I'd be happy not to take advantage of the tight fit too and just have a frame that go together nicely. Id get a lot more done that way but......Do they exist though? Could I ditch the hammer with the Paynes frames for example? ( waiting optimistically for a yes here)
Last edited by EmsE; 16-03-2012 at 08:38 PM.
Both batches were easy for me so they get a thumbs up from my perspective at the moment, no mallet required.
...and they have a sale on just now that has a couple of types of frames included?
Last edited by EmsE; 16-03-2012 at 08:51 PM.
Having spent yet another evening hammering some Thornes frames together I've finally decided to either try to find a supplier that makes pieces that fit more accurately or change the way we do things.
We use Jumbo Langs. The frames don't have a groove down the side to anchor the wax. It seems to work, but always looks a bit fragile to begin with and we're always a little worried that the frame contents will fall out if we tilt them a bit too far in the wrong direction.
When we come to rewax, after a comb change, we're thinking of drilling the side bars, adding two or three horizontal wires, or more likely fishing line, and using just a starter strip of wax, but we aren't sure how to do it and we aren't sure if it'll make things worse.
Doris posted some pictures here
This thread also has pictures and a lot of discussion
I tried this last year and it worked well.
I used strong monofilament fishing line and drilled two holes in each side bar with a 2mm bit.
The line is held taut with 2 drawing pins.
I melted a tiny bit of brace comb to the underside of the top bar to get them started.
You need to make sure your hive is level and the best way to get evenly drawn comb is to put the new frame between two which are already drawn out.
Last edited by Jon; 23-03-2012 at 10:39 AM.
Murray has spent the winter doing that to his brood comb - wire, not fishing line. The purpose is to make his operation compatible with comb replacement in the most efficient way. You can then use heat in some form or other to melt out the old comb, caustic soda to clean the woodwork, and a simple rig to warm the wires as you drop on a sheet of unwired wax. The bees fix it to the side and top bars. Not something to do in your back garden but to take it to the experts.
As for the wiring, Murray has a wooden device that the frame sits on flat, and there is a piece that swivels to push in the side bar to ensure that everything is taut after you wire the frame and release. Maybe I should get pictures if anyone is interested.
One day you *might* have a plant in your area to do this, and as far as I can tell, in general, the further south you go from Stonehaven, in general and with a few blips on the way, the greater the need for regular comb replacement!
Last edited by gavin; 23-03-2012 at 10:36 AM.
Thank you. I have a lot of reading to do.
Jon - Apologies if the information is in the other threads, I haven't read them yet. What weight fishing line did you use?
Gavin - I think the rewaxing set-up might take a few years to get this far south, but there's no harm in optimism.
I think it was 30lb monofilament line I used. I still have enough to do hundreds of frames!
The heaviest you can get hold of is what you want.
Check on ebay and buy the heaviest available.
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