What did you do in the 'workshop' today

[JamezF]

I was planning to do inspections today, but whilst it was pleasantly sunny we also had a very cold north-easterly wind so I decided to put it off until tomorrow in the (probably vain) hope that conditions will improve. The weather forecast for the entire next week doesn't exactly look inspiring however. I might just have to bite the bullet and try to get through them with the hives open for as little time as possible.

Instead I spent the afternoon in the workshop finishing off a couple more clear crownboards, making up some other bits of kit and contemplating the future of a very old brood box that has suffered some damage around the points where the ends of the rails fit into the other sides. I had a vague idea that I might be able to turn it into a five-frame nuc box, but I think the damage is in the wrong places. Could be that it just ends up in my "cedar scrap" pile for use in repairing something else unless there's enough of it left to turn into a super.

James

 

[Garry R]

Check it's UV stable.
Pond liner is often sold with 25yr stability. I now use this on my home made pallet board roofs and it works a treat. Light and waterproof - just don't put your smoker on it as it melts a perfect circle. If it does damage Gorilla black tape makes a perfect repair.

 

[blackcloud]

I've recycled a similar box into a bait hive/ transport box with a solid base

 

[Wilco]

The Mrs. is away all week so dining room became a workshop. Over the last couple of evenings I've assembled 50 SN1s and 50 DN4s, wired frames and waxed them as I'd been meaning to have a go at this, needed to make up some frames to get storage space and want all new kit to be wired frames. Not perfect in terms of tensioning but I'm pleased for a first bodge. It's a darned sight easier using Murray's premade ones though!

 

[JamezF]

I really need to make up some more crownboards, but I just couldn't face it this evening so opted to dismantle my last three varroa floors instead to re-engineer them into UFEs. They're mostly held together using stainless pozidrive screws, about half of which snapped when I was undoing them, leaving me to use mole grips to remove the rest of the screw, four of which snapped again flush with the wood.

I decided that having had multiple punctures in the ride-on mower this morning and then having one of the clips holding the flappy plate on the push-along mower (that stops stuff being thrown out of the back at the user) snap off then perhaps I should call it a day before anything else went hideously wrong.

James

 

[Moobee]

Made up some more crownboards/feeder boards in the garden in the sunshine although the wind is chilly. Linseed oiled them & vaselined the edges. Should last a few years.

 

[E&MBees]

Melted down some of the cappings from the weekends extracting. Filtered through a metal tea strainer. Quite pleased with the results.

 

[pargyle]

Melted down some of the cappings from the weekends extracting. Filtered through a metal tea strainer. Quite pleased with the results.

Nice looking wax if that was just through a tea strainer ... melt it again and filter it through a layer of J-cloth and it will be near perfect for candle making ...

 

[JamezF]

Seem to have spent much of the last six weeks making crownboards. Sawed up an offcut of an 8x3" roof joist and fed it through the thicknesser to make some more today. Hopefully that will allow me to make enough that all of my "replace crownboard" notes will disappear.

James

 

[JamezF]

Today got off to an odd start when I was woken up by mooing that was somewhat louder than we normally hear from the field next door. Looked out of the bedroom window to see two cows in the garden munching on the plants! Turns out the farmer had left a gate open and they'd gone off for a wander. Probably just as well someone didn't meet them on the road, really.

Once that was sorted out I returned to the workshop and got the crownboards mostly made up. Hopefully I should be able to finish them tomorrow as long as we're not invaded by sheep or something. That will leave me without any more perspex sheet too. After that it's back to scabby wooden crownboads with a slab of insulation on top until I can find some more at a reasonable price. Also treated the UFEs that I made a few days back, so they can be put into use as I do inspections this week. I know I have one that I want to swap out so I can put a rim on it to use for vaping.

The lack of a bait hive at home has been bugging me so I went through my pile of kit and found an old pine brood box which was part of the first two hives I ever owned, now probably seventeen years old. I really had written it off because the wood has shrunk, twisted and cracked and I was only envisaging a sojourn in the kindling box in its future. A couple of hours of on-and-off work with scraps of timber and foaming PU glue and it's as good as, well, as good as I think I can get away with for a bait hive, at least. I've given it a coat of danish oil and I'll do another tomorrow morning and call it ready. In the intervals whilst waiting for the glue to dry I scavenged ten old frames from a pile that were also "probably kindling", decided four genuinely were kindling, found more to replace them, cleaned them up and fitted starter strips of foundation. I'll need to pinch a roof from somewhere, but other than that I think I'm good to go.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

shrunk, twisted and cracked

Sound like some people I know!

 

[JamezF]

Bait hive deployed. Crownboards done. Just need to finish cutting PIR board for insulation. I was three pieces short, so I've glued some offcuts together using more foaming PU glue. Just waiting for it to set so I can cut them down to the correct size.

James

 

[JamezF]

Lack of decent sleep last night and a high of over 28°C today (and sticky with it) meant it's been a day of half-done jobs. Mowed half the orchard before giving up because of the heat, did half the laying out of the new polytunnel (because only half of it got delivered) and half made up some new frames. That was about as much as I could manage. Still trying to cool down. The thermometer here on my desk says it's still well over 24°C even at 10pm

James

 

[beeboybee]

Finished my Under floor Entrance test build. then popped it on the hive.
Few improvements before I commit and make 20.

 

[Erichalfbee]

That looks pretty good.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Just took delivery of £200 worth if foundation from Maisie’s. Put it away right next to an unopened box collected at Welsh convention. Guess what was in it !

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Rain all day today so, as I was on the road, popped into B&Q for a sheet of 9mm OSB as some of my crown boards are beyond retiring condition, I just wondered as well whether they had a 9"x18" piece of 9mm in their 'scrap' bin to match a piece I had left over from making new clearer boards a few months ago as I still have a few on their last legs apart from the ekes that need refurbishing. As I got to the cutting station, there were two lads ahead of me getting some (believe it or not) 9mm ply cut, they took what they needed and told the sawyer they didn't want the pile of scraps left over and to chuck them into the 'charity bin' near the entrance so I left there with ten 9mm OSB crown boards, six OSB dummy boards from the offcuts of my sheet AND three 18"x18" 9mm pieces, plus 9"x18" piece for a handful of loose change in the charity box!
tomorrow evening now scheduled for a clearer board refurbishment and crownboard manufacture (feeder holes already drilled and ekes, rhombus escapes for the clearers stripped, cleaned and ready to go.

 

[JamezF]

I've never noticed a "charity bin" in our local B&Q. I shall try to remember to look next time I'm out that way. To be fair I don't go in there very much. It's easier and cheaper to get the local builders' merchant to deliver most stuff I want.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I've never noticed a "charity bin" in our local B&Q.

I think they used to just sell off unwanted remnants for a pound or two (pretty immoral really as someone had already paid for it) first time I've seen it so it might just be a local thing

It's easier and cheaper to get the local builders' merchant to deliver most stuff I want.

I usually visit once a year - I get most of my stuff locally, but sheet timber is a different matter, if I want crown boards or similar, with their (mostly) free cutting service it's a no brainer.

 

[Murox]

Painted the supers that arrived today, ordered last Sunday.