Hi Allen:

We do all our uncapping with scratchers. We find that the new comb on
plastic is very fragile. You can minimize the damage by holding the
scratcher at a very low angle and by scratching toward filled cells rather
than toward partially filled cells. The full cells seem to offer some
support to the thin comb.

After a few years, the comb seems to thicken and behaves just like comb
drawn on wax foundation. I imagine the fragility comes from the comb being
drawn with less wax than it would have if there were a thick wax foundation
available for the bees to draw wax from.

                                    Best regards

                                    Donald Aitken


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