Building a Honey Press by James D. Satterfield
I have tried to extract honey from the combs that I take from my
tbh's
by squeezing by hand. That's sitcky and tiring. I also tried to use
paddles
that were hinged and had grooves through which the honey ran out . That
was better, but it still left a lot of honey in the comb and in the bag
holding the comb. I needed something that would put more pressure on the
bag.
I devised this press, and it works very well. It is built around a
scissor-type
automobile jack. The frame is of 2x4 inch wood. Vertical pressing plates
slide on a section of pipe as pressure is applied to the plates by the
jack
I don't have any plans for the press. Most any design should work,
and
it could probably be made much smaller.
The automobile jack is from a Nissan. I bought it at an automobile
"junk
yard" for $5.00 US
In this closeup of the pressing plates and the automobile jack, you
can
see the blue knob and lever arm which is turned to press the bag of
comb.
Turning the blue knob forces the vertical plates together which will
squeeze
the honey from the bag suspended between the two plates. The yellow
plates
were cut from an old dining room table top.
The press works well, but I think that I will replace the lever arm
and
the blue knob with a wheel. A wheel should be less tiring to use. This
press
gets most of the honey out of the comb.
Using the Press
In this photo, I'm cutting beautiful comb honey from the top
bars
of a super that was on a small tbh. The comb could be used in cut comb
honey
or can be cut into strips for chunk honey jars. It seems a shame to
press
such beautiful comb honey, but many of my customers prefer "strained
honey", and the pressed honey *does* retain the wonderful flavors of
comb honey.
Next, the comb is put into a bag for pressing. The bags I use are
nylon
mesh laundry bags that I purchase at local discount stores . Similar
bags
are sold in SCUBA diving shops.
In this photo the blue knob is used to rotate the lever arm and open
the jack which puts pressure on the bag. I have used wax paper on either
side of the bag to keep the pressure plates free of honey. I'm not
certain
that this is necessary, but it makes separating the plates much easier.
In this closer view, honey is streaming down from the bottom of the
press
plates. I have angled and beveled the plates at the bottom so that the
honey
tends to run off at a central point.
After pressing, you're left with a flat bag with wax inside and
sticky
honey outside. Honey has also collected in the tub below the plates.
What
can be done??
The honey is collected from the catch tub then strained through 'knee
high" panty hose into a bucket. The honey is never heated, nor is it
subjected to mixing with air to the extent that occurs in conventional
extraction.
I think this accounts for the wonderful flavors of the honey I harvest.
After pressing the bag is washed in water by dunking it up and down
in
a tub of water. This gives honey water which could be used to make mead,
honey pop, or be fed back to the bees. I expected the wax to be
difficult
to remove from the bag, but it " peels" out very easily. Now I'm
left with beautiful virgin wax that is almost the quality of cappings.
Wonderful!
I love beeswax.
The wax goes into my solar wax melter. In this photo you see old,
discarded
combs. If I am melting wax from the virgin combs, I will put the wax
inside
a section of old panty hose, place it on clean paper, and have it filter
though a paper coffee maker filter before it is caught in the bread pan.
This is a front view of the wax melter, and perhaps it is not clear that
it is inclined. I prop it up on a cement block, and I change the angle
of
propping as the sun changes with the seasons.

James D. Satterfield email: jsatt@gsu.edu