Pineboard/lamwood hives

[foghornleghorn]

Anyone build their hives out of pineboard/lamwood? Any thoughts, seems to be more popular in Eastern Europe but not mentioned on here

 

[nantmoel]

Anyone build their hives out of pineboard/lamwood? Any thoughts, seems to be more popular in Eastern Europe but not mentioned on here

I used to make my own hives, but to be honest by the time I drove to get Cedar then planned and thicknesses it, its really not worth it. I now buy what I need in the sales.

 

[Millet]

I used to make my own hives, but to be honest by the time I drove to get Cedar then planned and thicknesses it, its really not worth it. I now buy what I need in the sales.

That is certainly the way forward with things that can not be easily made..i make my own clear crown boards/Floors and stands..everything else is bought..just as well really as i would have a right faff on trying to make poly boxes..

 

[foghornleghorn]

I used to make my own hives, but to be honest by the time I drove to get Cedar then planned and thicknesses it, its really not worth it. I now buy what I need in the sales.

Have the spare time in winter so that's not an issue

 

[Hachi]

I buy supers the rest I make in the winter. Unless I see a sale offer I cant refuse but they don't come round that often sadly.

 

[Norf Bee]

If you know woodworking building a hive is a nice pastime but not worth it unless you got all materials and tools already there
If you make it out of offcuts in at least semi pro shop why not
Only thing is will lamwood be water resistant?
Beehives get moisture on inside too.
What sort of glue is used? Will it off-gas and drive bees away?

 

[nantmoel]

Have the spare time in winter so that's not an issue

Its not the 'spare time' its the cost of preparing the raw materials, the machines and electricity. Take it from me who has a well equipped workshop, its really not worth it. Buy Supers in the sales for £12.50 and Broad Boxes at £15.50 and spend the winter putting them together and treating them, I fill mine with assembled frames (no wax) ready for when they are needed.

 

[Norf Bee]

When figuring out is it worth it I use £20 for every hour of my work+materials minimum.
Unless its a project you do for fun its not worth it as a rule of thumb unless you build something not available anywhere else.
If you don't have money and lots of free time £10/h might be OK for you.
Still at prices mentioned above its not worth it.
You can get part time job at MacDonald and spend less time earning money there than building your own stuff.

 

[Newbeeneil]

I would agree with most of the above that buying in the sales is the way to go but as several have said it's great fun making your own if you have the time and materials to hand.
I buy cedar very cheaply but still only make brood and super boxes if I need one in a matter of hours. Special floors, crown boards and nucs on the other hand are worth the trouble as they are either not available commercially or expensive.

 

[foghornleghorn]

Its not the 'spare time' its the cost of preparing the raw materials, the machines and electricity. Take it from me who has a well equipped workshop, its really not worth it. Buy Supers in the sales for £12.50 and Broad Boxes at £15.50 and spend the winter putting them together and treating them, I fill mine with assembled frames (no wax) ready for when they are needed.

None of that is relevant to me. Please can we go back on topic

 

[Norf Bee]

back on topic-what sort of glue is used on laminated board and will it survive external conditions ?

 

[foghornleghorn]

back on topic-what sort of glue is used on laminated board and will it survive external conditions ?

Not 100% sure, must check with the local supplier

 

[Ian123]

most laminated ply is not great unless you go marine and that’s extortionate. Saying that I do have plenty of ply nucs that have seen at least 10-15 years and that’s wbp ply that had its cut edges properly sealed. The odd 1s blown but most are still good and again that was a quality supplier/board not b&q

 

[Newbeeneil]

As said above ply does tend to delaminates if the ends are not completely sealed but the biggest problem is the weight. When I first started making my own kit I made a couple of nucs with ply. They are probably twice the weight of my cedar ones.

 

[foghornleghorn]

most laminated ply is not great unless you go marine and that’s extortionate. Saying that I do have plenty of ply nucs that have seen at least 10-15 years and that’s wbp ply that had its cut edges properly sealed. The odd 1s blown but most are still good and again that was a quality supplier/board not b&q

It's not plywood, strips of knot free pine glued together into 8x4 sheets. It can be gotten with waterproof glue

 

[Herbalist]

Anyone build their hives out of pineboard/lamwood? Any thoughts, seems to be more popular in Eastern Europe but not mentioned on here

I make all my own hives from pine board. They will last for a long time if you seal the wood properly. You will need to equip yourself properly if you are going to make any number (I have built 15 and a literal shed-load of supers). You will need a reasonable table saw, a good chop-saw and a router table is handy - particularly if you want to make you own frames. A pocket-hole jig is useful in some circumstances. You will need a bench belt-sander and a hand belt-sender. You absolutely MUST put in place a dust extraction system with blast-gates to direct the vacuum. I used 50mm pipework and have experienced no blockages. You can make blast-gates out of 8mm high density polyethylene. This may be too much if you are just making one or two hives. My daughter wants to do it commercially and we are preparing for regualr hive production.
The advantage of making your own hives is that you can finesse the design to fit your own needs. I am currently bulding a long hive that uses standard commercial frames but uses brood-frames for honey deposition as well as brood. This takes most of the back-breaking lifting out of hive inspection. If you go this direction, check that your spinner can handle this size of frame.
If you decide to do this and need any more detailed advice, pleased PM me. I'm happy to help a fellow builder.

 

[rolande]

It's not plywood, strips of knot free pine glued together into 8x4 sheets. It can be gotten with waterproof glue

Not entirely sure but this may be the stuff that's been showing up in photos of new boxes on ITLD's Twitter feed.

 

[Katherine]

I made a 16 frame Layens hive using a marine ply and 30mm polystyrene sandwich.
The floor is mesh and the screen plywood. The roof done in ply and also insulated with 30mm polystyrene but ventilated (series of 1mm holes). I painted the outside with 2 coats of water based wood paint.
Looked pretty cosy.
I'll update when I see how the bees and hives are doing over winter.
It was quite a bit of work because you basically have to build a box within a box
I'm planning on doing another 16 frame hive with 1" thick Douglas fir. I think it will be a lot easier to build, but I'll build the roof with insulated plywood as before as it needs to be lighter.

 

[Murox]

I made a 16 frame Layens hive using a marine ply and 30mm polystyrene sandwich.
The floor is mesh and the screen plywood. The roof done in ply and also insulated with 30mm polystyrene but ventilated (series of 1mm holes). I painted the outside with 2 coats of water based wood paint.
Looked pretty cosy.
I'll update when I see how the bees and hives are doing over winter.
It was quite a bit of work because you basically have to build a box within a box
I'm planning on doing another 16 frame hive with 1" thick Douglas fir. I think it will be a lot easier to build, but I'll build the roof with insulated plywood as before as it needs to be lighter.

Nice one. Are you making your own frames as well ?
Re 1" douglas fir build - I suggest you make it 2" if your not insulating anything other than the roof. I built a similar box to your first one but used 22mm thick larch board outer - insulation - thin ply inner.

 

[Katherine]

Nice one. Are you making your own frames as well ?
Re 1" douglas fir build - I suggest you make it 2" if your not insulating anything other than the roof. I built a similar box to your first one but used 22mm thick larch board outer - insulation - thin ply inner.

Thats massive. Where are you and how hot/cold do you get?
I'm in Northern France where temperatures used to get down around -10, but haven't in recent years. Occasional-6 becoming the new normal. Summers quite hot, upper 30s.
I did think of going thicker but not that thick!
No I dont make my own frames. I can get them from Spain quite cheaply and my workshop is not yet up to it, though eventually I hope it will be.
How did your ply sandwich work out long term?