I’m a newbee, only got my bees a year ago. So far have harvested 45kgs. (Have already ordered Mark 2 Flowhive). Hive got a bit crowded. Put a standard super on top to give the girls a bit of room. Went to NZ for 3 weeks. came back and totally full of Marri honey. Saw the River Cottage episode. Bought a press and got 16Kgs!!! A bit messy but cleaned up with the Karcher. Had to throw the wax away though!
Nice harvests! but hey- don’t throw that wax out! That stuff is gold… at least it’s golden coloured… supposedly suppliers are finding it hard to get enough wax to make foundation. Price keeps going up
Was your super foundationless?
I also find foundationless ideals are best for cut comb. Very interested in your reports about that Honey press to deal with leftovers.
My crush and strain Honey always turns out more cloudy, whereas the flow Honey is superbly clear. How does the press Honey compare @Semaphore? More cloudy than flow honey as well?
I will definitely use ideals on top of some more of my flow supers next season.
Just getting a couple of hives established at our kids’ places down by the beach for winter. Can’t wait to see how that goes compared to up here in the mountains. Depending on how the nucs go down there, may decide to super with an ideal rather than a flow box for winter.
that’s also my plan for at least a few hives- one ideal left on for winter. I am using a strainer to filter the honey as it leaves the press- but it’s definitely cloudier than flow honey- which is virtually crystal clear straight from the hive. For personal consumption I’d be quite happy with pressed honey with no filtration as there is a lot of fine wax in there which is actually kind of nice on toast. On that River Cottage episode the honey man said such honey is ‘creamier’.
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Thanks for that. 50:50 foundation and not! S
o gummed up with cross comb that I actually broke some frames on extraction. I kept the wax for a week but couldn’t have been clean enough as started mould colonies! Wax $18per kg over here so worth saving if I could clean it up!
even if it goes moldy- if you render it down it comes out clean. Just put it in an old cooking pot with water- boil- strain through cloth- let the wax harden on top of the water and BINGO!
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This is the honey press I made in readiness for when the jellybush honey turned up.
I made use of some stainless steel I picked up from a scrap metal yard. The welding rods were dearer than the stainless steel. The threaded rod with 3 large nuts was $60.00. However there’s enough threaded rod left to build 2 more.
cheers
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brilliant looking press jeff- very robust. Looks like it can handle a lot pf pressure- which is great to get out every last drop. Is that jelly bush you are squishing there?
and is that my pocket hive tool I spy there? 
Hi Jack, thank you. It is robust, but it still doesn’t take all the honey out. I doubled up on the thread length, however the thread has still gone out of shape after a couple of hard trial runs on cappings earlier.
Yes that is the jellybush honey. Yes that IS your pocket hive tool 
I use the hook to lever the push plate up initially. They get hard to separate from the wax. I misplaced my original one, now I’m back to a “j” hive tool, which I’m liking because it doesn’t put holes in my glove while scraping bur comb. Plus it does offer more leverage when separating supers.
PS, the camera doesn’t pick it up, but I copied the flow idea & built a drain angle into the press, which looks a bit like a leaning tower when bolted down to the table.
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Nice one Jeff. 
I’m guessing you were in the mechanical field in your younger days. Personally I wouldn’t have used the stainless threaded bar, too soft and prone to metal fretting.
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I also mostly use a J tool- because I use the ‘j’ part to lever up frames- resting that little shelf on the lug of the adjacent frame. the pocket tool doesn’t have that perfect shape for that.
Yes- the plate can get quite stuck to the wax. I had to put mine out in the sun to warm it up last time I used it as it was completely stuck. And these presses need to be pretty rubust as the pressure get high.
Could you put something like waxed paper between the two to break the seal?
that would probably do the trick- or putting all the comb into some kind of sack before you start. However putting it in the sun does the trick too. At a pinch you could pour boiling water onto the plate- I’m pretty sure that would rapidly melt the wax just underneath and release it.
I did a welding trade coarse & stuck it out for 6 years before learning the plastering (wallboard) trade. I stuck that out for 10 years before going fishing. While fishing, I took on beekeeping to give me something to do during bad weather. I’ve been my own boss, basically for the last 45+ years.
I drilled a few holes in the pressure plate, which makes it easier to release. I lever it up with the hook of the pocket hive tool through a gap on the corner. That piece of wood assists with that. I use that broad knife (a plastering tool) to scrape the wax from the back of the pressure plate, as well as remove the wax from the press.
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Now that is a press, mate and well thought out too.
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What is it with hive tools anyway. I still use the first tools I ever bought and yet hive tools seem to disappear on me. I lost another today… 
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Thanks Pete, I got ideas from the ones you can buy online, then I worked with what I picked up from the scrap metal yard. There was a fair bit of 1"x1" tube. I would have preferred 1"x1/4" flat bar around the middle. I didn’t want any feet on it, like the ones you buy.
cheers
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Hey Jim.
Ripple Farm in Albany are a good source of Bee Keeping equipment if and when you require it.
Daniel and Kiri are wonderful, helpful people.
Cheers
Chris, Esperance
Hi @Semaphore & @skeggley, I’m not sold on honey presses. They don’t remove the amount of honey you would imagine they would. When you work out the amount of sq.ins. on the surface, you don’t get much pressure per square inch. I’m going to modify mine before I use it again. With 6"x6" surface, that equals 36sq.ins. I’m reducing it to 4x4, that will give me 16 sq.ins., less than half the original. That should press a higher %age of honey out of the wax with the same amount of force.
I actually found that a hand potato ricer has a better mechanical advantage, possibly on account of the smaller surface area.
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What did Wilma think of wax in her riced potatoes? 