Using a super as an eke for Fondant

[thibault]

Hi
I have just applied some fondant on the top bars of one of my colony (1 brood box polyhive), and I have used a super as an eke, I found that it's a bit too high and that there is to much empty space now. I have insulation on top of the crown board.
Please let me know what you think, and if i should change anything.
thanks

 

[enrico]

Buy a length of 2 X 1 inch wood, cut it into four pieces, make a square the same size as the top of the hive you use and screw it together. A five minute job
E

 

[Poly Hive]

Fill space with bubble wrap/old blanket/old quilt or what ever.

Simple

PH

 

[Popparand]

Buy a length of 2 X 1 inch wood, cut it into four pieces, make a square the same size as the top of the hive you use and screw it together. A five minute job
E

Ah, so that's how you do it. Always thought eke prices were a bit on the high side

 

[Beefriendly]

Hi
I have just applied some fondant on the top bars of one of my colony (1 brood box polyhive), and I have used a super as an eke, I found that it's a bit too high and that there is to much empty space now. I have insulation on top of the crown board.

Wouldn't worry too much. It's almost standard practice in this neck of the woods if no lower eke's available and many don't even use insulated crown boards....Bees don't seem to mind either way. But you can add even more extra insulation as many will suggest. It does no harm.

 

[Swarm]

Buy a length of 2 X 1 inch wood, cut it into four pieces, make a square the same size as the top of the hive you use and screw it together. A five minute job
E

Easiest solution.

 

[thorn]

Easiest solution.

Not for those of us who are challenged in the woodworking department. I tried, I failed. I might have succeeded had I had the tools for clamping the pieces together, but without anything like that it became yet another in a list of woodworking failures. Better to buy something ready made. It’s cheaper in the long run than buying tools.

 

[DanBee]

Always thought eke prices were a bit on the high side

Putting the "eek" into "eke"...?

 

[Etton]

I nail them, just as good.

 

[Curly green fingers]

Buy a length of 2 X 1 inch wood, cut it into four pieces, make a square the same size as the top of the hive you use and screw it together. A five minute job
E

I would do the above but perhaps even sand the eke down and give it a coat of something to preserve the eke . thus it would be a six min job.

 

[Eyeman]

Make a reversible crown board so that you alway have an 'eke' available.

 

[taurus]

I bought a four way cramp from B&Q which makes constructing ekes very simple and they always turn out perfectly square.

For feeding fondant I still prefer to use a super filled with insulation. I put old towels over the fondant with a slab of foam on top of them. I was checking yesterday and the temperature of the cluster right under the feeding hole was lovely and toasty.

 

[Millet]

Not for those of us who are challenged in the woodworking department. I tried, I failed. I might have succeeded had I had the tools for clamping the pieces together, but without anything like that it became yet another in a list of woodworking failures. Better to buy something ready made. It’s cheaper in the long run than buying tools.

It is easy to make a jig, get a 3/4in piece of ply and place a super on it that you know is square then nail/screw some lathe to the ply that is held against the outside edge of the super, take the super away and you will have a perfect square nailed/screwed to the ply board, you could also use the jig when assembling boxes to save faffing on with a set square.

 

[enrico]

You really don't have to worry about it being square. As long as it is the right size a bit of give in it allows you to square it up on top of the hive when you put it on. . If you make it too solid and it is off square then you can't do that. It is only a temporary thing after all.
E

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

You really don't have to worry about it being square. As long as it is the right size a bit of give in it allows you to square it up on top of the hive when you put it on. . If you make it too solid and it is off square then you can't do that. It is only a temporary thing after all.
E

You don't even really need screws - four nails will do - or even four bits of gaffer tape!!

 

[Swarm]

I bought a four way cramp from B&Q which makes constructing ekes very simple and they always turn out perfectly square.

For feeding fondant I still prefer to use a super filled with insulation. I put old towels over the fondant with a slab of foam on top of them. I was checking yesterday and the temperature of the cluster right under the feeding hole was lovely and toasty.

It doesn't matter what you do above the crown board, the OP put the fondant directly on the top bars so there is a super sized space above them.

 

[madasafish]

You really don't have to worry about it being square. As long as it is the right size a bit of give in it allows you to square it up on top of the hive when you put it on. . If you make it too solid and it is off square then you can't do that. It is only a temporary thing after all.
E

Thank you. I used to lie awake at night worrying my ekes were not square but now I know it's unimportant, I shall sleep at night without waking at 3am worrying about them.

 

[taurus]

Mine are fussy. If the eke isn't square they complain. I mean - one has to maintain standards doesn't one?

 

[thorn]

It is easy to make a jig, get a 3/4in piece of ply and place a super on it that you know is square then nail/screw some lathe to the ply that is held against the outside edge of the super, take the super away and you will have a perfect square nailed/screwed to the ply board, you could also use the jig when assembling boxes to save faffing on with a set square.

Sorry. I don’t understand your explanation. The very language of woodworking is only simple to those who know what they’re doing, and those people cannot understand people like me, to whom such projects are daunting.
In any event, an eke costs £4 to buy online. By the time I’ve driven to Homebase and bought the wood and the screws/nails, plus the bits you suggest, how much will I have spent? Surely any saving would be minimal.

 

[enrico]

Depends if you have piles of second hand wood lying around and buy bulk packs of screws. Horses for courses and all that!
E