Wooden Wax Cappings Press (30cm)

01 · HOW MUCH HONEY IS IN CAPPINGS

Draining is not enough

A capping is the wax lid that seals the cell, and cutting it takes honey with it. Leaving them to drain on a bench recovers some, but the wax holds the rest by capillary action and there it stays.

The press takes that fraction out. Over a season of any size, the volume of cappings is enough for the difference between draining and pressing to show in the accounts.

02 · THE ONLY WAY WITHOUT WIRED FRAMES

Warré, top-bar and skep

A comb from a Warré, a top-bar hive or a traditional skep has no wire and will not take the extractor: it collapses. For those formats the press is not an alternative, it is the method.

It is also the way when recovering honey from loose combs, from a swarm that settled where it should not have, or from frames that have broken.

03 · PRESSED HONEY IS ITS OWN THING

And the rules treat it separately

Honey out of a press carries more particles of wax, pollen and debris than centrifuged honey. It is not worse — many prefer it for exactly that — but it needs more careful filtering before bottling.

And one detail worth checking before you label: honey regulations recognise pressed honey as a designation of its own, defined by how it was obtained. If you are going to sell what comes out of here, check how it should appear on the label.

04 · AFTER PRESSING

The dry wax goes to the melter

What stays in the basket is capping wax, already drained — the best wax in the apiary: pale, young and free of cocoon residue. From there it goes to the boiler or the melting tank to be cast into blocks.

One handling note: there is no need to press to the limit. Past a certain point you get more wax and more impurities than honey, and you complicate the filtering afterwards.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is a manual press and it is heavy: it goes in a fixed spot in the honey house, with room to work around it.