Beekeeping on the cheap. Some tips and please add yours.

[JamezF]

Seriously, who has time to do the stuff suggested here?

It doesn't apply to everyone, but IME when someone says they don't have the time to do something it's often more the case that they don't actually want to.
They'll say they "don't have time" and then you discover they spend three hours a night sitting in front of "I'm Strictly a Jungle Brother, Get Me An X Factor" or some equally mind-rotting drivel.

I'm failing to get stuff done at the moment because the workshop is an absolute tip. Perhaps tidying that should be my job for tomorrow lunchtime...

James

 

[JamezF]

Thats easy enough to sort out,just run it through a planer thicknesser,buy an old Wadkin or similar for this little job...lol

I *dream* of having a planer thicknesser. Need a bigger workshop...

James

 

[countryman]

bouhgt one B&Q end of line sale march 320mm cut 60 quid bargain!!

 

[Teemore]

I *dream* of having a planer thicknesser. Need a bigger workshop...

James

I used to have access to a fantastic old planer thicknesser that from memory would work approx 20" timber: we once ran 30' long pine beams through it! Unfortunately it was sold off when my father and uncle retired. I now wish that i had bought it from them (along with a few other bits of kit....)

 

[Headnavigator]

Best economies?
1. Not even to look at the 'Sales' pages on T****'s and others' websites, then I won't be tempted to buy what I don't really need.
2. Buy jars, foundation etc through local assoc's bulk buying exercise at much lower price and no carriage.
3. Buy things at local Auction to renovate where they need time and care spent on them, not cash. Use what I need and sell off other renovated items at the next auction.

 

[oliver90owner]

Not even to look at the 'Sales' pages on T****'s and others' websites,

I would agree, but they do give one ideas of how to do things. Then go away and use something similar, make up something, modify, or whatever is necessary to save a huge amount of dosh.

The Lidl tea urn thingy was a good example as a wax melter. I just use a £2 burco boiler and keep another as a spare. They come up at auctions occasionally and usually only need a flex and new plug to get them serviceable.

RAB

 

[Headnavigator]

Not even to look at the 'Sales' pages on T****'s and others' websites,

I would agree, but they do give one ideas of how to do things. Then go away and use something similar, make up something, modify, or whatever is necessary to save a huge amount of dosh.

RAB

OK, you have a point, and I do browse the printed catalogue - not so easy just to hit the button and buy! Distinct lack of self discipline here when I see goodies on line!

 

[Swarm]

They'll say they "don't have time" and then you discover they spend three hours a night sitting in front of "I'm Strictly a Jungle Brother, Get Me An X Factor" or some equally mind-rotting drivel.

I hope you aren't suggesting I'm one of those? This type of sh*te is just brainwashing, ppl are more interested in what will happen to 'x' off 'y' soap/reality than how they are being perpetually ripped off.

When I drag my carcass out at some ungodly hour and practically have to ask permission to go home and constantly being blackmailed, coerced and pressured into giving up even more time and then read how ppl spend time cutting small pieces of wood into smaller pieces of wood, with expensive tools kind of makes me wonder.

 

[JamezF]

I hope you aren't suggesting I'm one of those

Not at all. I have no information on which to make a judgement and wouldn't make such an assumption.

I merely sought to illustrate that many people have an awful lot of time if they they want it enough and that claiming not to have time can often actually just be a way of saying "I don't want to" or "I can't be bothered". Lots people probably do have time to do things like this, if they choose to.

Actually, there's another point of view that I'd forgotten. Making people think they "don't have time" is also a huge marketing ploy on the part of people who want them to buy convenience food, pre-packaged, well, anything really, and so on. So some people believe they don't have time not because they don't, but because they're repeatedly told they don't by other people who want to make money out of them.

and then read how ppl spend time cutting small pieces of wood into smaller pieces of wood, with expensive tools kind of makes me wonder.

In my case, I get a great deal of pleasure from making things from raw materials (or "cutting bits of wood into smaller bits of wood . I spend most of my "work life" doing things that have no more physical reality than magnetic patterns on a piece of coated glass. To make something that it's possible to touch, with an existence in the physical world, whether it be a beehive, a wax melter or an apple press, from stuff I have lying around is as much about relaxation as anything else.

James

 

[newportbuzz]

I hope you aren't suggesting I'm one of those? This type of sh*te is just brainwashing, ppl are more interested in what will happen to 'x' off 'y' soap/reality than how they are being perpetually ripped off.

When I drag my carcass out at some ungodly hour and practically have to ask permission to go home and constantly being blackmailed, coerced and pressured into giving up even more time and then read how ppl spend time cutting small pieces of wood into smaller pieces of wood, with expensive tools kind of makes me wonder.

as a unemployed person i can assure you that not all the peices of equipment needed to cut big bits of wood into small ones have to be expensive. my table saw is a 10 euro skill saw bolted to the bottom of a table. my router table is another free table with a 40quid ebay router on it and my wood comes from pallets and skips. keeps me from going crazy and keeps me doing things...........

 

[oliver90owner]

my router table is another free table with a 40quid ebay router on it

I like it! They are likely better value because they do the job required of them and don't have all the extra unnecssary bells and whisles, for a start. A riving knife might be good for a table saw, but in most instances a safety guard is adequate (or was before the elf'n'safety mob arrived).

My Lidl router cost just 29 quid with a set of tungsten carbide cutters; my old Stanley was about a fiver from a car boot sale and my latest CMT (now a De Walt 625E!) turned out at about a quarter of the lowest listed price I could find on the net.

Biggest problem is the different shank sizes for the router bits for these machines! The 1/4 inch shank cutters, for the Stanley, came from Canada at about half the price and twice the quality of the stuff on the British market.

The TCT blade in my table saw cost more than the original complete saw and my radial saw was an opportunist purchase - after it failed to sell at auction.

I know that most of my tools/machines could be sold for about what I paid for them. The chinese manufactured lathe is not one of them - and I learned from that to be more patient where tooling is concerned.

RAB

 

[newportbuzz]

my router table is another free table with a 40quid ebay router on it

I like it! They are likely better value because they do the job required of them and don't have all the extra unnecssary bells and whisles, for a start. A riving knife might be good for a table saw, but in most instances a safety guard is adequate (or was before the elf'n'safety mob arrived).

My Lidl router cost just 29 quid with a set of tungsten carbide cutters; my old Stanley was about a fiver from a car boot sale and my latest CMT (now a De Walt 625E!) turned out at about a quarter of the lowest listed price I could find on the net.

Biggest problem is the different shank sizes for the router bits for these machines! The 1/4 inch shank cutters, for the Stanley, came from Canada at about half the price and twice the quality of the stuff on the British market.

The TCT blade in my table saw cost more than the original complete saw and my radial saw was an opportunist purchase - after it failed to sell at auction.

I know that most of my tools/machines could be sold for about what I paid for them. The chinese manufactured lathe is not one of them - and I learned from that to be more patient where tooling is concerned.

RAB

the router is a freud one. have collets for both sized bits so im on the pigs back. just won 22 router bits for £5 which should have the two bits i actually need to make frames so i have much sawdust infront of me very soon. HURRY UP postie..........