The only reason of honey extractors as the name implies, is to remove honey from the honey combs without destroying the combs allowing them to be used again and again. They’re mechanical contraptions used solely for extracting honey the minute the honey has been harvested. They are made with a drum where the harvested honeybee combs are placed then the drum spins at very high speeds that the honey short out of the honey combs leaving the comb without honey while it remains intact on the inside the extraction chamber. In short centrifugal force is applied for the effective use of this instrument.

Before the honey is placed in the chamber for extraction it must be uncapped first, there are various tools that can be used for removing caps on the cells, and all of these can be bought from most beekeeping equipment suppliers. You can choose to use manual uncapping knives or forks but other honey beekeepers prefer to utilize electrical knives to uncap the combs. After the drum has been spun the honey will collect at the base of the chamber and many honey extraction instrument have a tap at the bottom of the drum, where collected honey can be drawn out or honey pumps are used to pump out honey from the extraction chamber.

There’re various types of honey bee extractors available for use depending on the use and quantity of combs you may want to extract honey from. They are tangential and radial extractors and they vary on how the frames can be placed in the extraction basket. In the redial extractor the frames are usually positioned with the top part facing outwards, if you compare it with the tangential extractors only the one side of the frames faces outwards & redial types are commonly used in commercial extraction of honey.

Redial types need far less amount of work in comparison to tangential extractors, because the honey combs don’t need to be turned over for thorough extraction of honey from the combs. Honey extractors are made in different sizes depending on the intension of the user, in commercial use bigger extractors are used for they are capable of holding hundreds of frames at once making it possible for the machines to extract a big amount of honey. But beginner will look to use a smaller type of extraction device that can hold three to four frames at a time.

A small extractor that is of a good quality costs a couple hundred bucks, but if you do not have that kind of money, you may still make one yourself and there are great ideas available for you on the internet which you can explore. I wouldn’t worry too much about the cost of an extractor as they’re reasonably priced by most suppliers of beekeeping equipment. The minute the extraction process has been conducted, ensure that you take out all unwanted fragments from bees that have died such as the legs and wings. The best way to go about this is to filter your honey using a 400 or 600 micron filter, they can be bought for ten bucks or less and most filters have adjustable heads that’s made to fit most bucket sizes up to a five gallon bucket. The nice thing about the filters is that you can wash them, sterelise them and reuse them.

In conclusion let me inform you that beekeeping standards for hygiene are very high so always maintain your honey equipment and the place of extraction completely spotless and germ free. Anyone who handles honey must always wear a hairnet, clean clothes and the tools and equipment must be washed and sterilised often.