comb production

[Vance G]

I am a poor hand at searches, but I tried and found little in this forum or your diary on comb honey production. I have been looking at all the different alternatives to replace the old wooden section and am kind of at a loss. I don't know if their IS any nostalgia value in the basswood sections I produced a few of 25 years ago. I still have a few hundred of the boxers in the flat but don't know whether to fire that up or go for some of the plastic alternatives, like Ross Rounds or Hoggs half combs or Dadants beeopac on and on. I recall somewhere reading that you produced a lot of comb honey. If that is in fact the case, what would you recommend for a production methold. I did some cut comb this year and that was a pain and a mess and not on my wish list of things to do. Thanks in advance

[Allen Dick]

Most of my experience is with Ross Rounds. They are fairly easy to manage, but the cost of the consumables is often prohibitive when bought in small quantities. I have not priced the various other products lately, so I don't know what the parts to produce the other sections is at present.

I imagine they all produce sections about equally well and take a comparable amount of work, but perhaps not. The job of loading and unloading and packaging can add up if many are made.

The next question is what you can charge for the end product and how much honey goes into it. A single-sided comb would have half the amount of honey, I'm guessing.

If you research that question, please post your findings here. Thanks.