Well, it was a good and not-so-good day. I only had a 10-frame medium filled with honey. However it was good to see the other two mediums with all drawn comb. Well, at least I had 10 frames of honey to practice uncapping and extracting. After talking with Maxant yesterday, we sanded and ground out the inside of the motor coupling that goes on the shaft and it fits nicely now.



I tried the bee quick spray and was kind of pleased with it. I may have not left it on long enough or maybe didn't spray enough on it. I was using a towel over the boxes, so I'll probably go ahead and get me a fume board to go on top of the supers. Some of the bees left, but there were a lot that didn't leave. We ended up taking each frame out and brushing them off right before we took it into the shed. We had some empty boxes in the shed to hold the frames when we got them in. We got the frames into the shed and shut the doors, as there were bees around the door handle that had honey on it from our hands.



Then it was time for the uncapping. I have an electric knife with an adjustable temperature knob:



The knife is going to take a while to master. If you go too fast, it cools it off where it's hard to use. Plus getting it level when the comb is not level is a chore. I did a fair share of gouging the comb. I'm sure my lack of uncapping skills contributed to the unbalanced spinning of the extractor.

Here is a picture of the loaded extractor. I found that the plastic frames don't go into the holders easily. I had to wiggle and mash them down to get them to fit into the bottom holders. I think the sides of the plastic frames are maybe a little wider than wooden frames.



It wobbled and I rearranged the frames and it still wobbled. I'm sure it was my uncapping, plus I don't think that you can ever get every frame with the exact amount of honey in it. But we slung it slowly for a while and got some to come out. Here is the first drop:





So we sat there for a while and spun the frames and got some honey.



But it got late and I was tired, so I figured that the frames might drain by gravity overnight, and I'll back in the morning and spin them some more.

At this point in time, I'm ready to charge $50/pint (0.473 liter). I'm sure it will get easier and I'll become more proficient. But it sure was a learning experience.