What did you do in the 'workshop' today

[Sutty]

Re-threaded a crown-of-thorns I'd managed to snip. Not perfect but I think it will do the job.

 

[Ely]

What do you fine folk use to make your crown/clearer boards? Is it ok to use ply or will that warp? Ta

 

[Swarm]

Plywood.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

depends on the thickness - 9 and 10mm ply tends to warp, the thinner stuff you can manipulate.
I tend to use 9mm OSB now, doesn't warp and the offcuts get turned into dummy boards

 

[JamezF]

At the moment I have a large supply of cheap/near-free good quality 5.5mm ply, so I use that.

James

 

[E&MBees]

Correx sheets stapled to an eke. The rhombi, I cut in half and stick to the correx in the corners using aluminium tape. I then use the correx sheets with the rhombi and ekes removed to separate stored supers over winter, sealing the small corner holes with more aluminium tape so no beasties can move between supers.

 

[Newbeeneil]

What do you fine folk use to make your crown/clearer boards? Is it ok to use ply or will that warp? Ta

I use thin ply ( 5.5mm) with 8mm strip one side and 50mm eke the other. That stops it from warping.

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

Planning and measuring for larger surfaces for my Apideas. I don't want them in my apiaries - too many other bees who will probably get nosey. Last year they were on pairs of decking boards making a platform on top of my garden fence, bordering a commercial orchard. This year I'm going to make the boards about a metre deep and cover with pond liner (of which I have an abundant supply). They will be supported by timber angled up from the horizontal structural timbers of the fence. The farmer has his fence and I have mine so there's a sort of no-man's land in between that my boards will be overhanging.

 

[JamezF]

I've been making up super frames and re-waxing old ones over the last couple of days. Partly because there's a fair chance I'll need them and I don't want to get "caught short", but also because it gets a load of kit out of the bee shed which is quite stuffed at the moment, using up wired super foundation and frame parts. After rationalising all the frame parts and foundation I was surprised at how many I appear to have accumulated. Not all for supers -- a fair bit of brood as well, but there's less urgency there, not least because I don't have anywhere left to store very many brood frames.

James

 

[Aneebe]

It's only on the EU site, not the UK one (at least, not last time I looked). I had to contact Duncan(?) directly to get that version.

James

Me too James. I just emailed Duncan back and forth a few times and he was able to supply with no issues. If anyone is nervous about buying the right battery and charger he will even supply your choice too. Mind you, Brexit stung again. Courier prices to N. Ireland. Doh!!! Haven't got it going yet but soon.. soon. It looks so shiny and sturdily made. I want to get a metal ammo box to transport/ store properly so will have to look into that.

 

[madasafish]

Ply
Laminated sheet
Formica covered sheet
boards made from compressed wood pulp (wood stained).
Perspex.

ie. anything free/cheap

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

Made surfaces on top of my back fence for mini-mating nucs (Apideas). Glad to say it was all outdoors in the sunshine, and not in the garage.



Getting the boards at B&Q yesterday was a delight. The chap at the cutting booth (always very helpful, even when he has to say no) collected an 8x4 OSB for me. They didn't have 15mm - just 9 or 18mm - so he asked what I was going to use it for. I always become a rambling idiot in situations like that, completely unable to describe the task in generic terms, so I said (feeling very foolish), 'They're for surfaces for boxes used in raising honey bee queens.' His face lit up and he said, 'That's great; I love honey, especially on the comb, and I'd love to keep honey bees.' I said that for me there was no better reason to keep bees, and it was the reason I'd got started. I nipped out to the car and got a jar of honey for him. He was mighty pleased, and I said to be sure and contact me if he ever needed help taking the plunge. (Thanks Dani for the reminder about a jar of honey!)

 

[Mike69]

I made a national deep brood box out of 18mm ply this was my first attempt at this. I modified it to I used 10mm door stop for the top rail first then over that I used 3” bevelled skirting placed upside down and back to front this then acts as handles done the job really well I’ll post a few pics tomorrow.

 

[Antipodes]

End of season workshop floor clear up. These are the (mainly) screws I picked up amongst the wood shavings and detritus......
It was getting pretty bad in there, hardly able to move through it. I got most up with a magnet.

 

[Steve7962]

The treadmill motor adaption of my extractors coming along well now, a few jobs to finish off like painting the triangular mount, tidying the electrics, realigning if the bearing the shaft goes through and a thorough clean then I’ll be ready to extract honey this weekend.

Still don’t know what make and model the extractor is, there’s a friendly par on the back of anyone can name it!

 

[madasafish]

Been systematically repairing old hives stands which after 10 years or so are starting to look sad.....my fault for using cheap (free) timber..

 

[Garry R]

Been systematically repairing old hives stands which after 10 years or so are starting to look sad.....my fault for using cheap (free) timber..

But on the bright side, up until now they have cost you nothing so still quids in! I have a curving handrail up steps in the garden made with soft wood which I bought and to get the curve I sawed down the middle so I could bend it - effectively laminate it. That was 3 or 4 years ago and I treated it with Barrettine wood preserver in Holly green. It seemed a bit pricey but it has a waxy feel and have given it one extra coat and it casts water off well and looks as good as new. Now use it on hive stands and on my long hive made from pallet boards. The legs of the stands I soak in the stuff using an old jam jar to stand the legs in before using them. The preserver goes a long way - it's very runny.

 

[Garry R]

Re-threaded a crown-of-thorns I'd managed to snip. Not perfect but I think it will do the job.

Managed to lose my crown of thorns cage in the apiary so looked for similar online. Burkes bees have one at £8-ish delivered and it is made with a square wire mesh rather than threads which seems a good idea. Certainly not going to break . As a matter of interest what colour do you reckon is most visible to paint the ring part in case you lose it in the grass? Have checked the sole of my wellies but wasn't there!!

 

[Swarm]

Thread is far more gentle on the queen.

 

[Garry R]

Thread is far more gentle on the queen.

I thought that too so will be extra gentle. If I'm not happy with it then a re-thread as the main work has been done and the photo gives a great show of the pattern.