Hi All I remember a while back there was some talk about using a gas blowtorch/hot air stripper to decap. Well I have finally managed to have a blowtorch and a full gggas canister handy at the same time when uncapping was needed and can report the following: I find it takes two passes with the torch to decap each side of a flame. (this is a 1/4 pressure Low Pressure Gas flame - IE the hole in the reguulator is quite big. I set it so that the flame was about 5cm long) Hence if wearing welding gloves it means one can decap a frame in about 20 seconds, which for me is faster than a knife. Extracting - I got plenty of capping wax. A lot of the stuff flings of and collects in the extractor, which is quite a pain. Damage to combs - There is far less damage to the combs and I think that the warming effect of the torch actually helps with getting the extracting going as the first mm or so of honey is warm in the cells and flings out, and then because of it flinging out it speads up the rate at which an air bubble is drawn below the ramaining honey - I think this is important as the bubble can stretch more than honey thus speading up the movement of the remainder of the honey. Expense - for me gas is cheaper than electricity. Probably depends on the country. Anyhow, those are my observations. Keep well Garth --- Garth Cambray Kamdini Apiaries 15 Park Road Apis melifera capensis Grahamstown 800mm annual precipitation 6139 Eastern Cape South Africa Phone 27-0461-311663 3rd year Biochemistry/Microbiology Rhodes University Interests: Flii's and Bees. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this post in no way reflect those of Rhodes University.