What did you do in the 'workshop' today

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I went down to Usk yesterday to collect my order of western red cedar from C & G Barrett Ltd
Cilfiegan Sawmill
Llanbadoc
Nr Usk
Monmouthshire
NP15 1PS
I found the supplier from another forum member and e-mailed and placed an order 4 or 5 weeks ago.
I collected enough pre-cut timber to build 8 hive stands, 8 roofs and 24 lifts (wbc). These will provide wbc type outers for my national beehives that are in out apiaries and exposed to the elements. (The met office are forecasting a cold winter, but insulation works both ways when we have a heat wave in January!!)
To buy lifts from the suppliers cost £26 each and mine are larger to provide a little wiggle room with a national inside.
I will be placing another order for more later. I am very pleased with the service and the timber which I will allow to dry for a few weeks.. I will have 24 lifts 8 stands and the main parts of 8 roofs for less than £220 plus 220 miles of travel. All I need now is some cedar cladding off-cuts for the roof cladding and landing boards.
 
Sounds like you're on a winner !
My Ukrainian friend used his own remembered hives which had straight sided outer lifts . In Winter he used to pack the gap with newspaper


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I went down to Usk yesterday to collect my order of western red cedar from C & G Barrett Ltd
Cilfiegan Sawmill
Llanbadoc
Nr Usk
Monmouthshire
NP15 1PS
I found the supplier from another forum member and e-mailed and placed an order 4 or 5 weeks ago.
I collected enough pre-cut timber to build 8 hive stands, 8 roofs and 24 lifts (wbc). These will provide wbc type outers for my national beehives that are in out apiaries and exposed to the elements. (The met office are forecasting a cold winter, but insulation works both ways when we have a heat wave in January!!)
To buy lifts from the suppliers cost £26 each and mine are larger to provide a little wiggle room with a national inside.
I will be placing another order for more later. I am very pleased with the service and the timber which I will allow to dry for a few weeks.. I will have 24 lifts 8 stands and the main parts of 8 roofs for less than £220 plus 220 miles of travel. All I need now is some cedar cladding off-cuts for the roof cladding and landing boards.

I found them very helpful, my only 'grip' is that I ordered the sawn wood a little too thick, it was so well cut you only have to remove 1mm each side to clean it up and flat. I ordered 25mm to finish at 20mm grrrrrrr! just fill my dust extraction bag so quick, my next order will be 22mm to finish at 20mm.

Love to see some picture of the finished pieces.
 
Knocked this floor up using some old scraps . Not bad for my first try . Lick of paint and its good to go .
c57a920c98c370938ea6fc7121812313.jpg
 
I have the same floors save mine have a shim all round as I find one bee space only, a little too small under the frame bottom bars !


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All my underfloor entrance floors are single bee space - no shims, haven't seen a problem thus far

:yeahthat:

Made all mine as per JBM's plans and no problems at all. Awesome floors
 
Made these two National Nuc's and an OMF (free wood), our 'Poly' nucs are being used and I may need to use one of these to reduce a colony for the winter.

 
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Lots of poly hive painting after receiving my paynes sale order .
 
:yeahthat:

Made all mine as per JBM's plans and no problems at all. Awesome floors


Being too mean to buy anything new when I can recycle old equipment ##, I have just converted a National solid wood floor to a Langstroth OMF with underfloor entrance. Using some surplus wood and wire mesh and paint etc..

Actual outlay £0.00.

## a nice phrase to describe a bodge.
 
I found them very helpful, my only 'grip' is that I ordered the sawn wood a little too thick, it was so well cut you only have to remove 1mm each side to clean it up and flat. I ordered 25mm to finish at 20mm grrrrrrr! just fill my dust extraction bag so quick, my next order will be 22mm to finish at 20mm.

Dangerous thinking but nice when it comes off your next order could be rather awkward timber and you may need the extra thickness. Look at it this way you won't be short of smoker fuel.
 
I finished butchering my new Paynes Poly Nuc to remove the integral feeder and the same for the two ekes that go with it. Glued in the bits of poly cut out of the feeder to fill the spaces left after the surgery. Filled the gaps with car body filler and rubbed it all down.

I found the best method of cutting out the side of the feeder slots was a broken hacksaw blade - cutting across the bottom section was a bit difficult as the feeder does not go down as far as the floor of the hive (not immediately obvious).

Fixed the supports for the polycarbonate feeder/crown board in the top eke - just needs a coat or two of paint and some of my propolis varnish on the inside and it's ready for the bees - finished job photos tomorrow with luck.

This was stage 1 when the replacement bits were stuck in place - before filling:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/125609724@N03/albums/72157659314817230
 
Not exactly workshop, but bee shed.

Unpacked my lovely big boxes from Mais......re and stacked away ready for a rainy winter day to make-up. brilliant smell of cedar.
I ran of out of kit this year so hopefully now I won't for next year but there again I am sure my bees will surprise me!!!
 
Nantmoel,

Do you use a router or spindle moulder? About "not long" once set up, for 32 rails.

Your bottom rails don't appear to be chamfered, so may collect standing water?

Screws are better than nails - especially if put in 'on the tosh'. More expensive, agreed, but pull joints together rather than just 'holding in place'. Ring shanks probably good enough and certainly better than plain wire.

But they look good to me. You could always dummy down a deep box with insulation both sides of the cluster - that would be two less outside boards adjacent to the colony. Fill between the rails with 25mm polystyrene (cut to fit tightly) for more insulation. With insulation over the crownboard they can be as good, thermally, as a polyhive.
 
Nantmoel,

Do you use a router or spindle moulder? About "not long" once set up, for 32 rails.

Your bottom rails don't appear to be chamfered, so may collect standing water?

Screws are better than nails - especially if put in 'on the tosh'. More expensive, agreed, but pull joints together rather than just 'holding in place'. Ring shanks probably good enough and certainly better than plain wire.

But they look good to me. You could always dummy down a deep box with insulation both sides of the cluster - that would be two less outside boards adjacent to the colony. Fill between the rails with 25mm polystyrene (cut to fit tightly) for more insulation. With insulation over the crownboard they can be as good, thermally, as a polyhive.

I use both a spindle moulder and a 'Woodrat', the bottom rails are chamfered, the picture does not really show them.I should have bought a lot more Cedar to be honest, as once setup its just as easy to make 100 rails. I also use a table saw and planner/thicknesser.
 
didn't quite do anything in it, but I did put my bee shed up ready to do something in it
DSC_0001.jpg
its plastic, and took delivery of the ply sheets and insulation to make a start this weekend
 
Made my first Langstroth jumbo brood box parts out of plywood.(Previously I used proper timber.)Assembly tomorrow when I have some screws...

As part of my cost saving measures, the ply was purchased new via Gumtree - 1.5 sheet of 2400*1200*18mm. (left over from a job). Ditto the same quantity of 50mm Celotex from the same seller.. Plus leftovers...£20.

Going to be several very cheap boxes - all going to be covered in Celotex..

I have never used ply before for hive boxes so this was a test.. Very nice to work - with no gaps in the boards so far - far superior to B&Q ply..
 
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