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Uncapping Tray: McIntyre's Uncapping Box (A B C of Bee Culture, 1910)
A big wooden uncapping box from a California honey producer: 6 ft long, tin-lined, with a screen on cross strips to catch the cappings and a tin pipe at one end where the honey drains out, and an iron pivot on a cross piece to spin each comb while uncapping.
Its length lets the cappings be forked to the far end to drain for 4 or 5 days instead of piling under the knife.
Source: J. F. McIntyre in The A B C and X Y Z of Bee Culture (1910), pp. 183-184. Picture: the book's section and view.
Beginner
Unknown
Instructions
1
1
Build the box
Build the box
Make a box 2 ft wide, 2 ft deep and 6 ft long outside of 7/8 in lumber dressed both sides, with the bottom 2 in lower in the middle than at the sides.
Materials for this step:
Board1 7/8 in lumberTools needed:
Hand Saw
Hammer
Iron Nails2
2
Line it and fit the pipe
Line it and fit the pipe
Line the bottom with tin to keep it from leaking, and fit a tin pipe at one end for the honey to run out.
Materials for this step:
Tinplate Sheet1 pieceTools needed:
Tin SnipsHammer3
3
Lay the screen
Lay the screen
Lay eleven pieces of wood 1 x 1 x 22 in across the bottom about 6 in apart and lay the screen on them, leaving room below for the honey to run to the pipe end.
Materials for this step:
Board11 1 x 1 x 22 in
Woven Wire Screen Cloth1 pieceTools needed:
Hand Saw4
4
Narrow the top and fit the pivot
Narrow the top and fit the pivot
Nail two pieces 7/8 x 3 x 72 in on the top edges, one each side, to narrow the top to the inside length of a Langstroth hive. Fix one piece 7/8 x 3 x 22 1/4 in across the top about 14 in from one end, with an iron pivot sticking up through it 1 1/2 in high to rest the combs on.
Materials for this step:
Board3 two 7/8 x 3 x 72 in, one 7/8 x 3 x 22 1/4 in
Iron Bars1 pivot 1 1/2 in highIron Nails1 pieceTools needed:
Hand SawHammer5
5
Set it up and use it
Set it up and use it
Stand the box with its bottom 7 in from the floor so the honey can run into a strainer below; the top is then about 32 in high (make it shallower, or stand on a plank, for a shorter person). Set one end of a comb on the pivot, uncap one side, whirl it round and uncap the other, then stand the comb in the end of the box.
Tools needed:
HammerMaterials
5- 3 two 7/8 x 3 x 72 in, one 7/8 x 3 x 22 1/4 inPlaceholder
- 1 piecePlaceholder
- 1 piecePlaceholder
- 1 pivot 1 1/2 in highPlaceholder
- 1 piecePlaceholder
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