GalwayBees · Galway, IE · Honey · Jun 26, 2026

First extractor run — two frames blew out at full speed. What did I do wrong?

Galway, 2nd year, first ever extraction day last weekend. Borrowed the club's 4-frame hand-crank tangential extractor for my grand total of 8 frames. First two frames: uncapped, loaded, and I cranked her up to full tilt like a man possessed. Result — both combs blew clean out of the wire, chunks of comb and honey everywhere in the drum, one frame's foundation torn half off. The remaining six survived because the club secretary happened to ring mid-disaster and talked me down. But I want to actually understand it: is it just pure speed, or does frame age matter (these were this year's comb, first extraction)? And she said something about doing tangential frames 'in stages, both sides' that I didn't fully follow before the phone died. Can someone walk me through the proper sequence before I destroy anyone else's equipment?

#extraction#extractor#harvest#comb-damage

▲ 9 votes 💬 3 replies

3 replies

AbejasCarla · Jun 26, 2026

Both things you guessed, plus one more. New comb that's never been through a brood cycle or a season is soft and tears easily — first-year comb needs the gentlest treatment it'll ever get. In a tangential machine the honey on the INNER face pushes outward against the comb, so a full frame at full speed bursts it. Sequence: side A at slow speed until roughly half empty, flip, side B fully at gradually increasing speed, flip back, finish side A fast. Warm room helps too, honey at 25-30 °C flows in half the time.

DrentseBij · Jun 26, 2026

And this is why radials are worth it once you pass a few hives — frames sit like wheel spokes, both faces empty at once, no flipping, much harder to blow comb. Still ramp up slowly for the first minutes though, even in a radial. Full speed is for finishing, never for starting.

GalwayBees · Jun 27, 2026

'Full speed is for finishing, never for starting' — that's the sentence I needed a week ago. Salvaged the blown comb through a strainer so the honey's grand, and I've offered to buy the club a new frame. Lesson thoroughly learned.

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