Layens Uncapping Machine with Steam-Heated Knives

01 · STEAM MELTS, IT DOES NOT SOFTEN

And the difference from an electric blade is real

An electrically heated blade works around 60 °C: it softens the cappings and cuts without melting the wax, because wax melts between 62 and 65. Steam runs at about 100 °C, so the blade melts its way through.

It is not worse: it is different. The steam cut is faster and cleaner on old or hard wax, but the cappings come off wetter and with more melted wax mixed in. You notice that later, in the cappings spinner or the settling tank.

02 · LAYENS DOES HAVE A RANGE

From forty euros to six thousand six hundred

People say Layens is neglected in machinery, and for uncapping that is not true. Our range runs from the uncapping stand at a little over forty euros and the V-shaped uncapper for benches at around 350, up to the complete line above six thousand six hundred.

This one sits at the middle step: a real machine with heated blades, but without the price or the floor space of a line. Tell us how many frames you move in a season and we will tell you which step is yours.

03 · THE TANK GOES UNDER, ON CASTORS

Which is what makes it usable in a small room

It carries a generous lower tank that catches the honey and cappings falling during the cut, and it runs on swivel castors: it goes where it suits and is pushed aside when the season ends.

The whole body is stainless steel, which with hot cappings and honey is not a whim: it is the only thing that cleans properly and does not darken the wax it touches.

04 · THE STEAM HAS TO COME FROM SOMEWHERE

And it is worth confirming before ordering

The blades are heated by steam, so you need a generator to produce it. Our range has 5 and 7 litre units for under seventy euros, so it is not a big line item, but it is a piece that has to be there.

Ask us before ordering whether the machine comes with a generator and which one it takes: not all of them deliver the steam flow an uncapper working continuously demands.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

Ask about the steam generator before ordering it.