I have always used a hot knife for uncapping. Started with a steam knife originally and then moved to an electric knife. On combs that have had a lot of brood in them, the knife is a bit slower and puts pressure on your wrist. When you have quite a few combs to uncap that have had brood in them, it does slow things down and long term it may cause problems. A fellow beekeeper that I know can no longer use a knife for extended periods due to wrist damage. As this is the first year where I have used a queen excluder on all hives, there are a lot of frames that have contained brood in the past. Many of these will be cycled out of the system over time which will alleviate the problem to some degree. I always giggle at video clips showing frames being uncapped. They always seem to be fresh, fat, fully capped frames containing very little burr comb or evidence of propolis. Don?t get me wrong, the majority of combs are like that. I would just like a clip showing the old frame that you are uncapping for the last time before it is to be recycled. You all know the ones that I?m talking about. They are the ones where you just take a deep breath and then get on with the job. Nigel, I use the same uncapping fork that you do. They work well and are a step up from the cheaper ones with the rounded tines.
