SN4’s

[Etton]

Big price differences for unassembled (National) SN4’s.
Bee equipment £16.10 (first grade) for ten frames & foundation, Abelo £20.80 (premium), Simon Beekeeper £15.50.
Couldn’t find comparable for Thornes.
Any recommendations based on price & quality?

 

[Wilco]

Big price differences for unassembled (National) SN4’s.
Bee equipment £16.10 (first grade) for ten frames & foundation, Abelo £20.80 (premium), Simon Beekeeper £15.50.
Couldn’t find comparable for Thornes.
Any recommendations based on price & quality?

They all work. I started with STBK foundation but it's one of my less favourite ones now. Bee equipment is good. I've got some Maisemore stuff currently which is amazing. Not tried Abelo. Thorne website you may need to add frames ans foundation to basket separately.

 

[nettle]

I get my frames from C Wynne Jones. They sell seconds ☺

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I get my frames from C Wynne Jones. They sell seconds ☺

second quality every time, in fact I don't know why people persist with paying through the nose for 'premium' frames nowadays.
Just made up over 200 DN4 Maisemore's 'second quality' frames - not one reject

 

[jeff33]

Just made up over 200 DN4 Maisemore's 'second quality' frames - not one reject

Same here, just buy 2nd. The only reject I have ever had was from 3rd quality .

 

[W0otz]

Seconds are fine, but contrary to others in this thread I have had rejects and at much lower volumes (2 packs of 50 from Thornes). Just the odd couple though, so they're still substantially cheaper than first grade. In both cases knots at the narrow point of the top bar - nails went in and the lugs fell off.

C Wynne Jones seconds frames don't strike me as especially cheap (only looked at 14x12). £39 for my last pack of 50 from Thornes, £52 from CWJ.
Of course for Thornes and Maisemore you need to wait for a sale, and you may not want 50 (but perhaps you could split a pack with someone local?)

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Of course for Thornes and Maisemore you need to wait for a sale, and you may not want 50

well, you always need new frames, and even if they stay in the shed for a few years, they don't have a use by date.

 

[JamezF]

well, you always need new frames, and even if they stay in the shed for a few years, they don't have a use by date.

Possibly best to keep the parts from a single order all together though. I've found that mixing parts from orders placed some time apart can give a few problems with fit.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Possibly best to keep the parts from a single order all together though. I've found that mixing parts from orders placed some time apart can give a few problems with fit.

James

It does if you mix parts from different suppliers, I've always bought mine from Maisies and there's no way what I'm using now all came from the same batch.

 

[JamezF]

It does if you mix parts from different suppliers, I've always bought mine from Maisies and there's no way what I'm using now all came from the same batch.

Perhaps I got unlucky. I'm fairly sure I had parts from different Thorne orders that weren't keen to fit together.

James

 

[blackcloud]

Had one batch of seconds from mm last year where a good half had badly machined top bars resulting in the sidebars sloping inwards once the bottom bars were fixed.

No such problems this year bar the occasional knot being exactly where the nail goes, or at the topbar/sidebar junction(scary) but a bit of D4 glue sorts that.
All depends on how much of a diva you want to be.

If you're only buying tiny amounts each year then 'premium' frames aren't going to hit the wallet too hard

 

[Somerford]

Big price differences for unassembled (National) SN4’s.
Bee equipment £16.10 (first grade) for ten frames & foundation, Abelo £20.80 (premium), Simon Beekeeper £15.50.
Couldn’t find comparable for Thornes.
Any recommendations based on price & quality?

And if you are patient then the next sale is in June - Maisemore online and they’ll do 50 2nds for £27 or thereabouts but you’ll need to buy the foundation separately .

 

[Wilco]

And if you are patient then the next sale is in June - Maisemore online and they’ll do 50 2nds for £27 or thereabouts but you’ll need to buy the foundation separately .

Works out as roughly 54p a frame and 79p a sheet of wax (less if bulk buying). I make that £13.30 for 10. And it's nice wax.

 

[Jimmy]

If you can't wait that long Maisemores 2nds frames are on ebay, £39.51 for 50 delivered.

 

[Poly Hive]

Just for info I have parts that must have some time spread of ten to fifteen years. They still fit each other.

PH

 

[Newbeeneil]

Just for info I have parts that must have some time spread of ten to fifteen years. They still fit each other.

PH

About 3 years ago I was chatting to a guy from Maismore at the NHS. He said they had just changed their tooling and new frames might not fit tightly if you mixed with the old ones.

 

[Poly Hive]

Nice and honest but I can say that mine are fitting.

PH

 

[nantmoel]

I believe Maisemore are selling seconds on eBay - do a search, as almost every rely states the is nothing wrong with seconds, and for god sake don't buy assembled ones!

 

[ericbeaumont]

Maisemore are selling seconds on eBay

They sell seconds there all year. and if they're not listed, give MM a ring and Caroline - who deals with eBay - will put them on.

 

[JamezF]

Just been watching a video of someone making their own frames from odd bits of timber. It looked quite straightforward, though I'm really not sure any savings make it worth not buying them. I think he only used a chop saw, band saw and table saw, though at one point it looked like he was using a dado blade in his table saw and I'm not sure (m)any lower-end table saws available in the UK can take a dado blade. I guess a router table would do the job though.

It's the sort of thing I might try if I'd absolutely run out of things to occupy myself. So probably some time around 2050 then. And I don't mean ten to nine tomorrow evening.

James