6 Frame Double Brood Nuc

[Millet]

Quite right too - "stuff for free" is the best stuff in the world !

If possible, you might want to check out whether pallets can be obtained locally. Ask around industrial units etc. Pallets are often free - especially if they're broken, in the way, people keep tripping over them ...

Can be a great source of fair(ish)-quality timber.
LJ

I can get as many pallets as i want but i would have thought the wood dimensions will be wrong for making Brood and Super size boxes.

 

[Little John]

I can get as many pallets as i want but i would have thought the wood dimensions will be wrong for making Brood and Super size boxes.

Well - if you can get hold of pallets, and assuming you have the time to play at woodworking - then you need never buy a bee-box ever again !

What I do is to first dismantle the pallets to recover the planks, then cut them to length using a cross-cut jig. http://heretics-guide.site90.com/work01.htm (BTW - save the stretchers - they make great hive-stand legs)

Then, run the planks across a router table to clean-up the edges, before gluing them together on a flat surface, using weights and long clamps in a similar manner to this:

Then, brush over the surface with an angle grinder fitted with a flap disk to clean it up, and add filler to any cracks/nail holes if necessary.

This is what results - lovely wide planks made from seasoned timber ... and for free. Well, 'free-ish' - as there's electrickery to pay for and wear and tear on tools etc - but it's still a very cheap source of well-seasoned usable timber.

LJ

 

[Finman]

.
When I plan a nuc, its main thing is help the colony to build is fast.
Mite treatment means nothing in this game. ...special mite killing features ... Of course not...why nucs need them? A nuc for mite killing...


So I make all nucs by splitting normal polybox. Low tech Job.

You may do the nucs so fancy as you can, but it does not give any payback.

 

[Millet]

Well - if you can get hold of pallets, and assuming you have the time to play at woodworking - then you need never buy a bee-box ever again !

What I do is to first dismantle the pallets to recover the planks, then cut them to length using a cross-cut jig. http://heretics-guide.site90.com/work01.htm (BTW - save the stretchers - they make great hive-stand legs)

Then, run the planks across a router table to clean-up the edges, before gluing them together on a flat surface, using weights and long clamps in a similar manner to this:

Then, brush over the surface with an angle grinder fitted with a flap disk to clean it up, and add filler to any cracks/nail holes if necessary.

This is what results - lovely wide planks made from seasoned timber ... and for free. Well, 'free-ish' - as there's electrickery to pay for and wear and tear on tools etc - but it's still a very cheap source of well-seasoned usable timber.

LJ

Thank You again John, i think i will give the pallets a miss for now, i do not have the tools to get that usable lumber looking like yours especially all them weights lol, food for thought though..

 

[Millet]

.
When I plan a nuc, its main thing is help the colony to build is fast.
Mite treatment means nothing in this game. ...special mite killing features ... Of course not...why nucs need them? A nuc for mite killing...


So I make all nucs by splitting normal polybox. Low tech Job.

You may do the nucs so fancy as you can, but it does not give any payback.

Did hear something.. NO surely it must have been the wind, a old northerly wind,

 

[Little John]

.
I make all nucs by splitting normal polybox. Low tech Job.

You may do the nucs so fancy as you can, but it does not give any payback.

Payback is directly related to expenditure. I find the fastest and most straightforward way of making 5-frame nuc boxes is to simply cut up brood boxes, thusly:

But - you then have the capital invested in those boxes to recoup before you break-even. However, if your nuc boxes cost nothing (or nothing very much) to build in the first place, then 'payback' becomes a non-issue.
LJ

 

[Finman]

Did hear something.. NO surely it must have been the wind, a old northerly wind,

Once upon a time there was wind whisper...
And old wind, best before day expired ...

 

[Finman]

.
But Little John, you have nice wood work..
.

 

[farmerboy5470]

.
But Little John, you have nice wood work..
.

 

[madasafish]

I tried and made TBHs and Warres from Pallets.
I had neither LJ's skill nor tools.
And teh selction of pallet wood is critical - much is soft , warped or unsuitable.

SO OK for TBHs but boxes? A nogo for me..

(It is also timeconsuming)...

Edit

LJ: thanks for the link. Fascinating...

 

[Little John]

All good points - especially "time-consuming" and the caution re: warped boards. For me, building with pallet-wood is an indulgence - if I was running a business it would be a much different story.
As it is, I just love turning unwanted materials into half-way useful stuff. Should have been a hippie !
LJ