-pump 
is a necessity for a complete equipment. 
UNCAPPING THE COMBS. 
In dry climates under certain conditions 
honey may.be ripe enough to extract when 
it is but half-capped over — that is, when 
only the upper half of the comb is cap¬ 
ped; but under ordinary circumstances it 
is much safer to wait until the combs are 
almost entirely sealed or capped, for the 
honey will be thicker and richer. See the 
discussion on this subject under Extract¬ 
ed Honey. 
There are various sizes and shapes of 
knives used for cutting the cappings from 
the combs. Some begin at the top of the 
comb and cut down; while others, the ma¬ 
jority, perhaps, begin at the bottom and 
cut upward. No definite rule can be laid 
down; for the way that might be the easi¬ 
est for one operator might be the hardest 
for the next. Each producer should uncap 
with the kind of knife and stroke that 
seems the most natural. Some use a com¬ 
mon butcher knife with a long blade. The 
very great majority of producers use a 
knife originally designed by T. F. Bing¬ 
ham. 
The shank connecting the bladt with the 
handle has a semi-circular projection on 
each side, folded at a right angle, to af¬ 
ford a good grip for the thumb and fore¬ 
finger. As the blade is on a different plane 
from the handle one can get a better hold 
and in a position to exert more leverage 
by grasping the shank itself with the 
thumb and forefinger, the rest of the fin¬ 
gers encircling the flat handle, as shown. 
A right-handed operator, to uncap, 
should hold the frame with top-bar away 
from him and one end-bar resting on a 
nail-point sticking up about an inch from 
the center of a cleat nailed across the top 
of the receptacle to hold the cappings. The 
combs should be held by the left hand on 
the upper end-bar and top-bar. When the 
knife first starts cutting the cappings on 
the lower end of the comb, the frame should 
be held about vertical. As the knife is 
pushed upward toward the upper end-bar, 
the frame should be leaned to the right so 
that the cappings as they are sliced from 
the comb may fall directly into the recepta¬ 
cle underneath as they drop from the 
knife. If the frame is held straight or 
leaning slightly to the left, a sheet of cap¬ 
ping may slide back upon the comb and be 
held there by capillary attraction of the 
honey, and it requires extra time and fuss¬ 
ing to scrape it off again. 
After one side of the comb is uncapped, 
it may be swung around on the nail-point 
to expose the other side. Many prefer to 
turn the frame end for end rather than to 
swing it around in order to keep the top- 
bar always to the outside, the idea being 
that, the end-bar being narrower, it i's not 
so much in the way of the knife. 
When uncapping ofie should not try to 
take off merely a very thin layer of cap¬ 
ping, for it does no harm to uncap deep, 
since the wax and honey cut off are by no 
means wasted. A good rule is to uncap 
down to a level even with the side of the 
top-bar. Combs which have been used for 
brood-rearing are a little harder to uncap 
the first time, owing to the layers of co¬ 
coons; but when these have once been 
shaved down even with the side of the top- 
bar they are very easy to uncap on subse¬ 
quent extractings. The cocoons toughen 
the comb so that it is not so easily crushed 
out of shape by the knife nor broken in 
the extractor. 
The point of the knife should be started 
on the nearest lowest corner of the comb 
and pushed toward the top-bar until the 
cappings are cut from the end of the comb. 
Then the knife should be started toward 
the other end-bar by a sawing motion. It 
is much easier to uncap bulged combs. 
Therefore, in a ten-frame super, for in¬ 
stance, it is not a good plan to put in the 
full ten combs. Eight combs equally spaced 
in an extracting super contain the same 
