Top 5 tools (power & manual)

[bjosephd]

So, it's the new year and I'm thinking of going tool shopping for the coming season and hope to a lot more carpentry etc. (and have something to play with while the bees are still 'asleep')

So what would you say are the top 5 power/electrical tools, and the top 5 manual tools that one should consider having (must have) in your bee carpentry arsenal?

I'm eying up a Makita combi-drill and jig-saw set at the moment already.

So two top 5s if you please for my coming 'workshop'.

Any other tool thoughts/advice welcome. Lessons learned and weird tips etc.

BJD





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[Finman]

.
You have 3 hives. With table saw you can do most things.
If you have own house, it needs maintenance all the time much more than couple of beehives.

 

[madasafish]

All you need is a router, drill and circular saw.

With those you can make - out of wood - your own cutting bench and pillar drill. Lots of plans on YouTube.


Or buy the bits from Aldi - cheap.

That's for the hobby keeper.

If you have LOTS of hives, you go professional...

Of course, if you are a hobby keeper and have loadsof money and space...you can afford to do what you like.

 

[bjosephd]

.

You have 3 hives. With table saw you can do most things.

If you have own house, it needs maintenance all the time much more than couple of beehives.

Haha... well if I had a good set of tools maybe I can significantly increase my hives and nucs and breeding and increase and yield... etc.


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[Finman]

Haha... well if I had a good set of tools maybe I can significantly increase my hives and nucs and breeding and increase and yield... etc.


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What you need first, ha ha ha, is store houses. Quite much... For yied you need new pastures, where are not other beekeepers... And them marketing your big yields...

Start first, and then get proper tools...
.

 

[REDWOOD]

Sliding mitre saw and a bench saw, bin the jig saw and power drill and buy a nail gun. Make sure the sliding mitre saw has a depth adjuster.
you can now make any hive parts with this arsenal

 

[bjosephd]

What you need first, ha ha ha, is store houses. Quite much... For yied you need new pastures, where are not other beekeepers... And them marketing your big yields...



Start first, and then get proper tools...

.

Thanks Finny, I was just after a top 5 tools for a bit of fun really for us to chat about such toys to while away the winter days.

Top 5 tools manual.
Top 5 tools power.

That's all, not pastures or hive numbers. But thanks for the tip!



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[pargyle]

A table saw is very useful and a router (ideally get yourself a router table as well) with those you can make most hive parts but good timber is expensive and you might find that buying planed timber makes it uneconomic when compared with some of the cheaper offerings in the various sales. Making frames (without all the jigs and kit to do it) is time consuming and the cost of frames in the sales makes it hardly worthwhile as a hobbyist (I have RAS, Bandsaw, Planer/Thicknesser, Table saw, pillar drill and router table and I still found making frames from scratch a PIA).

If you are looking for basic tools to do other DIY things then my list would be:

Bandsaw
Planer Thicknesser
Router (preferably with a table)
Pillar Drill
Table Saw

Add to those a Cordless Drill and spare battery
A few screwdrivers
Set of chisels
Try square and a mitre Gauge
A decent steel rule
A Crosscut hand saw
Some G Cramps and a couple of Sash cramps

and there's not much that you can't make ...

A Radial arm saw or a sliding mitre saw are nice to have but you can manage without them - just learn to use a hand saw properly.

 

[Millet]

I agree 100% with that list, if you can not make anything with all of the above mentioned by Pargyle give it up as a bad idea.

The only thing i can cut a straight line with is a hand saw, jigsaws are rubbish imo unless you want to cut fancy shapes, circular saws are ok but you need a guard rail clamped to any wood you are cutting for a true straight line.

 

[bjosephd]

Thanks guys... that's more like it!

I'm certainly not making frames... ever.

More like for the things I feel are over priced when purchased or when I want to be creative, experiment, and/or re-invent the wheel.

Also with tools things that can be a massive PITA without, can take seconds with.

Certainly gonna make some floors, roofs, nuc boxes/traps, under floor entrances, observation windows and all sorts.

Amazed how 'cheap' some of this stuff is... table saw for around £80?! Gosh. I wonder how long some of this lasts though.

Thanks for the jig-saw tip.

Router would be good.

I'm rubbish with a hand saw, though maybe need a better one (and more practice!)




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[enrico]

Staple gun that fires pins. Saves gimp thumb when making frames up and speeds it up no end
E

 

[Millet]

Staple gun that fires pins. Saves gimp thumb when making frames up and speeds it up no end
E

That is something that i have and totally forgot about, the Arrow T50 is a good tool for knocking crown boards up with the help of a bit of evo-stick wood glue.

 

[user 6228]

tig
guilotine
folder
milling machine
table saw

 

[pargyle]

I'm rubbish with a hand saw, though maybe need a better one (and more practice!)


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Probably not a better one - just a sharper one. You don't have to try with a sharp saw - it will cut without any effort - once you have to start putting pressure on to make it cut it will wander off and it's time to either sharpen it - or more likely these days - chuck it away and buy a new one.

I have a couple of these:

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p44896?table=no

Great value, stays sharp, cuts virtually anything (they don't last long on laminates !) -I prefer the 22" version but the shorter 14" is better if you are not good with handsaws, cut your teeth (sorry !) on the shorter one and then graduate to the longer one when you can cut straight and easily with the shorter one. At £8 each they are hardly worth sharpening - I tend to keep a good sharp one for the important cuts and use the half used ones on the pallet wood jobs !

 

[Michael Palmer]

Miter saw mounted on long bench
Table saw
Block Plane
Dust collector
Radio

Air compressor
Pneumatic staple gun

Oh. That's 6

 

[REDWOOD]

tig
guilotine
folder
milling machine
table saw

Interested to know why you would need the above, agree very handy machines to fabricate roof covers

 

[bjosephd]

Thanks for all your help guys! Maybe I'll grab a table saw from argos!

And then spend money on a workhorse makita drill for life, beekeeping, and beyond. I prefer screws to nails.


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[user 6228]

Interested to know why you would need the above, agree very handy machines to fabricate roof covers

Making any container for wax or honey... e.g. wax melter that took the tig folder and guilotine
table saw makes the hives, dont need the mitre chop saw much now.
Milling machine- used that to put round tube to tube mitres for stands.

 

[Little John]

Small Paint Scraper/Pallet Knife - my No.1 tool - used for many tasks, from applying polyester filler to cracking the propolis seal between boxes.

Angle Grinder - fitted with a flap disk - great for cleaning-up pallet-wood builds prior to painting.

Table router - make your own from a hand-held router - ideal for cleaning up pallet plank edges prior to gluing.

Table saw - a very flexible tool - fit one with a cross-cut jig to churn out planks cut to exact lengths.

Clamps - a thousand uses, and you'll never have enough.

LJ

 

[REDWOOD]

Making any container for wax or honey... e.g. wax melter that took the tig folder and guilotine
table saw makes the hives, dont need the mitre chop saw much now.
Milling machine- used that to put round tube to tube mitres for stands.

with you now, I often make bits and bobs with those machines, just made a candle dipping tube for an association member on the grounds that I can borrow it any time. Tig welded my honey extractor cage and bearing housings. A lathe is a handy tool also for turning down shafts for bearings and such. I don't have access to a guilotine only a plasma cutter or bench shears