Bits of stick supplier.

[Poly Hive]

As you may have discovered some accurate bits of timber are handy to have.

I used to rip mine on a table saw but it is in storage so I have been thrown upon local resources.

One I have found very handy indeed as they do 8mm strips, amongst the fancy stuff, and that is richard Burbidge who seem to be in Focus and B&Q amongst others. They are not that cheap but they are findable and the stuff is reasonable.

It is what I have used to make my Crown Boards, and my clearer boards too.

In fact with some 25mm square moulding, and a 460 square of ply plus a wee bit of 8mm and two squares of mesh you can make a very cheap non moving part clearer board.

Run the 25mm round the perimeter. Cut two holes in opposite corners, I use a hole saw set at 28mm. Make two lengths of 8mm, not too long, some 100 mm is fine, and set them at right angles. Cut the two ends away from the 25mm at 45 degrees so as to make a smooth gap some 8mm apart.

Pin and glue, pin the mesh over them and voila one non moving part clearer board.

When I have the time I will paint the outside 25mm red so that at a galnce I can see where they are in the apiary. Saves missing a super.

PH

 

[hedgerow pete]

i would love to own a table saw to rip these things up ,but cant afford it , that why i use tw olayers of 1/2" ply for my runners, and now i know where to get some 8mm from thanks poly hive

 

[BKF Admin]

I have been using this saw/router table HERE for a couple of years.

I have made a number of jigs/sleds and can knock up hives no problem with it,just chuck under the table a £20 router or jigsaw and machine away.

Its the dogs ******.

 

[hedgerow pete]

the thing is for £70 i could buy the cheap table saw from machine mart and for £100 i can buy a decent ish one from tool staion, so does the £120 work for me , iam affraid not with my purse strings

 

[Poly Hive]

I have a cheap one I want rid of HP...

£100 out of B&Q

PH

 

[BKF Admin]

the thing is for £70 i could buy the cheap table saw from machine mart and for £100 i can buy a decent ish one from tool staion, so does the £120 work for me , iam affraid not with my purse strings

Dont forget you can get a router for £17,so you have a router table as well for the bars.

 

[planbee]

Worth keeping your eye on Lidl.

I bought a router table for £14.00 last year; I'm a bit wary of the quality of anything that they sell that has [driven] moving parts, but I felt that the table was OK.

Ordered a brushcutter from "Screwfix" this morning, to carve hive positions on my acre, I've been thinking about a table saw myself, there's one at "Argos" for about 50 odd quid.

John

 

[marcros]

For cheap tools, I can recommend Silverline tools- available through a number of distributors and online.

They seem excellent value for money and robust. I am not sure that they would stand years of daily usage, but they are guaranteed for 12 months. Certainly for the average user they would be fine.

 

[steveselvage]

A router for £17? where from? I need one of those

 

[Poly Hive]

My real table saw is a Kity.

http://kityuk.com/kity419.html

Router is Hitachi.

Bits are a collection... that cost a bit.

If you get a router then for goodness sake get a dovetail jig to use with it and along with a biscuit jointer set for the router then very cheap supers and broods, IF you are using Langstroth or Smith.

How? Buy planned all round timber, biscuit joint for width, then cut to length. Dovetail the joints. Make a jig for hand holds all round and sorted.

If you are working quantity then the outlay on a good saw, a good router, the dovetail jig etc will be paid off in one winters work. Easily.


PH

 

[marcros]

There seems to be a large interest in making hives at home, and I assume that there has always been reasonable interest in doing so. I cant understand why the smith is not more popular as a hive.

 

[JCBrum]

I cant understand why the smith is not more popular as a hive.

'Cause the frames have only got little lugs and they keep slipping sideways and falling inside the bb.

JC.

 

[Poly Hive]

What?

Langstroth have short lugs and seem to be world wide "the" hive.

I have never had Smith frames do what you describe and apart from pure Smiths I also ran a Poly hive that took 12 Smith frames. I should add some 20 of them not one.

If you have them moving to this extent something is wrong.

I also find the short lug much the easier to manipulate and for that matter stronger too.

PH

 

[Hivemaker.]

I have a kitty saw as well,they are nice saws,also startrite and wadkin make some exellent saws which will take some beating,mine very rarely goes wrong.

 

[BKF Admin]

I also find the short lug much the easier to manipulate and for that matter stronger too.
PH

No way !!

I run one Langstroth and struggle like mad to lift the brood combs from the box,although I have become very good at catching a falling frame in mid-air.

 

[Hombre]

I have a circular saw £30 from Screwfix mounted under a home made bench. With careful setting up it produces some good results. I must also confess to producing prodigious amounts of sawdust, but that's more of a personal learning curve issue. Now I get my ply cut into 1220mm x either 460mm or 424mm, then It's small enough for me to be able to handle with a reasonable degree of accuracy. 2440mm x 1220mm is just too big for me to handle either accurately or safely.

It's all what you have become used to. I regularly work with Langstroth frames and find then just *normal* as it was the first frames that I experienced. National frames seem somehow strange by comparison. The lug size is not an impediment, except for nipping the fingers of my Marigolds, but that's actually down to technique and occasionally sticky fingers on the gloves.

 

[JCBrum]

Lang frames are significantly longer than Smiths, which seems to make them straddle the rails more easily.

They're all alright when the frames and boxes are in good nick, but when they get old and a bit distorted and sloppy, you can't beat long lugs.

14x12 are the best all round solution without a doubt. Nice long lugs for easy handling and good capacity. Very easy and cheap to re-build old nats into 14x12, you only need a simple eke and new frame sides, and you can re-use your old nat sides by cutting them down for shallow super frames if you must.

I like the wide top bars rather than the narrow ones too.

If you want to do bigger-brood-box beekeeping as economically as possible with second hand re-furbished and home made stuff, then imo 14x12 is the way to go.

If however you are a poly-fan then lang is ubiquitous.

Just my 2p conclusions so far as a newbeek.

JC.

 

[Poly Hive]

Admin and all,

this is a matter for ongoing debate and before it can be debated fairly note.

Experience must come into it.

I remember changing over and it felt strange. Then it felt strange going back to the unwieldy Nats again.

The rest of the world manages fine well so what's wrong with us then?

PH

 

[JCBrum]

What?

Langstroth have short lugs and seem to be world wide "the" hive.

PH

Coca-Cola is world-wide "the" drink, - but I don't use it.

An important and aged luminary in the B&DBKA uses langs, beautifully made by NBS in Devon, I think, and has a German multi-framed (about 20, I think) computer-controlled stainless extractor as well.

Me, I have to survive on what I can get out of a skip, and mend it myself.




JC.

 

[JCBrum]

p.s. I re-furbed that hive in late March. It stood empty for five or six weeks, and then a swarm flew into it !

JC.